Russell Brand hammers Sean Hannity over 'childish' Gaza rant

It's been a while since comedian Russell Brand called for 50,000 protesters to take part in a "peaceful, effortless, joyful revolution," but that intermittent time doesn't seem to have cooled off his ire. Just ask Sean Hannity, Brand's latest target.

Hannity recently ran a segment on his show dubbed "Sympathy for the Terrorists" in which guest Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the Jerusalem Fund, served as lightening rod for the host's baiting, histrionic questions. That particular interview saw Hannity repeatedly yell-asking Munayyer "is Hamas a terrorist organization?"

As per the Huffington Post:

Right-wing Hannity has struck an aggressively pro-Israeli line over its three-week offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 1,100 Palestinians, mainly civilians.

Hannity recently targeted his ire at Palestinian-American guest Yousef Munayyer in a segment branded "Sympathy For The Terrorists".

The host shouted loudly, demanding to know: "Is Hamas a terrorist organisation? What part of this can't you get through your thick head?"

Naturally, Brand—levelheaded iconoclast that he is—didn't take too kindly to that, yesterday releasing a teardown segment against Fox that calls Hannity's attacks "rude," "childish" and "unreasonable." Across a 12-minute segment, Brand proceeds to lay waste to Hannity's segment, dropping cracks like comparing the host to the "Ken doll in the Toy Story 3 film."

"He's not interested in truth," Brand says in his rant. "Sean Hannity is only interested in pushing a perspective."

A fair point, yes. But it is also old news.

The veracity of Fox's programming has long been either questioned or flat-out labeled as inaccurate, pathos-ridden fare—this is not a perspective the world latched onto courtesy of Russell Brand. In that sense, the rant—while epic—ultimately ends up rehashing a range of negative perspectives on conservative talking heads like Hannity.

As a result, Brand is essentially preaching the same passage to the choir yet again. And, yes, while he is technically correct, the argument still turns out to be Brand's particular, er, brand of the attitude he's railing against in Hannity. It solves no problem but that of viewership—for both parties. Entertaining, yes, but without teeth in the end.

Gaza is still crumbling, and going after a news source that is widely regarded as unreliable isn't going to change that. Ultimately, that's going to take a lot more than calling someone childish. And it will not be "effortless."

But, hey, at least we can laugh at someone.

[HuffPo]