Jon Stewart gets nostalgic for when the NFL's biggest fear was the 'distraction' of a gay player

Peter Weber, The Week US's avatar
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Jon Stewart gets nostalgic for when the NFL's biggest fear was the 'distraction' of a gay player
(Image credit: Daily Show)

On Wednesday night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart heaped a bit of good-natured scorn on the NFL, capping a day in which three NFL players were pulled from their teams over charges of assaulting women, children, or both. (Stewart taped before the Arizona Cardinals yanked running back Jonathan Dwyer from their roster.) He walked through the string of domestic violence scandals in the league, panned the NFL's unsteady handling of the cases, mocked Sean Hannity, and chided pro football for letting top sponsor Anheuser-Busch act as its moral compass.

"Alcohol — maybe one of the only substances that is proven scientifically to increase the likelihood of domestic abuse — that company is saying to the NFL, 'You guys got a real problem here,'" Stewart said. And to point to the depths of the NFL's problems, he recalled the halcyon days last spring when the pro football's biggest concern was Michael Sam. "Remember those days, how scared the NFL was back then, that a gay man would ruin their league?" Stewart reminisced. "Oh, what the NFL wouldn't do now for that kind of distraction."

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Peter Weber, The Week US
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.