The usually edgy Comedy Central staple “The Daily Show” took time out for a report this week that appeared to be critical of a New Jersey woman who has plastered derogatory signage around her home directed at President Joe Biden.
The report, filed by Daily Show correspondent Michael Kosta, focuses on Roselle Park, N.J., resident Andrea Dick, who has placed a number of flags and signs saying “F**k Biden” on fences and her house, which happens to also be near an elementary school. It was prefaced in a tweet from show host Trevor Noah, who asked, “Should “F**k Biden” flags be allowed on public display in neighborhoods?”
City officials fined Dick, citing ordinances against signs and other materials containing profanity earlier this year, after which she took the city to court and lost, citing the First Amendment. However, she appealed; Kosta said the legal actions have cost both parties “thousands of dollars.”
She went on to say that she hung the flags and signs because she feels that former President Donald Trump, not Biden, won the 2020 election, and she wants to make her feelings known.
Should “F**k Biden” flags be allowed on public display in neighborhoods? @michaelkosta reports on the free speech debate. pic.twitter.com/LXitp4SjFS
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) October 13, 2021
Kosta also interviewed the city’s mayor, Joe Signorello, who said he wasn’t “silencing” Dick so much as he was interested in enforcing the ordinance against profane signage by “trying to make sure people are good neighbors” and expressing his concerns about the proximity of the school near her home.
The mayor added that Dick has had pro-Trump flags and other signs on her home and property for years, but she ran afoul of the ordinance when she put up the profane language. He also said he had issues with the word “f**k,” leading Kosta to quip that the first time he heard the expression it came from a third-grader at a New Jersey elementary school.
Later, when he brought up Signorello’s objections to the word itself and how it might be inappropriate for kids to hear, Dick mocked the explanation and said young kids are exposed to the word often through songs and other popular culture.
Kosta then noted that Dick won her case on appeal and that she was represented by none other than an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union, who explained his organization took the case because of the “implications” for others if she lost.
The attorney, Amol Sinha, noted that other Americans who held opinions of leaders on the opposite end of the political spectrum would also suffer from an inability to express themselves and speak freely if the city’s case against Dick were allowed to stand.
The segment ends with Kosta and Dick exchanging views, with the New Jersey resident saying she plans to leave the flags and signs up until Biden is out of office “in 2024.”
Several people responded to Noah’s initial question about whether the speech should be allowed at all on social media, many mockingly suggesting he did not have similar concerns about speech when Trump was in office.
Yes. There were more than enough for TFG so of course they should be allowed. Can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube now.
— laura nappi (@nappi_laura) October 13, 2021
Yes? That’s how the first amendment works
— Get vaccinated what’s the matter with you (@Jason_from_314) October 13, 2021
Allowed? Yes under the first amendment. Of course people who pass by are also free to express their opinions, no matter how colorful the suggestions on what to do with their signs…
— Michael Donovan (@jmdonv) October 14, 2021
Lol the daily show is going more and more off the rails every day
— 🌩Andrew🌩 (@AndrewDahDude) October 14, 2021
A ” comedy” show which mocks people on a regular basis asks if others can do the same thing?
— Rick Camillo (@CamilloRick) October 15, 2021
Of course, it’s freedom of speech no matter how annoying it may be
— Josiah (@josiah_randall) October 14, 2021
Yes and those that say the same about trevor noah?
— G (@Swimmer601011) October 13, 2021
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Jon is a staff writer for BizPac Review with 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
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