Ben Stiller threw his full support behind Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election -- but, in doing so, he cracked a weird joke about white Jewish dudes all wanting to be Black.
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00:00With the Democratic ticket now fired up, there are lots of celebrities who are getting in the act to support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
00:10Among them, a bunch of comedians, including Ben Stiller, Whoopi Goldberg, Tiffany Haddish, many others, who had a Zoom called Comics for Kamala.
00:21During that Zoom, Ben Stiller made a comment that has started some controversy.
00:30I got to say, it could be a joke, but it really shocked me that he said it.
00:35She's also a historic candidate.
00:38You know, it's going to be the first woman president.
00:41And that's incredibly exciting.
00:43And, you know, she's Indian.
00:45She's black. She's everything.
00:47You could be more than one thing.
00:48It's incredible.
00:49You know, I'm Jewish and Irish.
00:53I wish I was black.
00:54Every white Jewish guy wishes he was black.
00:58You know, it's just get out there and vote and donate and like take advantage.
01:03This is such an important time right now.
01:05Wow.
01:06When I heard it, it was so off-putting to me.
01:08And I know and maybe maybe he just kind of meant it as a joke.
01:11And there has been this kind of reverse feeling about wokeism, you know, to me that it was fantastic.
01:20That the whole movement of being woke at the beginning really had a really big purpose.
01:25And I thought it was great for America that it happened.
01:29But sometimes it just goes so far.
01:32In Harp, the fact that that and if it is a joke, I'll call it a joke.
01:35The fact that that joke is made the same day when Josh Shapiro is passed up for VP.
01:41And a lot of people believe.
01:43Because he was Jewish.
01:44Because it's because yes, because he's Jewish to make that joke.
01:48I don't know.
01:50Let's not get our panties too far in a ruffle on this whole thing.
01:53Right.
01:53We've always said we've said in the context of Michael Richards and Dave Chappelle and so many others that if a joke is really funny, people can say anything.
02:02And if it's not funny, they get in trouble.
02:03And the problem was it wasn't a joke.
02:05Well, was it a joke?
02:06Of course it was.
02:06Of course it was a joke.
02:07Of course it was.
02:08It's even asked that question is silly.
02:10Right.
02:10We know why I would have said that maybe even a year ago, I would have said, sure, silly.
02:14But I'm not so sure right now.
02:16You think Ben Stiller believes that every Jewish man wants to be a black man?
02:20Do we really think that?
02:21It's a weird joke.
02:25Just because it wasn't funny and it missed the mark, it doesn't mean it wasn't an attempted humor.
02:29That said, criticize him.
02:30He's a comedian.
02:31Very successful.
02:32Criticize him for telling a joke that was a dud.
02:34But don't say that it was anything more than that.
02:37I just wish he would have smiled a little bit to telegraph that.
02:40I'm just kidding, guys.
02:42And I don't know.
02:44Because I think Babcock's right that, look, there's this whole thing right now where people
02:49are talking about why didn't she pick Josh Shapiro?
02:52And there are reasons why she picked Tim Walz.
02:55I mean, he brings a lot to the table, but there are also a lot of reasons why a lot
03:00of people thought she should have picked Josh Shapiro.
03:02And there are a lot of people who believe, you know, they're saying, oh, it's because
03:07of, you know, burying a sexual harassment case and he's too slick and he's too much
03:15of a star for her.
03:16I mean, there are all these arguments.
03:17But there are a lot of people who are saying, because he's Jewish, there would be a lot
03:21of people on the left wing of the Democratic Party, especially young people, when they
03:26go back to college campuses, who are going to protest this and not support her.
03:30Right.
03:31Josh Shapiro was somebody who came out very strongly against those campus protests.
03:34I mean, the reality is he's a popular Pennsylvania is, bar none, the most important state.
03:40Most likely, whoever wins Pennsylvania is going to be the president.
03:43And to not go with the guy who was this this this overwhelmingly popular figure in the
03:47state, it makes no sense.
03:49And I think there is only one reason.
03:51And we all know what that reason is.
03:52Do you guys disagree with the fact that it might have hurt her among a certain swath
03:55of Democratic voters?
03:56Yes.
03:57Yes.
03:58Yes.
03:59Oh, well, she doesn't think that she should choose the president.
04:00But hold on.
04:02Listen, Waltz could also hurt her among many Democratic voters who are more moderate.
04:06But I got it.
04:07I got it.
04:08My only point is that she needs to pick the person.
04:10Only criteria.
04:12One and only criteria is who's going to get the most amount of votes.
04:14Now, if we think she miscalibrated that and she made the wrong decision in that respect,
04:19then she deserves all the criticism.
04:21But if we're just saying like, well, she shouldn't have looked or overlooked him because it was
04:25something based on his religion.
04:28Well, if choosing somebody within that religion is going to get her fewer votes, then she
04:32makes the right decision.
04:33I want to make one other point, and then we got to move on.
04:36And I want to hear what your reaction to this is, because I thought Waltz, honestly, he
04:40was really impressive yesterday.
04:41And I thought he did a great job.
04:42He did a good job yesterday.
04:43Fired up the crowd.
04:44He was great.
04:45Yeah, he did a good job.
04:46And he's charming and all.
04:47And smart.
04:48But, you know, one of the news outlets said that one of the turning points was that the
04:54Harris team asked him during the vetting process, do you want to be president?
04:59And he said, no, what?
05:03That's the job of the vice president to step into that role.
05:07And he was aggressively running for vice president.
05:10Who runs for vice president?
05:13Because he was running for Kamala Harris to pick him.
05:16I have to hope that that reporting is untrue, because if it's true, what a feckless answer
05:21that is.
05:23I know.
05:24A, it's just not true.
05:25And B, I would hope you would say I will do whatever my country requires of me, as opposed
05:30to no, I'm not interested in the position.
05:32Hello.
05:33I'm Bernadette.
05:34I'm from Atlantic Beach, New York.
05:35I think, first of all, in terms of the politics, I think that whether she made a miscalculation
05:41or not is soon to be determined.
05:44In picking Waltz, I know that the base is very energized and people are getting very
05:49excited and are looking at Waltz as sort of like America's grandpa, a kind of anti-Vance,
05:55if you will.
05:57Whether it was a miscalculation to do so because she could have gotten the quote unquote Jewish
06:02vote for Josh Shapiro, that remains to be seen.
06:05Insofar as Ben Stiller's comment, it's not a comment that I would have made.
06:09But then again, I'm neither Irish nor Jewish.
06:11However, it did get people talking.
06:14And I suppose that that is the point at the end of it all.
06:17It got people talking.
06:18It got people interested in what does he have to say.
06:20And it got people talking about Kamala Harris, which is, again, the point of it all.
06:26That's a fair point.