Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
UPDATED 10/24:Gawker takes notice of The Daily Show segment that included Don Yelton, a Buncombe County Republican Party official. Gawker’s headline: “Even The Daily Show was shocked by this racist GOP leader’s responses.”
The Mountain Xpress and Asheville Citizen-Times are both reporting that Buncombe GOP officials have asked Yelton to step down as a precinct chair in the wake of the controversy surrounding the segment. WLOS has full Buncombe GOP statement here. WWNC talk radio host Pete Kaliner reports at 3:50 p.m. that Yelton says he will step down as precinct chair, as requested by local GOP leadership.
Meantime, Xpress reports that Yelton stands by his comments on the show.
UPDATED on 10/23: The Daily Show episode featuring Asheville will Wednesday tonight on Comedy Central. There will be an Asheville viewing party on Thursday night at PULP. Details here.
ORIGINAL POST: Aasif Mandvi, a “reporter” for The Daily Show, was in downtown Asheville on Thursday. He was interviewing people about recent controversy regarding North Carolina’s voter ID law, according to sources.
On Twitter, Davyne Dial reports that Mandvi also interviewed Don Yelton, a long-time local political activist.
Heard from Don Yelton, Daily Show was here to interview him. Took a couple of hours.
The photos that loyal reader Karen sent me also show Mandvi interviewing Minnie Jones, another well-known political activist in Asheville.
What’s up with the Tar Heel state’s voter ID law? The federal government is suing the state over the issue. From npr:
The Justice Department is suing North Carolina over that state’s restrictive new voting law. The lawsuit takes aim at provisions that limit early voting periods and require a government photo ID as an illegal form of discrimination against minorities at the ballot box.
Federal authorities are challenging four parts of the state law, passed soon after the Supreme Court invalidated a key part of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act in June. Those provisions include: the state’s decision to cut back on early voting by a week; the elimination of same-day registration during that early voting period; the prohibition on counting certain provisional ballots that are not prepared in a voter’s specific precinct; and the adoption of a strict photo identification requirement without protections for voters who lack that required ID.
And he’s outta here.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/nc-goper-fired-for-making-racist-comments-on-daily-show-video
The love is spreading. Huffington Post, NY Magazine, Philly.com, Raw Story, etc. all have active posts. Don also mentioned his cell phone # on the air on WWNC. I think Mr. Yelton is loving the press.
Get registered, get your friends and neighbors registered, check your registration status at http://voter.buncombecounty.org, then vote.
Or don’t.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YR4CseY9pk
I liked what someone in another forum said… he (Brand) is not trying to be a revolutionary, just a herald. Taken in that light, I think he’s pretty effective.
I may be a Democrat, but I liked that twinkle in Don Yelton’s eye. He knew he was being spoofed and he went along with it with good humor and intelligence.
In a press release, the Buncombe GOP — which has the slogan “Moving forward without forgetting our past” on its website — called Yelton’s comments “offensive, uniformed, and unacceptable of any member within the Republican Party.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/24/lazy-blacks-daily-show_n_4159210.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
I don’t think they even mentioned Asheville. They just made fun of Don Yelton the whole time. It was funny though.
They said Buncombe County, but never mentioned Asheville. I wonder if that was intentional?
liberal media conspiracy…
Holy crap!! That was an utterly amazing crapnutz crazy interview!! The inner monologue of of a western nc redneck spilling out on national tv, was as surreal as it was hilarious. WOW!!
can’t wait to see it!