Jon Stewart Says Apple Had “Totally different Agenda” For Canceled Present

Jon Stewart is opening up about the issue with Apple.

After his present affairs present The Downside with Jon Stewart was canceled in October following two seasons, the Emmy Award winner defined that he “knew we had been in hassle.”

“They didn’t censor me, it wasn’t free speech,” mentioned Stewart on The City podcast. “While you work for a company entity, that’s a part of the deal, even at Comedy Central. The deal is I get to do what I would like till it’s going to harm their beer gross sales or no matter it’s they need to promote. And that’s the deal all of us make.”

He recalled an interview with economist Larry Summers, who requested him if he thought “Apple was someway gouging, or doing one thing mistaken.” On the time, Stewart responded with a direct “Sure, in fact!”

“We play the interview for the viewers, they explode like we simply hit a three-pointer on the buzzer,” Stewart recounted on the podcast. “The present ends, we go downstairs in full Rudy mode. The Apple executives stroll into the dressing room afterwards with a glance on their face and I used to be like, ‘Oh my God, did the manufacturing unit explode, what occurred?’”

Stewart added, “It was then that I noticed, ‘Oh, our goals don’t align in any approach.’ We’re making an attempt to make the very best most insightful execution of the intention that we are able to make, however they’re defending a distinct agenda. And that’s once I knew we had been in hassle.”

The comic doesn’t maintain any onerous emotions towards Apple, explaining: “There’s a mantra all of us have to recollect: Firms are pussies.”

“They’re now, and so they all the time have been. They’re not trying to trigger issues,” Stewart continued. “I labored on Comedy Central, their legal professionals had been always below the specter of advertiser boycotts. Comedy Central’s model was provocation, to some extent. And in order that was for probably the most half constructive for them. Most content material firms don’t need that smoke.”

In October, The New York Occasions reported that Apple canceled the comedy present forward of its third season on account of inventive variations and execs’ considerations over Stewart’s protection of subjects equivalent to China and AI.

Stewart has since quickly returned to his former submit on The Every day Present, the place he had Federal Commerce Fee Chair Lina Khan as a visitor in April after Apple allegedly “requested us not” to have her seem on The Downside‘s accompanying podcast.

“They actually mentioned, ‘Please don’t speak to her,’” he instructed Khan a month after the U.S. Justice Division and greater than a dozen state attorneys common sued Apple, claiming the tech big holds an unlawful monopoly over the smartphone market, which may prolong to the leisure business and different components of the economic system.

The Downside with Jon Stewart, which earned an Emmy nomination for Excellent Writing for a Nonfiction Programming in 2022, is on the market to stream on Apple TV+.

The Every day Present airs weeknights at 11/10c on Comedy Central, with Stewart on Mondays.