Jezebel, Gawker’s ladyblog, recently posted an item penned by Irin Carmon about the hiring of Olivia Munn by “The Daily Show.” In it, Carmon argued that Munn -- the first new female correspondent on the show in more than seven years -- lacked the résumé to be hired. (Munn, host of G4’s “Attack of the Show,” is "better known for suggestively putting things in her mouth on a video game show and being on the covers of Playboy and Maxim than for her comedic chops.")
“With the notable exception of Samantha Bee, who's been on since 2001, female correspondents have been a short-lived phenomenon,” Carmon wrote. “As fiercely liberal and sharp-eyed an observer as Jon Stewart can be, getting women on the air may be his major blind spot.”
Using Munn’s hire as a jumping off point, Carmon paints a picture of “The Daily Show” as a boy’s club, with former staffers describing the workplace environment: “One former executive on the show tells us ‘there's a huge discrepancy between the Jon Stewart who goes on TV every night and the Jon Stewart who runs The Daily Show with joyless rage.’”
The post has generated nearly 100,000 page views and 1,000 comments – even prompting a response from Stewart himself (“Jezebel thinks I’m a sexist prick!”) on air. (And prompting criticism from a former Gawker blogger Emily Gould, who called the post a thinly-veiled feminist-stirring stunt to attract pageviews.)
Now, the women who work on “The Daily Show” are firing back.
In a letter signed by 31 women -- including Munn and Bee -- they write: “The Daily Show isn't a place where women quietly suffer on the sidelines as barely tolerated tokens. On the contrary: just like the men here, we're indispensable. We generate a significant portion of the show's creative content and the fact is, it wouldn't be the show that you love without us.”
Here’s the full letter:
Dear People Who Don’t Work Here,
Recently, certain media outlets have attempted to tell us what it’s like to be a woman at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. We must admit it is entertaining to be the subjects of such a vivid and dramatic narrative. However, while rampant sexism at a well-respected show makes for a great story, we want to make something very clear: the place you may have read about is not our office.
The Daily Show isn't a place where women quietly suffer on the sidelines as barely tolerated tokens. On the contrary: just like the men here, we're indispensable. We generate a significant portion of the show's creative content and the fact is, it wouldn't be the show that you love without us.
So, who are the women of The Daily Show?
If you think the only women who help create this show are a couple of female writers and correspondents, you're dismissing the vast majority of us.
