Daily Show host Jon Stewart tore into both the National Football League and Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday for their mismanagement of domestic violence cases around the league.
Stewart argued that the NFL's muddled handling thus far of the cases involving Carolina defensive end Greg Hardy, former Baltimore running back Ray Rice and Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson represented "the kind of firm decision making we've come to expect from people who don't know what the f*ck they're doing."
He also mocked the Vikings for reversing course twice over on Peterson following his second suspension in connection to allegations of child abuse. The team said in a statement that the latest suspension was an effort to "get this right."
"You need time to make sure you get this right?" Stewart scoffed. "A 220-pound running back left railroad tracks on a 4-year-old's leg. This ain't Fermat's last theorem."
Not only had the league been forced to develop its own "special victims unit," Stewart said, but Anheuser Busch -- a key sponsor -- had admonished the league for its response to criticism from the public.
"How crazy is this?" Stewart asked the audience. "A company that sells alcohol is the moral touchstone of the NFL. Maybe one of the only substances that is proven scientifically to increase the likelyhood of domestic abuse -- that company is saying to the NFL, 'You guys got a real problem here.'"
Stewart pointed out that it wasn't that long ago when people around the league fretted that drafting Missouri defensive end Michael Sam would lead to distractions because he is gay.
"Oh what the NFL wouldn't do right now for that kind of distraction," he said. "My guess is, right now at the NFL's office, they are working night and day, day and night on a leaguewide 'Bl*w your teammate' promotion just to change the conversation."
Watch Stewart's commentary, as posted online on Wednesday, below.
