Another Top Comedian Rules Out Working In Trump's America Over ‘Locked Up' Fears
'I wouldn't work in the States at the moment,' Lee told Channel 4 News' Krishnan Guru-Murthy in a lengthy interview released this week.
'I'd worry about them going them through my jokes and ending up spending two days locked up without my heart medication,' he said, adding: 'I just worry about it.'
The admission came after Lee revealed he'd recently turned down an offer to perform his new show, titled 'Stewart Lee Vs. The Man-Wulf,' for a week at a venue in Chicago.
'It's not something I'd normally do anyway,' he acknowledged, before lightheartedly quipping: 'At the moment, I'd have to take a huge set of American cityscape and two full-sized werewolf costumes. I'd have to get those through American customs at the moment…'
Guru-Murthy had earlier asked Lee if he really believed his recent characterization of what's happening in America right now under Trump as fascism.
'Oh yeah, I call it what is it. Absolutely,' Lee replied. 'People are pussy-footing around this idea. People are being deported wrongly from the States to an El Salvador jail without due process. What's that?'
'Trump is doing deals for resources with dictators,' he added. 'It absolutely is that, and we have to call it that, and we have to act in the way that we should have done more quickly in the '30s.'
Watch the full interview here:
Last month, award-winning Australian comedian Alice Fraser told HuffPost she'd canceled an upcoming trip to New York, during which she'd hoped to boost her new book, partly because she feared she may be targeted by officials over her jokes about Trump.
Wall Street Journal Flames Trump Over His 'Worst Idea Since Tariffs'
Economics Professor Utterly Shreds Trump's Trade Chaos In 5 Seconds Flat
New Report Reveals Just How Little Time Melania Trump Spends At White House
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
FCC chair pleased with Skydance vow to make changes at CBS
By David Shepardson (Reuters) -The chair of the Federal Communications Commission said on Thursday he is pleased with commitments that Skydance has made to make serious changes at CBS under a proposed merger with Paramount, but said the agency has not made a decision on the tie-up. CBS parent Paramount needs approval from the FCC for an $8.4-billion merger with Skydance Media. FCC Chair Brendan Carr said after a commission meeting the agency continues to review the deal and praised commitments to end diversity programs. Skydance has agreed to have an ombudsman in place for at least two years to evaluate complaints about bias in CBS News' programming if the deal is approved. "I was very pleased to see Skydance put in a filing that says if this deal goes through they are committing to serious changes at CBS. I think that would be a good thing," Carr said. "They have committed to addressing bias issues. They've committed to embracing fact-based journalism." Paramount declined to comment. Carr cited polls that Americans' trust in national programs has fallen to historic lows. This month, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump, claiming the CBS News program "60 Minutes" deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris that the network broadcast in October. Paramount did not admit to any wrongdoing. The FCC has required other companies like T-Mobile and Verizon to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs before approving deals. In January, Trump issued sweeping executive orders to dismantle U.S. government DEI programs, and pressured the private sector to join the initiative. The FCC did not make a decision by the 180-day informal deadline in mid-May and Carr previously denied Trump's lawsuit was a factor. Trump and CBS formally agreed on Tuesday to the dismissal of his lawsuit, according to a court filing. Skydance and its investors plan to acquire National Amusements, which holds the family's controlling stake in Paramount. Skydance will subsequently be merged into Paramount, with its CEO David Ellison becoming Paramount's next chief executive. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Hulk Hogan: The larger-than-life icon behind pro wrestling's global takeover
Back in pre-internet Britain, light entertainment television shows were a sacred terrain. With just four channels to go around — and one of them reserved for more serious programs — spots on talk shows were generally held for the most universally accessible celebrities: footballers, soap stars and the occasional children's entertainer. Given the modest budgets of our television networks, booking an American celebrity was usually a risk in its own right. But to book an American wrestler? That would have been almost entirely unheard of — at least until Hulk Hogan came along. It's true that the WWF had some success with its live shows at this point. Just a few months before the Hulkster popped up on 'Pebble Lane' — one of the BBC's particularly twee magazine shows — in 1993 to answer questions about whether wrestling was fake, the company had brought SummerSlam to Wembley. The event had drawn a 70,000-strong crowd, but you wouldn't know that from watching mainstream British television In the minds of the BBC commissioners — and a decent chunk of the British public — wrestling was the sort of thing they'd seen on 'World of Sport': the cherished British institution which had turned beefy blokes from provincial towns into matinee idols for a Saturday afternoon audience. It was kitsch, yes, but that was how most of us liked it. The WWF, by contrast, was brash and bombastic. It was violent and un-PC, and would have likely been instantly pigeonholed