'Daily Show' Host Jon Stewart Apologizes to Megyn Kelly Over Ridicule for 'White Santa' Controversy
Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" recently offered a lighthearted apology to Fox News host Megyn Kelly regarding the continued ridicule he and other media figures have directed towards her over her comments about Santa Claus and Jesus.
During Stewart's Monday show the host decided to offer up a tongue-in-cheek apology in response to Kelly's Friday apology for insisting the Santa Claus and Jesus were both white.
"People who saw this segment, or read about it, expressed an opinion that what she said was wrong and inexplicably defensive and oddly definitive for a discussion of a fictional character and, people thought it was really f----- up," Stewart said.
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The statement about the fictional character's race came as Kelly was hosting a discussion about Slate writer Aisha Harris' op-ed titled "Santa Claus Should Not Be a White Man Anymore."
Harris, who is black, argued that insisting Santa Claus can only be white "helps perpetuate the whole 'white-as-default' notion endemic to American culture (and, of course, not just American culture)," and highlighted how she struggled with this notion as a child.
At the end of the piece, Harris suggested that Santa be replaced by a penguin for a more neutral figure to represent an increasingly racially diverse America.
"For kids watching at home, Santa just is white but this person is arguing we should have a black Santa," Kelly said in her response to Harris' article. "Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn't mean it has to change. Jesus was a white man too. It's like we have, he's a historical figure that's a verifiable fact, as is Santa, I just want kids to know that. How do you revise it in the middle of the legacy in the story and change Santa from white to black?"
After several days of being the top story in the national news story Kelly offered her apology if her words caused any offense but added that it was all just a big joke. She added that the prominence of Fox News hosts and employees make them easy targets for those who wish to pounce on every word spoken.
"I guess we all owe you an apology," Stewart said. "What appeared to me to be another example of a Fox News segment expressing anger and victimization over the loss of absolute power and reframing that as persecution of 'real America' by minorities, freeloaders, and socialists-- that's trademarked, by the way. What I thought was that was a jest, a jape, a bit of wise-crackery."
