“EGYPTIAN JON STEWART” CENSORED FOR MOCKING NEW REGIME

Egyptian topical satirist Bassem Youssef had his show yanked from channel CBC after Youssef joked about the ruling military regime and about the channel itself. Viewers tuning in to watch Youssef, often referred to as the Egyptian Jon Stewart, instead saw a spokesman for the CBC, who read a statement stating that in the prerecorded program Youssef had violated the terms of a contract made between him and the network and that he would remain off the air until “technical and administrative problems” related to the program had been solved. The statement did not specify the nature of the problems. Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported that earlier in the week, a CBC newscaster read a statement from the channel censuring Youssef for using “phrases and innuendos that may lead to mocking national sentiment or symbols of the Egyptian state.” Youssef, who had been a fierce (albeit funny) critic of the previous regime of Mohamed Morsi, has now turned his attention to the leaders of the regime that ousted him, warning recently “that fascism in the name of religion will be replaced by fascism in the name of patriotism and national security.”