{"id":435434,"date":"2021-04-20T13:20:37","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T17:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=435434"},"modified":"2021-04-20T13:20:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T17:20:42","slug":"how-jon-stewart-went-from-liberal-hero-to-problematic-pariah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-jon-stewart-went-from-liberal-hero-to-problematic-pariah\/","title":{"rendered":"How Jon Stewart Went From Liberal Hero To Problematic Pariah"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-jon-stewart-went-from-liberal-hero-to-problematic-pariah%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=435434&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-2937.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>Jon Stewart never should have left the public stage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The liberal comedian famously quit Comedy Central\u2019s \u201cDaily Show\u201d in 2015, shocking progressives who couldn\u2019t live without him \u201cdestroying\u201d some GOP target five nights a week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The left and the media (repetitive, I know) went into a lengthy period of mourning following his departure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Slowly, a new crop of Stewart types took his place. These comics made even less of an attempt to be fair and balanced. They were meaner, too, leaning into Stewart\u2019s bleep-filled rants with a venom Stewart rarely brought to his Comedy Central perch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One example? Samantha Bee kicked off her TBS hate-fest \u201cFull Frontal\u201d by calling Sen. Ted Cruz a \u201c<\/span><span>fist-faced horse-s*** salesman<\/span><span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It only got more \u201cfeckless\u201d from there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Meanwhile, Stewart tried to go the auteur route. He directed two films which made nary a ripple in the pop culture waters. His 2014 movie \u201cRosewater,\u201d about a BBC journalist tortured by Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard, earned respectable reviews but didn\u2019t make an awards season splash.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>His 2020 effort, \u201cIrresistible,\u201d did far worse. The amiable comedy, with just a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodintoto.com\/jon-stewart-irresistible-black-lives-matters-gun-owners\/\"><span>dollop of partisan rage<\/span><\/a><span>, dared to poke fun at both sides of the political aisle. Stewart might as well have donned a red MAGA hat in public.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Liberal film scribes didn\u2019t want a fair and balanced satire. They wanted \u201cOrange Man Bad: The Movie.\u201d Stewart didn\u2019t deliver it, and they let him have it.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>\u201cIrresistible isn\u2019t just shockingly ineffectual in its insights into national schisms \u2014 it is, in an added betrayal, unfunny, requiring its audience to slog their way through so much laborious farce without a laugh in sight.\u201d \u2013 Vulture<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>\u201cJon Stewart Returns with a Toothless Political Satire Out of Touch with Trump Era.\u201d \u2013 IndieWire<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\u201cIn desperate need of ruthless incisiveness, it goes soft at every turn\u201d \u2013 Daily Beast<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>What Stewart couldn\u2019t realize was how culture had lapped his brand of liberalism during his absence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Black Lives Matter. Antifa. AOC. Identity Politics. Woke, Inc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>More importantly, any attempt to lure right-of-center viewers into the conversation was considered a nod to White Supremacy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Suddenly, Stewart was older \u2026 and old news.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The hard Left loved their new darlings, from Bee to Stephen Colbert. They had no time for a white cis-gender male who leaned on fellow white males in the writer\u2019s room back in his day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>His \u201cproblematic\u201d past quickly began to haunt him during his hiatus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sure, his \u201cDaily Show\u201d run fueled the careers of John Oliver, Steve Carell, Ed Helms and Bee, but they were all the same skin color. His tenure also featured a blazingly white creative team, which <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbusters.org\/blogs\/nb\/christian-toto\/2020\/06\/27\/jon-stewart-apologizes-his-blazingly-white-daily-show-staff\"><span>caught the attention<\/span><\/a><span> of radio\u2019s \u201cThe Breakfast Club\u201d last year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Stewart said he <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbusters.org\/blogs\/nb\/christian-toto\/2020\/06\/27\/jon-stewart-apologizes-his-blazingly-white-daily-show-staff\"><span>became aware of the problem<\/span><\/a><span> during his celebrated \u201cDaily Show\u201d run, but his attempt to fix it by removing the names from potential hires fell flat.