Daily Show producer and host Jon Stewart has been publicly criticized, once again, by his former correspondent Wyatt Cenac, this time for “protecting” Trump rally comedian Tony Hinchcliffe.
The Mark Twain Prize winner, 61, admitted in the October 28 episode of his Comedy Central show that finds the 40-year-old insult comedian “very funny” even though he calls Puerto Rico “a floating island of trash” and other racially charged material.
‘(Jon excused) the comedian’s participation in a xenophobic demonstration as the organizers’ fault for hiring a “roasted comedian.” Having worked for Jon, his response wasn’t really surprising. Disappointing but not surprising,” the outraged 48-year-old wrote on Substack Sunday.
“He seemed to be protecting a comedian whose performance offered rally-goers a chance to laugh at bigotry, which perhaps made the more serious hateful vitriol that followed much easier to swallow.”
Cenac continued: “On Monday, the ‘trusted voice of America’ wasn’t defending comedy so much as suggesting to racists that maybe if their hate speech had made him laugh, he could back them up, too.”
Daily Show producer and host Jon Stewart (left, pictured in 2015) has been publicly criticized, once again, by his former correspondent Wyatt Cenac (right), this time, for “protecting” the comedian from the rally of Trump, Tony Hinchcliffe.
Cenac also criticized Stewart for defending Joe Rogan, whose podcast has 18.1 million subscribers, even though he “was criticized for spreading misinformation about COVID, as well as a history of misogynistic and racist comments.”
“(Stewart said Rogan) was personally “more worried about the misinformation algorithm than the purveyor of misinformation,” which feels a little like being worried about the bullets but not the person holding the gun,” he wrote. the Grammy-nominated comedian.
Cenac noted how the 23-time Emmy winner defended Dave Chappelle for his transgender jokes because “his intentions are never hurtful” and “feigned ignorance” when asked about having Louis CK on The Daily Show after allegations of who sexually harassed women.
“When it comes to criticizing other comedians, Jon, in his unique position, often chooses to close ranks like police officers do when a fellow comedian is under investigation for misconduct,” Cenac wrote.
The native New Yorker spoke knowing that most people will think of him as “that guy who had a bad experience working for Jon Stewart and was the only one dumb enough to talk about it.”
In fact, Wyatt was the only African-American writer working at The Daily Show when he was deeply offended by Jon’s minstrel-style impersonation of Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain in 2011, leading to an explosive confrontation.
‘(Stewart) became incredibly defensive. I remember him saying to me, “What are you trying to say? There’s a tone in your voice,” Cenac recalled to WTF with Marc Maron in 2015.
“I thought, ‘There’s no tone. It bothered me. It sounded like Kingfish.” And then he got mad. And he stood up and said, “Fuck you. I’m done with you.” And he started yelling that at me. And he yelled it a couple of times. “Fuck you! I’m done with you.’ And he stormed out. And then I didn’t know if I’d been fired.’
The Mark Twain Award winner, 61, admitted on the Oct. 28 episode of his show that he finds the 40-year-old insult comedian “very funny” despite his racially charged material.
The outraged 48-year-old (pictured on October 13) wrote on Substack Sunday: ‘(Jon excused) the comedian’s participation in a xenophobic rally as the organizers’ fault for hiring a “roasted comedian.” Having worked for Jon, his response wasn’t really surprising. Disappointing but not surprising
Cenac added: “He seemed to be protecting a comedian whose performance offered rally-goers a chance to laugh at bigotry, which perhaps made the more serious hateful vitriol that followed much easier to swallow.”
Cenac continued: “On Monday, the ‘trusted voice of America’ wasn’t defending comedy so much as suggesting to racists that maybe if their hate speech had made him laugh, he could back them up, too.”
The Grammy-nominated comedian also criticized Jon for defending Joe Rogan (pictured in 2022) even though he “was criticized for spreading misinformation about COVID.”
Cenac noted how Stewart defended Dave Chappelle (L) for his transgender jokes because “his intentions are never harmful” and “feigned ignorance” when asked about having Louis CK (R) on The Daily Show after accusations that he sexually harassed women.
Cenac spoke up realizing that most people will think of him as “that guy who had a bad experience working for Jon Stewart and was the only one dumb enough to talk about it.”
The native New Yorker was the only African-American writer working at The Daily Show when he was deeply offended by Jon’s minstrel-style impersonation of Herman Cain in 2011, leading to an explosive confrontation.
The five-time Peabody winner, whose contract was extended until the end of 2025, told The Breakfast Club in 2020 that the incident with his former employee was “humiliating.”
“Those were hard lessons for me and they were humbling lessons and I got defensive about it,” Stewart admitted.
Cenac, who left The Daily Show in 2012, won all three of his Emmy Awards for writing on the satirical late-night news show in 2009, 2011 and 2012 (pictured).
The five-time Peabody winner, whose contract was extended through the end of 2025, said The breakfast club in 2020 that the incident with his former employee was “humble,” but they reconciled via email in 2015.
“Those were hard lessons for me and they were humbling lessons and I got defensive,” Stewart admitted.
“We think we’re doing the right thing, but we’re not doing it the right way.”
The Great North actor, who left The Daily Show in 2012, won all three of his Emmy Awards for writing on the satirical late-night news show in 2009, 2011 and 2012.
Cenac launched his own late-night satirical comedy show Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas, which was canceled by HBO in 2019 after two seasons.
Cenac, whose last job was producing and writing Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie! – has released four albums and two stand-up specials.