Jon Stewart took issue with the media spin put on a seemingly innocent picture of Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges with one of her constituents during Wednesday night’s episode of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central. In the picture, she and the African-American man are standing side-by-side and pointing their fingers toward one another.
It’s basically the classic go-to gesture for pointing to the person next to you like “Look who I’m standing next to” or “Can you believe it’s this guy/gal?”
But not according to local police, and thus the local media. “[Law enforcement sources] want to know why the mayor would take a picture with a convicted criminal while he and the mayor flashed gang signs,” said a news anchor on Minneapolis’ KSTP 5.
“All this time I’ve been the lead-in for a notorious gang member,” Stewart said flashing up a picture of Stephen Colbert making the same gesture. KSTP’s original story stirred up a hornet’s nest on social media, generating the #pointergate hashtag and accusations of racism.
Hodges’ camp tried to insist the two were just pointing at one another. Stewart suggested the root cause may have more to do with Hodges taking a hard stance on corruption in the police department.
In conclusion, he decided that pointing had to be added to his extensive “list of innocent things black people do that look suspicious.”
Higher quality video will be added when it becomes available. For now, you can watch the clip below.
“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” airs Mondays through Thursdays at 11 p.m. ET on Comedy Central.
