Jon Stewart responds to Jimmy Kimmels return to air
Jon Stewart has reacted to Jimmy Kimmel's anticipated return to late night television, congratulating everyone who boycotted Disney in support of the late show host.
"That campaign that you all launched, pretending that you were going to cancel Hulu while secretly racing through four seasons of Only Murders in the Building, that really worked," quipped Stewart on the Daily Show. "Wasn't it interesting to try and figure out all the tentacles Disney has in your daily life? It's one thing to swear off cruises, but the Avengers? How is it possible that by getting rid of one company, I can't watch Winnie the Pooh or Monday Night Football? Or listen to early Hilary Duff."
He then sang a few lines of Duff's "So Yesterday" before quickly cutting himself off, stating that "Disney is very litigious."
Stewart further addressed claims that the Trump administration had nothing to do with ABC's decision to suspend Kimmel. Such assertions come in spite of apparent threats from Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr to revoke ABC's broadcast license unless it took action against Kimmel.
Speaking to Fox News, host Lara Trump stated that if "if Donald Trump wanted to take everyone off the air who had criticisms for him, there would basically only be a handful of individuals left on television."
"That is funny," said Stewart. "But it's also maybe a cause for self-reflection? 'Hey, if everyone on TV is criticising me except for, like, four people, and one of them is my daughter-in-law, am I the drama?'"
To conclude his monologue, Stewart offered a blunt message for Trump's defenders.
"You don't have to bend over backwards trying to make Trump's authoritarian power grabs seem like the rule of law," said Stewart. "He does not give a fuck any more. He's saying it straight up. Trump is saying, 'the people like dictators.' Trump is saying, 'I hate my opponents, and I want them punished.' And Trump is saying, 'I'll use all the levers of government at my disposal to accomplish that goal.'
"So you can get on board with that and say, 'I'm with that,' or you can join the rest of us and fight like hell for this constitutional republic."
