Latest news with #JonStewart
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘What The F**k?': Jon Stewart Stunned By 2 Words In Trump's Latest Epstein Denial
'Daily Show' host Jon Stewart didn't find President Donald Trump very convincing in his latest attempt to downplay his association with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And it came down to two words. Stewart rolled footage of Trump in Scotland trying to deflect questions about his ties to Epstein, saying he had ended his friendship with Epstein because 'he did something that was inappropriate.' Stewart was ready to give the president some credit. 'You see, Donald Trump recognized that Epstein had finally crossed a line,' Stewart said. 'Now, if it were me, obviously giving this explanation in front of reporters, I probably would have stopped there.' But Trump didn't stop there. The 'inappropriate' behavior was Epstein hiring some of Trump's employees. 'He stole people that worked for me,' Trump complained. And Trump still didn't stop there. 'Here comes my favorite part of the defense,' Stewart said. 'Trump's ego and narcissism are so central to his being that even his denial of going to the island comes with a caveat.' Trump insisted he never visited Epstein's infamous private island linked to his sex trafficking ― but did so with those two unexpected words. 'I never had the privilege of going to his island,' Trump said. 'The privilege?' Stewart repeated. 'What the fuck?' Check out the full monologue below:
New York Times
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Jimmy Fallon Ridicules Trump's Choice Words About Epstein Island
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night's highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now. Better Luck Next Time While in Scotland on Monday, President Trump told reporters he'd never 'had the privilege' of visiting Jeffrey Epstein's island. 'Trump's staff was like, 'A simple no would've been fine,'' Jimmy Fallon said. 'Trump said he was invited to the island but didn't want to go. I get it — it's so annoying when you get invited to a destination crime scene, isn't it?' — JIMMY FALLON 'Trump was like, 'I'm sorry, what I really meant was I never had the honor.' — JIMMY FALLON '[imitating Epstein] 'Hey, Donald, want go to the island this weekend?' '[imitating Trump] Well, first of all, Jeffrey, thank you for thinking of me. Unfortunately, that's the weekend that the teen pageant that I bought is installing the indoor security locker room cameras.'' — JON STEWART '[imitating Trump] Sadly, I never had the honor of dining with Jeffrey Dahmer.' — STEPHEN COLBERT 'Privilege was not the word you wanted to use. '[imitating Trump] A trip to that terrible island was sadly not an honor that was ever bestowed upon me.' — SETH MEYERS ''Privilege' makes it seem like you never turned down an invitation. It seems like you were checking your messages every day in hopes one was forthcoming. He'd be like, [imitating Trump] 'Any calls from Jeffrey?' ' — SETH MEYERS The Punchiest Punchlines (Ball-Drop Edition) 'Last time I saw a ball-drop that obvious, Anderson and Andy were hammered.' — STEPHEN COLBERT, on Trump's caddy moving his ball to a better position during a round of golf in Scotland 'When the going gets tough, the tough pay someone to cheat for you.' — JON STEWART 'It turns out golf has rules, and one of them is that if you lose a ball, you take a one-stroke penalty, and you have to hit again from the previous spot. Plus, a serious player would always drop a ball themselves, rather than leave it to a caddy. In his defense, Trump has not seen his own balls in years.' — STEPHEN COLBERT 'It's just refreshing to see someone cheating without being at a Coldplay concert.' — JIMMY FALLON The Bits Worth Watching Las Culturistas co-hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers presented Stephen Colbert with an award for Best Future Podcaster on Monday's 'Late Show.' What We're Excited About on Tuesday Night Alison Brie will discuss appearing in the new horror film, 'Together,' with her husband, Dave Franco, on Tuesday's 'Tonight Show.' Also, Check This Out In search of a new side hustle, numerous stars of reality television have branched out into
Fox News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
'Daily Show' co-creator sounds off on cancellation of Colbert's show, accuses CBS of being 'afraid'
