‘Daily Show’ Redskins Segment Ends In Tears, Call To Police

A recent taped interview segment for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ended in tears and at least one phone call to the Metro Washington Police after a group of diehard Washington Redskins fans were confronted by Native Americans angry about the group’s support of the mascot, which by many is considered to be racist.

The Washington Post reports that the Daily Show Redskins segment was being taped September 13 at a circle in Dupont Circle, and had gone on for at least three hours when Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones brought in a group of Native Americans to confront the four diehard Redskins fans.

But one fan from Alexandria, Virginia – Kelli O’Dell – told The Post that the Daily Show Redskins segment went far beyond mocking.

“This goes way beyond mocking. Poking fun is one thing, but that’s not what happened… It was disingenuous. The Native Americans accused me of things that were so wrong. I felt in danger. I didn’t consent to that. I am going to be defamed.”

Brian Dortch of Dinwiddie, Virginia, told The Post that he had attempted to get a straight answer about how the Daily Show Redskins interview would be conducted.

“They told us they were going to have a fan panel, and, at some other time, they were going to do a panel with Native Americans… So I said back, ‘Just to clarify, specifically, we’re not doing a cross-panel discussion right?’ The producer said, ‘Yeah, right. That would be too serious for Comedy Central.'”

Native American Bobby Wilson told The Post that the confrontation allegedly staged by The Daily Show for the Redskins segment “was definitely something we could get on board with. It didn’t seem strange or unfair on our end, considering that each of us has always been confronting racism on this level.”

But O’Dell said she felt trapped by the actions of Jones and the Comedy Central Crew.

“I said to him: ‘This is not how adults behave. This is not anything I signed up for.’ Tears were running down my face. I was shaking… I told him to tear up my contract. He said, ‘I don’t know if I can do that.'”

She said attempts to get Comedy Central to destroy her waiver to appear on the program were unsuccessful. She eventually attempted to file a police report, by local D.C. authorities told her no crime had been committed, according to The Post.

This would not be the first time someone has accused The Daily Show of an ambush. Does anyone recall the Jim Cramer incident?

It should be noted that the Daily Show Redskins segment does not yet have an air date.

[Image via Flickr Creative Commons]