Jon Stewart ripped into Mike Huckabee on the “Daily Show” Monday, saying the former Arkansas governor was being hypocritical in his recent criticism of Beyoncé.
In his book that was released Tuesday, “God, Guns, Grits and Gravy,” Huckabee rails against what he describes as the artist’s “explicit” style and questions whether her husband, Jay-Z, is “exploiting his wife as a sex object.”
The potential presidential contender, who recently ended his Fox News show, also argued that the Obamas shouldn’t let their daughters listen to the multiplatinum singer because “what you put in your brain is also important, as well as what you put into your body.”
On the show Monday, Huckabee argued that Beyoncé is a “megatalent” and doesn’t need to resort to being “vulgar in order to set a trend,” especially given her role model status for young girls.
“Do you know any parent who has a daughter and says ‘Honey, if you make really good grades, someday when you’re 12 or 13, we’ll get you your own stripper pole’. I mean c’mon Jon, we don’t do that in our culture,” he said.
That’s when Stewart jumped in, interrupting Huckabee to say he’s “diminishing Beyoncé in a way that’s truly outrageous.”
He then played a clip of Huckabee jamming with controversial rocker Ted Nugent to the song “Cat Scratch Fever” on Huckabee’s former Fox show.
“I make the pussy purr with the stroke of my hand / They know they gettin’ it from me,” Nugent sang. “They know just where to go when they need some lovin’ man / They know I’m doin’ it, that I’m doing it all the time.”
Stewart questioned Huckabee on why Nugent gets a pass.
“You excuse that type of crudeness because you agree with his stance on firearms,” Stewart said. “You don’t approve of Beyoncé because she seems alien to you.”
“Johnny Cash shot a man just to watch him die!” Stewart joked, referencing the lyrics of “Folsom Prison Blues.”
Huckabee responded arguing the Nugent song “is an adult song, geared for adults,” but modern culture has lower standards when it comes to “things that are considered perfectly OK for kids.”
“That’s the difference,” he continued.
“You can’t single out a corrosive culture and ignore the one that you live in because you’re used to it,” Stewart retorted.