Jon Stewart Talks Penn State Scandal, Joe Paterno Firing On 'The Daily Show' (VIDEO)

Responses have varied to the shocking revelations coming out of Happy Valley throughout the week as the Penn State sexual abuse scandal continues to unfold: students have rioted, former players have cried and President Obama has even let his views on the case be known.

Cathy Lynn Grossman and Johnathan Mahler have been among those who have compared the culture of Penn State football under Paterno to the Roman Catholic Church during the recent child abuse scandals. Mahler wrote in The New York Times that the similarities are "too striking to ignore."

A suspected predator who exploits his position to take advantage of his young charges. The trusting colleagues who don't want to believe it.

This was the dynamic that pervaded the Catholic clerical culture during its sexual abuse scandals, and it seems to have been no less pervasive at Penn State

David Gibson of the Religion News Service laid out three ways that the two are similar and three ways that they're different.

On Thursday night, Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" addressed the scandal in his last segment and brought up the Catholic Church while discussing the Penn State students' outrage about the firing of Paterno.

"I get that it's probably hard for you to believe that this guy you think is infallible, and this program you think is sacred, could hide such heinous activities, but there is some precedent for that," he said, before a photo of the Roman Catholic Church was shown on the screen. "Yeah, and just like with the Catholic Church, no one is trying to take away your religion, which in this case is football. They're just trying to bring some accountability to a pope, and some of his cardinals, who f***ed up."

Stewart goes on to say that the students will still be able to enjoy football on Saturdays, comparing attending the games to going to services.

"No one's going to take that away. Because obviously you're young and that would be a traumatic experience. And we wouldn't want that memory to scar you for life."

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Comments

[st john]

08:30 PM on 11/13/2011

I wonder ir there would be more outrage if these were little girls. And, the homophobes here would have to hold their tongues instead of going on the attack against gays. Sexual predators are in general not gay; they are sick and twisted human beings, and probably come from abused childhoods themselves. The real tragedy is that the football program is probably the underlying "cause" of the cover-up. There is so much invested in the financial and image aspects of this story for Penn State that the treatment of the "victims" is being lost in the drama around the coaches and administrators involved.
What will be the cost of this in terms of lost innocence for the boys? What will be the cost financially to the university when it starts to pay for the lawsuits that will inevitably arise? Is this a state owned school? What will be the cost to the state of Pennsylvania? As someone said earlier, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
And, finally, if these boys are "at risk" what kind of advocacy is available to them? Were they from middle or upper class homes, there would no doubt be a much greater outcry. So Sad.

[nola70119]

06:07 PM on 11/13/2011

on point.

[Curandera]

11:59 AM on 11/13/2011

Jon Stewart did not attack or try to link the Catholic FAITH to the Penn State cover-up.

The cover up by the Catholic HIERARCHY, not the Catholic FAITH, did the very unCatholic thing in not protecting children against predators. The Catholic FAITH does not adhere to priests being protected from prosecution for the rape and molestation of children.

The Catholic Cardinals violated their holy sacraments and office and violated the precepts of the Catholic religion.

To close your eyes to the failures of the hierarchy in order to the protect the faith, is just adding another layer of failure to follow the Catholic religion.

What Jon Stewart said was that to acknowledge and hold those accountable for failure to protect the most innocent among us can be done without having to deny one’s faith and beliefs – be it religion or the secular religion of many Penn State fans – football.

[GayGrandpa]

11:29 AM on 11/13/2011

Right on Jon! There is nothing more sacred than innocence and nothing more heinous than the thieves who steal and destroy it or try to cover it up.

[reallygivemeabreakplease]

08:08 AM on 11/13/2011

WELL SAID !!! Mr. Stewart

[kndam72]

03:07 AM on 11/14/2011

indeed

[BlueCashew]

01:15 AM on 11/13/2011

As a Penn Stater and a Catholic -- right on, Mr. Stewart, right on.

[CatfishJohn]

11:24 PM on 11/12/2011

Joe Popeterno.....ah, the "situational" compassion of Catholics.

[jwb2013]

11:16 PM on 11/12/2011

like the dope...er...i mean the pope, paterno should go to trial.

[ReadMyLipstick1]

10:41 PM on 11/12/2011

Right on target, Jon Stewart. Unfortunately the vision of Paterno in his new role of failure as a human being is his own fault. I do not comprehend his inability, nor the ability of his cohorts, to go beyond the confines of what they thought was "doing enough". I probably have over-used the term "absent moral compass", but this group of "leaders" are the poster people for that phrase.

[Mr Hoodoo]

08:59 PM on 11/12/2011

Thanks you, Jon.

You said what I've been posting since yesterday, but, frankly, you said it better. It's still amazing to read the posts by people who don't get the point.

But, anyway. Thanks, Jon. Well said and spot on. In my mind, I've fanned and faved ya.