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBut we still kept just hiring white dudes. White dudes from a certain background,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we realized is the river that we were getting the material from, the tributary was also polluted by the same inertia. And you had to say to them, send me women, send me black people. And all of a sudden, women got funny. It just kind of happened. But they\u2019d been funny all along. We just hadn\u2019t actively done enough to mine that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The host also famously dueled with a rare black writer on his staff, Wyatt Cenac. Their confrontation would have gotten Stewart fired had it happened today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Cenac complained that Stewart\u2019s Herman Cain impression sounded racist, and he told his boss as much. Stewart proceeded to curse Cenac out, only later realizing the error of his ways.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThose were hard lessons for me, and they were humbling lessons. And I was defensive about them and still didn\u2019t do it all right,\u201d he said later, hoping to smooth things over.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Never apologize to the woke mob. Stewart should know better than that. But he did it, and now that \u201con his heels\u201d posture is coming back to haunt him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Stewart announced last year that he\u2019s ending his self-imposed TV sabbatical. His upcoming Apple TV show, \u201cThe Problem with Jon Stewart,\u201d will examine a single, searing issue with every episode.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>We\u2019re learning more about the show of late, including some behind-the-scenes hires and the debut frame \u2013 later this Fall.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Along comes Vice to say there\u2019s a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/93y9n3\/the-problem-with-the-problem-with-jon-stewart\"><span>\u201cproblem\u201d with Stewart\u2019s upcoming \u201cProblem.\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>The article leverages Cenac, again, who fears the show may be too similar to his own short-lived show, \u201cProblem Areas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>[Cenac] posted a clip of a monologue he\u2019d delivered on\u00a0Problem Areas: \u201cBut if there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned: If you want somebody to take a Black guy saying something meaningful on TV seriously, you really need to have a white guy saying basically the same thing right after,\u201d\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wyattcenac\/status\/1379860908600668169?s=20\"><span>he\u2019d said<\/span><\/a><span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That\u2019s the nasty appetizer to Vice\u2019s main course.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Even if Stewart prioritizes diversity in his hiring practices, there\u2019s still the question of where he fits in in the political and entertainment landscapes of 2021. With former\u00a0Daily Show\u00a0correspondents like Samantha Bee, Oliver, and Minhaj now helming similar shows of their own, and Trevor Noah\u2019s very capable tenure as\u00a0Daily Show\u00a0host who\u2019s able to speak about race and injustice in more resonant ways than his predecessor, how will Stewart set himself apart?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The article then cites Stewart\u2019s take down interviews with the likes of Tucker Carlson and Jim Cramer, moments that felt good at the time but left no permanent marks. Each rose to greater media heights since then, and Vice suggests Stewart is partially to blame.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Yes, when the woke Left turns on you \u2026 anything goes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The far-left AV Club <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/tv.avclub.com\/jon-stewart-to-explore-the-problem-with-jon-stewart-on-1846640779\"><span>has concerns about the new show<\/span><\/a><span>, too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Apple, obviously, is banking on Stewart\u2019s continued appeal, but there\u2019s a clear question at play here: Is that love still actually operative? The Trump era, which Stewart mostly sat out, was exceedingly hard on the idea that political satire, in and of itself, had the ability to effect real-world change\u2014once a core part of the\u00a0Daily Show\u00a0appeal. Is Stewart\u2019s particular, and once-potent, blend of sharp comedy, moral outrage, and intentional absurdity still in demand?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>What\u2019s missing from Stewart\u2019s comeback story? The fact that HBO teamed with him a couple of months after he left Comedy Central for a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Entertainment\/jon-stewart-signs-deal-current-events-programming-hbo\/story?id=34941750\"><span>four-year deal<\/span><\/a><span> that included a slate of projects, including stand-up specials and an animated series.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Nothing materialized.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Maybe Stewarts\u2019 hard-left critics have a point.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>member<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jon Stewart never should have left the public stage.The liberal comedian famously quit Comedy Central\u2019s \u201cDaily Show\u201d in 2015, shocking progressives who couldn\u2019t live without him \u201cdestroying\u201d some GOP target &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2276309,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-2937.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"How Jon Stewart Went From Liberal Hero To Problematic Pariah","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-435434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-2937.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"How Jon Stewart Went From Liberal Hero To Problematic Pariah","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2276309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}