Jon Stewart Targets Oakland Police On 'The Daily Show' (VIDEO)

On Wednesday night, famed comedian and political satirist Jon Stewart dedicated a segment of The Daily Show to the Tuesday night protests in Oakland, targeting the Oakland Police Department.

Stewart opened the segment with a roundup of footage from various Occupy Wall Street protests, showing singing children in New York, brass bands in Philadelphia and bongo drummers in Cincinnati, before quickly cutting to footage of protesters screaming and running through tear gas in Oakland.

"What the f*ck happened in Oakland?" asked a bewildered Stewart. He then questioned the police's approach to the situation. "Seems a little heavy-handed don't you think?" he asked. "Unless -- was one of the protesters Godzilla?"

Stewart did not mention details like the tragic injury of Scott Olsen, the Iraq war veteran who suffered a fractured skull and brain swelling from blunt force trauma, allegedly from a police projectile. Rather, Stewart focused on the city's poor reaction to the Occupy Oakland protesters, overall.

Stewart is widely known for his confrontational style, made famous by incidents like his 2006 interview with Senator John McCain about his decision to appear at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. During the segment, Stewart asked McCain, "You're not freaking out on us? Are you freaking out on us, because if you're freaking out and you're going into the crazy base world -- are you going into the crazy base world?"

Watch Jon Stewart's segment about the Oakland protest on The Daily Show in the clip below:

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that some sources have alleged that Scott Olsen was struck in the head with "an exploding tear gas canister." Investigations are still ongoing and the cause of his injuries have yet to be conclusively determined.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Comments

[dbrett480]

01:30 AM on 10/29/2011

How come there has been absolutely no coverage on Hpost on the lawless environment that existed in the Occupy Oakland camps BEFORE the police came in?
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19150644

For those that think the Occupy Oakland protesters were all non-violent; read this article.

[lw1]

02:24 PM on 10/29/2011

I read the article - it hardly sounded like a riot. Just a few trouble makers that a few generally non-violent but firm cops should have been able to handle.

[dbrett480]

03:46 PM on 10/29/2011

It was more than a few trouble makers. Besides, the Oakland PD tried to handle the situation by going in and removing the knuckleheads. They were blocked by the other protesters. Hence the reason for closing the overnight camps down.

[Ken Jeffery]

11:25 PM on 10/28/2011

Mayor Quan,

I wish you would commit as much time dealing with the real crime in Oakland as with the protesters! Did you allow as much overtime being paid to OPD and the cost of mutual aid for the demonstration as fighting murderers, rapists, and robbers? Wake the F-Up. Stay away from the concerts in the Redwoods cause I'll be one of the 99er's who'll become vocal when you come to the stage. Ken

[time2talk]

10:51 PM on 10/28/2011

America is beginning to look a lot like they did with the Vietnam protests. It's a shame that this was all created because the GOP/TP did not try to help the economy when they had the chance. The valued the presidency for themselves more then they valued their country. By obstructing and obstructing and playing games, they have created a dangerous mentality in this country. The Occupyers have been peacefully demonstrating. I have seen no nasty TP signs. I hope it lasts, but it isn't looking too good right now.

[shurtcircuit]

10:06 PM on 10/28/2011

Everyone should email Oakland City and tell them how appalled you are at the Violation of the Protesters Civil rights. I did this. Also this is about CORRUPTION and Corporate Socialism bailout.

[sergal stew]

07:05 PM on 10/28/2011

Stewart is as unhelpful as CNN and FOXNews: He asserts OWS is "Protesting Income Inequality". They're not. If you must boil it down to One Thing, that Thing is CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM. By MisRepresenting the Message, he is Killing it.

[Bgrngod]

08:14 PM on 10/28/2011

This is the first time I've ever seen someone specifically try to say this is about campaign finance reform. Probably the last too.

[Artanis71]

08:38 PM on 10/28/2011

Then you obviously havent been paying attention, bailouts and money in politics have been the 2 main complaints, everything stems from the financial corruption of government.

[Robert Langham]

09:20 PM on 10/28/2011

Do you really believe anyone is going to swallow that campaign finance reform crap your spewing, wow some people can fool some of the people some of the time- some people can fool some of the people all of the time- but you can't fool any f.,?,ng one at any time!

[Tom Hendricks]

12:33 PM on 10/28/2011

Time to support the country, not the country club!

[Algebra Babies]

10:54 AM on 10/28/2011

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MORE VETS COME HOME AND TRY TO JOIN IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS. ARE POLICEMAN ABOVE THE LAW? NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO, IT IS JUST AN OOPS. ARE THEIR LIVES MORE VALUED THAN OTHER HUMAN EXISTENCE? WHOSE CAUSE WOULD WIN SOLDERS OR POLICE?

