US Embassy in Cairo Scrubs Daily Show Tweet

Link to Stewart monologue prompted feud with Egypt
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 3, 2013 12:55 PM CDT
Updated Apr 3, 2013 5:51 PM CDT
US Embassy in Cairo Exits Twitter Over ... Daily Show
Popular Egyptian television satirist Bassem Youssef.   (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Egyptian officials weren't happy with a recent tweet from the US embassy in Cairo—so the embassy pulled its Twitter feed, at least initially. The tweet in question: A link to Jon Stewart's recent monologue defending Bassem Youssef, the so-called "Jon Stewart of Egypt," in which he also blasted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, the AP reports. Morsi's office called the tweet "inappropriate," prompting the US ambassador there to pull the account without input from Washington, the New York Times reports.

The State Department wasn't pleased with either the initial tweet or the decision to take down the account. (As Foreign Policy reported, it didn't want to give the appearance that "the United States is caving to the online pressure.") The account was later restored minus the Stewart tweet. But all may not end there. As the AP observes, the imbroglio over the tweet comes at a time of rising tensions between Cairo and Washington, which has expressed deep concerns that Morsi's government is backsliding on human rights protections. (More The Daily Show stories.)

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