[nypapajoe]

08:06 PM on 11/12/2011

To the parents of Penn State students it would be advisable to get ahold of your son or daughter and try to figure out if they were involved in the riot that destroyed various properties! Their response was totally unprovoked and rather asinine because without knowing the facts they rioted! Truth be told the Board acted slowly but appropriately because the child sex rape scandal had been taking place for the past decade or more! These are not allegations there are witnessed events (read the grand jury minutes) You have an obligation to inquire to see if your child participated in this ill advised charade of stupidity! Don't turn another blind eye!

[reallygivemeabreakplease]

08:20 AM on 11/13/2011

Agreed, the kids didn't riot the next day because the parents prob. did get with them and gave them the low down on the adult world. Namely that people who protect pedophiles are criminals too. Oh yeah and they wanted to pay their own tuition go right ahead.

[TuChef]

10:40 PM on 11/13/2011

Paterno is such a jerk that he could not even do what he still predicated so much this week about loving the scholl, blah, blah. blah. If he indeed loved the school more than himself he should have had he decency to rescind of his coaching position and publicly acknowledge his mistakes and to come forward and give authorities 150% collaboration in the case. Instead he hid again -as a COWARD- and forced the board to make what they knew was going to be a very unpopular decision that ultimately not just caused the riots that ensued but that tarnish almost irreparably the image of the school and its students. Mr. Paterno you did almost as much damaged to the school this week alone as you did throughout all of this years of actively hiding your buddy's monstrosities. And please spare us all of your FAKE concern for the victims, the only victims here which were those kids not YOU.

[michelv]

04:32 PM on 11/12/2011

But the highest ranked responsible person in the cover-up is Spanier, a Jew. It takes some crassness by Stewart to use this scandal as an opportunity to take another shot at the Catholic church.

[UncleMilo]

05:31 PM on 11/12/2011

Yeah... because that's what this was about. Yeah. Right.

Would you please stop bothering the adults? Thanks.

[Misha101]

06:46 PM on 11/12/2011

Your anti-semetic predispositions (yes, I read some of your other comments) are as errant as your understanding of the power structure at a major football school such as Penn State. The most powerful figure in or around State College, PA is Joe Paterno. The PSU football cult rivals many religious institutions. Should we blame Catholocism because that is Paterno's religion? Of course not. Bringing Spanier's religion into this discussion is juvenile at best and particularly odious to many of us.

[michelv]

07:44 PM on 11/12/2011

I brought up Spanier's religion exactly to point out that it is inappropriate to pounce on Catholics every time there is a child abuse case. Yes, the whole thing has nothing to do with the religions of the characters involved, which is exactly why Stewart should not have brought up Catholicism. You are either supporting a double standard, or you have to believe making an issue of Spanier's religion is just as inappropriate as bringing up Catholicism. Take a pick.

Such cover up cases have nothing to do with religion. They are about protecting a group's reputation, or protecting a source of income, or acquiescing to a power structure, or a combination of all three. Churches do it, teacher's union do it, cops do it, universities do it, and the government does it. So let's stick to that instead of turning every instance of it into an opportunity to crap catholics, instead of say throwing out accusations of antisemitism whenever convenient.

[trumbull desi]

08:10 PM on 11/12/2011

Why, I believe you need lots more fans. I'll help start the ball rolling.

[seealaska]

12:01 PM on 11/12/2011

If the Penn State rioters are right...namely and adult men can sodomized kids and be considered heroes, then the American society is in big trouble. Coaches are also to big to fail? Burn the Uni down. these students are not human. They are zombies.

[JPtrs2222]

03:11 PM on 11/12/2011

Exactly!!!!!!

[GayGrandpa]

11:35 AM on 11/13/2011

Stop the games, ban them for fifteen years - then they may understand how severe this offense is.

[Eric Daniels]

09:36 AM on 11/12/2011

"No one's going to take that away. Because obviously you're young and that would be a traumatic experience. And we wouldn't want that memory to scar you for life."

Well Jon those are acting like it was the 60's and they were going to Vietnam but instead it was only a 84 y.o. head coach's firing. We all don't get to act like Czars for 46 years and dictate when we leave our jobs like Joe Paterno. I don't wanna see when those students will riot over something real.

[UncleMilo]

05:33 PM on 11/12/2011

His statement was an ironic stab at the kids acting like the firing was a terrible thing when the emotional scarring was what was going to happen to the kid that got raped.

Sorry that the suffering of the rape victim was an inconvenience for you to make a swipe at Jon Stewart... but that would require some humanity.

[GJR227]

07:39 AM on 11/12/2011

And just like the Chatholic Church, the story so far is just the tip of the iceberg.

[reallygivemeabreakplease]

09:09 AM on 11/13/2011

No doubt. thats why big Joe got a very expensive Lawyer.