[shurtcircuit]

10:14 PM on 10/28/2011

Wait until they call in the National Guard and start firing upon people, like Kent State. Then there will be problems.

[Houcasey]

10:42 AM on 10/28/2011

Reminds me of Tienamen Square. All they needed in Oakland was the tanks.

[FordUSA]

09:48 AM on 10/28/2011

Oakland always wanting to make a statement

[aceempress]

09:31 AM on 10/28/2011

Ah, Jon once again cuts to the heart of the matter. He is a true journalist, something totally lacking in so call news channels. What clips we see on his show never seem to appear on the "news."

[montanna9]

07:36 AM on 10/28/2011

What happened in Oakland was a disgrace. The police chief should watch the video of those kids who attempted to aid a wounded Scott Olsen, and the office who tossed a tear gas canister at them. Then after his public apology to the city he's supposed to serve and protect, he should hide his head in shame.

[solutions]

04:26 AM on 10/28/2011

Shut up Jon - you have no credentials for journalism. You have one contractual job...be funny. These "comments" regarding Oakland are not factual nor funny. Get it brother? You are a comedian.

[goodwillsf]

04:43 AM on 10/28/2011

there there, tell it to geraldo, what the heck is he?

[General Public]

06:09 AM on 10/28/2011

No credentials for journalism? Half the staff at The Daily Show is hired from The Onion, America's Finest News Source! They have the Best F@%*ING News Team on Television and the flashy graphics with explosions to prove it! The Daily Show has won more Emmy awards for comedy than all other cable news shows COMBINED! If it weren't for Jon Stewart and the Daily Show giving him his start in the punditry industry, we would not be able to enjoy the genius of Stephen Colbert, the greatest man who has ever lived in the history of the human race! You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

[DWAYNE CORREA]

07:09 AM on 10/28/2011

That is it Gen Pub Thank you!

[BBrianCC]

03:36 AM on 10/28/2011

Thank you Oakland Police for forgetting our 1st Amendment rights (they probably put it first cause it was the most important!)

Your making us look like Syria or Iran!

[General Public]

06:38 AM on 10/28/2011

I would say it looked more like one of the early peaceful protests in Libya that was violently suppressed by Muammar Gaddafi, which ended up resulting in the toppling of the Libyan government and Muammar Gaddafi's downfall. Anyone who tries to suppress the Occupy protests in the United States is violating the U.S. Constitution and its guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in public spaces, not to mention the prohibition against search and seizure without due process of law, and of course the equal protection clause which requires the government to treat all lawful protest groups equally (for instance, you can't give permits to some protest groups but not others, or break up some protest groups but not others, for purely political reasons, there has to be a strong legal justification for treating one group of protesters differently from another, like if one is dangerous to public safety and the other is not). It is obvious that what was dangerous to public safety in this situation was NOT the protesters but rather the police, and the protesters were exercising their Constitutional rights. The use of force, when not provoked, is unwarranted, unethical, unprofessional, and illegal. Ironically, part of the protests is to end the wars overseas and bring the troops home, and thus the government is using violence against pacifists. According to the government's OWN LAWS, they should be prosecuting their own cops now and throwing them in prison. Assault and battery is a serious crime.

[mikal haley]

07:04 AM on 10/28/2011

so where were the Native Americans?
did anyone ask them what the word, "occupy", could signify?

did ADBUSTERS.ORG?

Not important, right?

[mikal haley]

07:19 AM on 10/28/2011

"Anyone who tries to suppress the Occupy protests in the United States is violating the U.S. Constituti­on and its guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in public spaces, not to mention the prohibitio­n against search and seizure without due process of law, and of course the equal protection clause which requires the government to treat all lawful protest groups equally --

that avatar you use is a Registered Trademark, you know. better know who owns it.

--

[aicequeen36]

02:48 AM on 10/28/2011

lmao..

[raffie]

02:27 AM on 10/28/2011

The author of the article really shoehorned a bad comparison with the protests, citing a John McCain interview. It does a disservice to Mr. Stewart, as there are a plethora of better comparisons done on his Daily Show program, where Mr. Stewart has/had spoken on issues at hand that news day, with a more insightful read on this events as they have/had happened than any news anchor or pundit could at their own best...with undying thanks to my brother who had to put up with my complaining late at night, when he wanted to watch Jon Stewart back in his MTV days and got me hooked (and later on substituting for Bob Costas on his old interview show).