Rick Sanchez takes on Jon Stewart... and immediately gets fired by CNN

[lindsaybluth]

@Marley23

Are you talking about that old New York Jewish accent he does, which is really a Jackie Mason imitation? Or are you talking about the dumb guy Jersey accent he does sometimes? Regardless, you’re making some unsupported assertions about his intent the same way smiling bandit is.

This actually does get into an interesting area because Stewart does make a lot of jokes about being Jewish, and I think he does it more than most other comedians these days. It’s traditional Jewish humor. Jews have been making jokes about that for ages. It’s not a “we’re cool because we’re different” thing. Usually it’s a reflection of the fact that Jews are outsiders to some extent even if they are integrated in a society and very successful in it. <snip>
This is not a class thing. Rick Sanchez was born in Cuba, his parents came to the U.S. when he was a year or two old, and after going to college he worked his way through various small news outlets to get a job as an anchor/tasering dummy on CNN. Stewart was born in New Jersey, grew up in a single parent household, went to college, worked his way up through comedy clubs and got the Daily Show. One’s Latino and one’s Jewish but I see more similarities than differences there. Neither of these people appear to be children of privilege. And regardless, this is not a class issue. The Daily Show did not treat Rick Sanchez any different than it has treated many, many other anchors, reporters, and talk show hosts over the years. It’s Sanchez’s intellectual failing that he can only see that as discrimination against him based on ethnicity or class.

Aren’t we all making assertions about his intent? And I was talking about his first accent. The regular NJ guy one is decent. I love traditional Jewish humor, but when my friends’ banter is funnier than a guy who makes $1million/appearance, there’s a problem.

How can you compare an immigrant’s family with zero or limited English whose family worked menial jobs to eat with a guy whose professor dad left at 12? We have no idea if his mother got child support, either, so Stewart was pretty much middle-class. On the surface they did not have similar lifestyles at all. I’m no fan of Sanchez’s, but the defenses coming forth for Stewart are absurd.

@Quimby

Regarding antisemitism, as I alluded to in my companion pit thread here, both my family and I have personally experienced antisemitism in the '70s, '80s and '90s so, as I said, you don’t know what you are talking about.

Oh, wait do you mean the thread in which people post the following in the first few handful of replies? Also, 30 years ago is the 80’s, not the 70’s.

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

I think Sanchez is a total douche, but I can’t help but think firing him is a bit of an overreaction.

@friedo

I’m a Jew and I don’t think anything he said was particularly antisemitic.

@Maeglin

@friedo

I’m a Jew and I don’t think anything he said was particularly antisemitic.

Ditto. I’d cautiously conclude that he was on the edge already with CNN and this was just the last straw.

I am clearly alone in my beliefs. Thanks for pointing that out, Quimby.

@Boyo_Jim

IMO, Stewart had very little to do with Sanchez, other than providing a conveniently timed excuse. Here’s an NY Times story, that contains the following:

Mr. Stewart was far from the only person known to mock Mr. Sanchez, who was once tasered on camera for a segment. He was a polarizing figure within CNN, but under the channel’s former president, Jonathan Klein, he was rewarded with more air time, most recently a two-hour block in the afternoons. Mr. Klein was fired last week.

Sanchez’s sponsor and protector got canned, and Sanchez may already have been doomed. He had already lost his anchor spot earlier in the week, before these comments. Perhaps the stress of that contributed to his reckless comments.

I saw this late last night. The title of the thread should be “Rick Sanchez gets canned after his sponsor and protector on CNN gets canned”

ETA:

@gonzomax

Funny, i am always impressed about how often he does read the books. You are watching through a right wing filter.

My stupid right wing filter, always pressing the button to vote for Obama! :rolleyes: