Jon Stewart Drops Comedy Act To Talk Seriously About Charleston Shooting

Jon Stewart is notorious for his satire and jokes when discussing news on The Daily Show, but Thursday night he just couldn’t find anything funny to say.

Jon Stewart Gets Serious About Charleston Church Shooting

Tragedy struck Charleston, S.C., on Thursday when the news broke that 21-year old Dylann Storm Roof allegedly killed nine people inside Charleston’s historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church. Roof was apprehended Thursday evening and appeared in court on Friday after being charged with nine counts of murder and possession of a firearm.

In the wake of the shooting Stewart decided that jokes were not needed, but simple truths about our nation had to be spoken. Stewart told his audience, “I got nothing for you in terms of jokes because of what happened in South Carolina… I honestly have nothing except sadness once again — that we have to peer into the abyss of the depraved violence that we do to each other — in a gaping racial wound that we pretend doesn’t exist.”

Stewart’s passionate commentary continued as he spoke about the government’s lack of action. “I’m confident though… that by staring into that and seeing it for what it is we still won’t do jacks—t! Yeah… that’s us,” Stewart said.

Stewart reflected on America’s hypocrisy in dealing with terrorism. “What blows my mind is the disparity of response, between when we think people that are foreign are going to kill us and us killing ourselves. If this had been Islamic terrorism… we invaded two countries, spent trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives… we have to do whatever we can to keep americans safe! Nine people shot in a church! What about that?”

Take a look at Stewart’s emotional speech: