TikTok users are going crazy over comedian Bassem Youssef’s heated interview with Piers Morgan, praising Youssef for his use of comedy in the conversation about the Israel-Hamas war.
Youssef, who’s been described as Egypt’s Jon Stewart for his political satirical show Al-Bernameg, appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored Tuesday night to discuss the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, sparring with the British presenter for interrupting him and pushing back on Morgan’s use of the word “savages.”
Youssef’s comedic approach to the interview drew compliments from social media users who called him “smart” and “brilliant.” Clips of the interview that have been shared on TikTok have amassed millions of views.
“Bassem Youssef has found the best way to converse with Piers Morgan,” one user said in a video that’s been watched over 3 million times.
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In the clip, Youssef mocked the spread of misinformation about the war, saying he and his family also received “secondhand” news since they have relatives living in Gaza, and joked that the Palestinians are “so dramatic” and “difficult to kill.”
“But they never die, they always come back,” he said. “They are very difficult to kill, very difficult people to kill. I know because I’m married to one. I’ve tried many times, couldn’t kill her.” Youssef’s wife, with whom he shares two children, is Egyptian-Palestinian.
“It’s not dark humor. I, really, I try to get to her every time but she uses our kids as human shields,” he continued to joke.
The war, which began on October 7 when Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history, has become the deadliest of the five Gaza wars fought since 2008.
Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza after the October 7 attack, declared war and cut off food, fuel, electricity and medicine to the territory. More than 4,000 people have died on both sides, according to the Associated Press’ death toll, and over a million people have fled their homes in the Gaza Strip ahead of a likely ground offensive from Israel that seeks to eliminate Hamas.
In another clip of the interview, Morgan criticizes Youssef for generalizing that all people in the West use the word “savages” to describe Arabs, saying that he has never done so. Youssef fought back, “You are one of the good ones. I am not talking about you. You are great. You are amazing. We love you,” before blowing a kiss at the anchor. The clip has more than 3.6 million views.
“Blowing kisses at him on air is crazy I love bassem,” one comment with more than 10.6k likes read.
“The sarcasm is winning here,” another user wrote.
In a third clip that has been viewed more than 441K times, Youssef criticized the arguments that blame Hamas for the war, asking about the situation in the occupied West Bank.
“Let’s, for a minute, imagine a world without Hamas. What will this world look like?” he asked. “Let’s give this world a name and let’s name this world the West Bank. Hamas has absolutely not control in the West Bank… and only through August, 37 Palestinian kids were killed. No music festival, no paragliding, no Hamas.”
When Morgan told Youssef he was “preaching to the choir,” the comedian piped up, the two began talking over one another before Youssef told Morgan, “Cut me some slack and don’t interrupt me and interrupt my point.”
“If you want to only hear your opinion, I can just condemn Hamas and go home. I can do that,” he said to the anchor.
One comment with over a thousand likes on the TikTok video said, “This man oh my God he is amazing.”
“This man is the smartest man alive, like they tryna act like Hamas the issue as if West Bank ppl ain’t struggling too,” another read.
Newsweek reached out to Youssef for comment.