Jon Stewart kicked off this week's "Daily Show" by shedding light on some truly odd reactions that some folks had about the passing of Nelson Mandela -- including at least one prominent Republican.
Newt Gingrich and Ted Cruz, to their credit, offered sincere notes of gratitude for the South African leader's life work on their respective Facebook pages. What they did not expect, however, were the swift and racist reactions they saw from several of their fans. Example: "This clench-first gorilla [sic] warrior does not deserve respect from informed Americans," one user wrote on Gingrich's Facebook.
Stewart was hardly surprised by the outpouring of bile. "Of course, that's why the Internet was invented," he said. "To say hateful things with greater efficiency, reach and freedom to keep people from finding out how truly disgusting you are in your home. 'I would never say those things, it was Dr. Awesomeballs69!'"
Racist Facebook fans are one thing, but Stewart could not let an actual Republican leader off the hook so easily. Rick Santorum, appearing on "The O'Reilly Factor," somehow equated apartheid, South Africa's former system of segregation that Mandela helped end, to the Affordable Care Act.
"The systemic subjugation of a race of people is different than the establishment of subsidized insurance exchanges," Stewart helpfully explained before channeling his inner Julie Andrews with a "Sound of Music" parody: "Obamacaaare is not apartheeeeeid!"
Check out the clip above to see Stewart lay into the reactions to Mandela's death.
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