Jon Stewart Recalls Hysterical Backlash to His Lab Leak Bit: I Was Labeled ‘Racist’ and ‘Alt-Right’
Jon Stewart recalled the intense backlash to a Covid lab leak theory bit he made on Stephen Colbert’s show in 2021, the pushback looking slightly awkward in light of a Department of Energy report acknowledging — though with “low confidence” — that a China lab leak could have been the origin of Covid.
When Stewart made his Colbert appearance, such theories were widely dismissed in the media, something the comedian said is indicative of a larger problem in the current state of media. Stewart discussed the new report and recalled being labeled a racist and alt-right on his Apple show The Problem with Jon Stewart.
“Are you trying to get me canceled again?” Stewart joked when the Department of Energy report was mentioned.
The larger problem, he theorized, is not the actual origins of Covid, but an inability to see the world beyond absolutes, which can stifle legitimate debate.
“The larger problem with all of this is the inability to discuss things that are within the realm of possibility without falling into absolutes and litmus-testing each other for our political allegiances as it arose from that,” he said. “My bigger problem with that was I thought it was a pretty good bit that expressed kind of how I felt, and the two things that came out of it were I’m racist against Asian people, and how dare I align myself with the alt-right.”
Stewart said he has no problem for being criticized over his opinions, but the anger that came at him at the mere suggestion of an alternate theory for Covid is and need to cancel is what he takes issue with. Stewart joked the backlash was so intense, he might as well have gotten “Hillary for Prison” tattooed across his forehead.
“The part that I don’t like about it is the absolutes and the dismissive like ‘fuck you, I’m done with you. I will never forgive you, you have crossed an unforgivable line. You’ve expressed an opinion that is antithetical to mine, or not mine,'” he said.
During his Colbert appearance, Stewart kept a jovial tone about the Covid theories but noticeably shocked the audience into silence.
“Oh, my God, there’s a novel respiratory coronavirus overtaking Wuhan, China, what do we do?’ ‘Oh, you know who we could ask? The Wuhan novel respiratory coronavirus lab.’ The disease is the same name as the lab. That’s just a little too weird, don’t you think?” Stewart said.
Watch above via Apple TV+.
