The Daily Show Made a One Direction Joke, and Teenage Girls Are Freaking Out

If you hopped on Twitter Friday and noticed that the hashtag #TheDailyShowGoneTooFar was trending, you might have assumed it was in reference to the show's recent segment that pitted Washington Redskins fans against Native American activists. But you'd be wrong.

The hashtag was actually in reference to something that happened during Tuesday night's broadcast, in which The Daily Show's Jessica Williams joked about how quickly terrorist groups were multiplying in the Middle East.

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Williams told host Jon Stewart, "Just as you were talking, a new terrorist group has formed with one member each from ISIS, Al Nusra, Al Qaeda, Hamas, One Direction and the Zetas drug cartel."

Although Williams didn't name names, fans of the popular boy band immediately assumed the joke was in reference to band member Zayn Malik, who is Muslim and of Pakistani descent. And then all hell broke loose.

One Direction fans quickly took to Twitter to call out The Daily Show and jump to Malik's defense. They posted things like "Zayn saves lives" and called the show racist. On Tumblr, there are impassioned defenses coupled with attacks on the show, calling the writers "Islamophobic pieces of sh--."

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The Daily Show's Twitter account responded Friday afternoon saying, "Dear 1D fans: We didn't know the band members' names, religions, hobbies, etc. Just knew they were popular. But not THIS popular. #whoa"

It looks like The Daily Show might have finally come up against an enemy they cannot defeat. 

You can watch the full segment below, with the joke happening around the 2:12 mark:

What's your take on the joke?