Jon Stewart’s former Daily Show correspondent blasts him for ‘shielding’ Trump rally comic

Daily Show producer-host Jon Stewart has once again been publicly criticized by his former correspondent Wyatt Cenac, this time for ‘shielding’ Trump rally comedian Tony Hinchcliffe.

The 61-year-old Mark Twain Prize winner admitted as much Episode October 28 of his Comedy Central show that he finds the 40-year-old insult comic “very funny,” despite calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage” and other racially charged material.

‘[Jon excused] the comedian’s participation in a xenophobic rally as the organizers’ fault for booking a ‘rostered comedian’. Having worked for Jon, his reaction wasn’t really surprising. Disappointing but not surprising,” the outraged 48-year-old further wrote Substack Sunday.

“He seemed to be protecting a comedian whose performance offered rally participants a chance to laugh at bigotry, perhaps making the more serious, hateful vitriol that followed much easier to swallow.”

Cenac continued, “On Monday, ‘America’s Trusted’ voice didn’t so much defend comedy as suggest to racists that if their hate speech had made him laugh, he might have their backs, too.”

Cenac also criticized Stewart for defending Joe Rogan — whose podcast has 18.1 million subscribers — despite coming “under fire for spreading COVID misinformation, as well as a history of misogynistic and racist comments.”

‘[Stewart said Rogan] was personally “more concerned about the disinformation algorithm than the purveyor of disinformation,” which feels a bit like “worrying about bullets but not the person holding the gun,” the Grammy-nominated funnyman wrote.

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 Louis CK being on The Daily Show following allegations that he sexually assaulted women harassed.

“When it comes to criticizing other comedians, Jon, in his unique position, often chooses to close ranks, as police do when a fellow officer is under investigation for impropriety,” Cenac wrote.

The native New Yorker spoke out realizing that most people will view him as “that guy who had a bad experience working for Jon Stewart and was the only one stupid enough to talk about it.”

Indeed, Wyatt was the only African-American writer working on The Daily Show when he became deeply offended by Jon’s minstrelsy impersonation of Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain in 2011, leading to an explosive confrontation.

‘[Stewart] became incredibly defensive. I remember him saying, ‘What are you trying to say? There’s a tone in your voice,” Cenac recalled. WTF with Marc Maron in 2015.

‘I thought, “There’s no tone. It bothered me. It sounded like Kingfish.” And then he got angry. And he stood up and said, “F*** off. I’m done with you.” And he just started yelling that at me. And he shouted it a few times. “F*** off! I’m done with you.” And he stormed out. And then I didn’t know if I was fired.’

The 61-year-old Mark Twain Prize winner admitted on the Oct. 28 episode of his show that he finds the 40-year-old insult comic “very funny” despite its racially charged material.

The outraged 48-year-old (photo October 13) wrote on Substack on Sunday: ‘[Jon excused] the comedian’s participation in a xenophobic rally as the organizers’ fault for booking a ‘rostered comedian’. Having worked for Jon, his reaction wasn’t really surprising. Disappointing but not surprising’

Cenac added: “He seemed to be protecting a comedian whose performance gave rally participants a chance to laugh at bigotry, which may have made the more serious, hateful vitriol that followed much easier to swallow.”

Cenac continued: “On Monday, ‘America’s Trusted’ voice didn’t so much defend comedy as suggest to racists that if their hate speech had made him laugh, he might have their back too.”

The Grammy-nominated prankster also criticized Jon for defending Joe Rogan (pictured in 2022) despite coming “under fire for spreading COVID misinformation.”

Cenac noted how Stewart defended Dave Chappelle (L) for his transgender jokes because “his intentions are never hurtful” and “feigned ignorance” when asked about Louis CK (R) being on The Daily Show following allegations that he sexually assaulted women harassed

Cenac spoke out realizing that most people will see him as ‘that guy who had a bad experience working for Jon Stewart and was the only one stupid enough to talk about it’

The native New Yorker was the only African-American writer working on The Daily Show when he became deeply offended by Jon’s minstrelsy 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 ex-staffer was “humiliating”

“Those were hard lessons for me and they were humbling lessons and I was defensive about it,” Stewart admitted

Cenac – who quit 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)

This was said by the five-time Peabody winner – whose contract was extended until the end of 2025 The Breakfast Club in 2020 that the incident with his ex-employee was “humiliating,” but that they made up over email in 2015.

“Those were hard lessons for me and they were humbling lessons and I was defensive about it,” Stewart admitted.

“We think we’re doing the right thing, but we’re not doing it the right way.”

The Great North actor – who quit The Daily Show in 2012 – won all three of his Emmy Awards for his writing on the satirical late-night news show in 2009, 2011 and 2012.

Cenac then 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 gig was producing and writing Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie! – has released four albums and two stand-up specials.