by television bosses as the sort of thing that was bound to turn their audiences off and prompt angry letters calling for their sacking. As it turned out, though, all it needed was the right salesman — and that was Hulk Hogan. In truth, he probably only got booked as he happened to be promoting one of his unsuccessful Hollywood films at the time (the critically panned 'Mr. Nanny'). But once Hogan stepped out onto that stage, it didn't matter. Within a short six-minute segment, British television had found its most interesting character of the week. Soon, he was popping up across the channels, both in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, instantly growing into his role as WWF's international ambassador. It wouldn't have been news to Vince McMahon, who knew exactly what he was doing when he sent Hogan on his international media offensive. But from my (admittedly unreliable) perspective as a primary school child in the east of England, it suddenly seemed as if this larger-than-life character was everywhere I looked. It wasn't just the talk shows — which, as a kid, I hardly watched anyway — but the lunchboxes, magazine adverts, the GameBoy cartridges, the WWF video cassettes and all of the other paraphernalia that seemed to suddenly be sporting the image of this perma-tanned American hero sent to save us from boredom this summer holiday. How many other impressionable primary schoolers became wrestling fans due to Hulk Hogan? Of course, it's impossible to say, but looking back you can clearly see the causation from Hogan being thrust onto our cultural radar and the WWF becoming a mainstream entertainment product in the UK. Reliable viewings from the time are hard to find. There's also the fact that WWF's UK broadcast partner, the newly established subscription service Sky, made some bizarre decision which almost certainly held it back (the historian John Lister charts some of them here). But without Hogan, it's hard to imagine the WWF building the fanbase it did. If you speak to wrestling folks, they certainly credit him. Indeed, if you go to certain independent shows over here, you'll still meet those 'World of Sport' veteran types who dislike Hogan for launching what they see as the great Americanization of wrestling. Some resent the fact they had to dress as American characters to get booked in the ludicrous 'tribute shows' that were sweeping British towns, with local bruisers pretending to be the Legion of Doom. It's a unique kind of heel heat that Hogan probably never even knew he ever generated. Of course, these days WWE's cultural impact is broadly the same as it is Stateside. But you'll still spot the occasional testament to Hogan's enduring cultural legacy — like the fact that so many British men want to dress as him when they go on 'stag dos' (our take on bachelor parties) that most party stores will stock a handful of Hogan costumes ready to go. I always smile when I see one of these inebriated Hogans trying to imitate his muscle flex after six pints. By the same vein, we're all well aware of the controversies that dogged the man over his career. If he'd have appeared at the last WWE show in London back in March, I don't doubt the crowd would have booed him just as loudly as they did during the famous Netflix premiere. Maybe even louder, given how we tend to do these things over here. No matter how hard we would have jeered, though, I don't doubt there would have been a hell of a lot of fans in that building who would have known — deep down — that he played a big part in them being there in the first place. And, for that, we will always remain grateful.
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
President Donald Trump, Vince McMahon and WWE stars pay tribute to wrestling legend Hulk Hogan: 'We lost a great friend today'
Terry Bollea, also known as legendary wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan, died Thursday. He was 71. Hogan had an undeniable impact on the pro-wrestling world, almost singlehandedly carrying the business throughout the 1980s. Hogan was so popular during the era he broke out of the wrestling bubble, becoming a full-on entertainer. Over his career, Hogan appeared in movies, dabbled in music, had his own popular reality-television program and even opened his own pasta-themed restaurant. Hogan's star dimmed in recent years after he was caught using racial slurs in a leaked sex tape. WWE cut ties with the wrestling icon for years before his eventual return. He received negative reactions from fans in his final appearances with WWE. Despite his end with WWE, Hogan remained an influential and legendary figure in wresting circles until his death. Hogan was remembered fondly by a number of wrestling stars Thursday. A proof that his impact stretched far beyond sports, Hogan's death prompted a message from President Donald Trump, who referred to Hogan as "Strong, tough, smart, but with the biggest heart." Hogan appeared at the 2024 Republican National Convention in support of Trump. At the convention, Hogan gave a speech and ripped off his shirt while proclaiming "Let Trump-A-Mania run wild, brother." A number of wrestlers also paid tribute to Hogan on Thursday, with one of his biggest wrestling rivals leading the charge. That would be Ric Flair, who praised Hogan for being a great friend away from the ring. Flair's daughter Charlotte, a 14-time world champion in her own right, also paid tribute to Hogan on Thursday. Other wrestling superstars and companies chimed in Thursday to pay homage to Hogan. Trump's vice president, JD Vance, also paid homage to Hogan, calling him a "great American icon." This story will be updated.