Lizz Winstead, the co-creator of "The Daily Show", sounded off during an MSNBC interview about the cancellation of late-night host Stephen Colbert's show, accusing CBS of being afraid. "To just drop the franchise itself, right, its not like Stephen Colbert, its a double, its a twofer, right? And that says to me, you're afraid, because we've watched, with 'The Daily Show,' with John Oliver, we've watched how people who do not have a dog in the fight, and what I mean by that is people who call BS no matter who the powerful person is, on their hypocrisy or screwing up. And that's what Stephen has done brilliantly, Jon [Stewart] has done brilliantly, John Oliver has done brilliantly," Winstead said. Winstead wrote a piece for Rolling Stone on Friday about the cancellation of Colbert and said she didn't believe CBS' explanation for canceling the show. CBS announced that Colbert's show would be canceled at the end of its broadcast season and said it was a "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night." "So when the truthtellers are the comics and those comics are actually resonating with the people that Donald Trump has not been able to reach, then he's got to go plan b and plan b is, 'oh, look at me, I have a merger I need, look at me. I can ask for what I want, and I can silence those voices because my, lardo-thin skin cannot take the ridicule,' that most people can who are grown adults running a nation," she continued. Liberals have overwhelmingly argued that Colbert's show was canceled for political reasons. Days before the cancellation, Colbert slammed Paramount's recent settlement with President Donald Trump over his lawsuit against "60 Minutes" as a "big fat bribe" ahead of a pending merger between Paramount and Skydance Media. Winstead argued Colbert, along with other comedians, was an authentic voice on late-night television. "When you are authentic, people gravitate to you, and there is nothing and no one more authentic than Stephen, John. You look at these passionate pleas that they give nightly, and you're like, that is real. And the fire is what makes people come back. And if you lack the fire, man, do you hate it. And if that fire is directed at you, you have no other choice, because you're small, to want to squelch it and put it out," Winstead continued. Winstead wrote in Rolling Stone that she didn't believe CBS' financial excuse and suggested networks didn't want progressive voices. "This is why Colbert's cancellation hits different. Not just because he's one of the greats, but because his ousting is a warning shot. It tells comedians — even the white, male, successful ones — that there's a line. And if you cross it, they'll find an excuse to take you out," Winstead, who identified herself in the commentary essay as a loud and proud, pro-abortion progressive, wrote. "Underneath those thinly veiled excuses is fear. Fear of the power comedians have. Fear that people might actually listen while they are laughing," she continued.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Paramount Faces a Talent Rebellion, and Their Target Is Trump's D**k
For more than a decade, Donald Trump's media critics have tried various attack lines against the president. They've endlessly described him as a corrupt authoritarian who is a threat to democracy and our institutions. They've decried him as cruel, vulgar, sexist and racist. They have even claimed he's the return of Hitler. None of this unending avalanche of resistance seems to make a bit of difference to Trump's popularity. All those late night jokes, well-reasoned media essays and perfectly honed sarcastic tweets? All those reporters digging around for dirt and quoting Trump's once-trusted insiders who turned against him? Nothing sticks — much to the frustration of many. More from The Hollywood Reporter White House Slams 'South Park' as "Desperate" for Attention After Unflattering Depiction of Trump Colbert Teases Trump After Name Reportedly Listed in Epstein Files: "Mystery Man Known Only as Micropenis DJT" 'South Park' Lampoons Trump in Shocking Season 27 Premiere as Creators Ink $1.5 Billion Deal So it is perhaps understandable — even refreshing and certainly hilarious — that this week, the anti-Trump voices in the media seemed to collectively throw up their hands and decide: Let's just make fun of this guy's dick. On Monday, The Daily Show's Jon Stewart blasted parent company Paramount Global for caving to Trump's demand for a 60 Minutes settlement and canceling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert by saying, 'Maybe it's the path of least resistance for your $8 billion merger to kill a show that you know rankled a fragile and vengeful president who's so insecure that he's suffering terribly from a case of chronic penis insufficiency.' On Wednesday, Colbert himself weighed in: 'An official familiar with the [Epstein] documents said they contain hundreds of other names … names like Donald Trump, Donald John Trump, Donald J. Trump … and a mystery man known only as micropenis DJT.' Then late Wednesday, South Park dropped the thermonuclear bomb of tiny-dick joke savagery in the form of an AI-generated video showing an all-too-realistic obese and sweating Trump wandering through the desert, stripping off his clothes and exposing a tiny, deformed talking penis. The history of mocking Trump's dick is, of course, quite long (unlike some things, amiright?). It's not remotely a new joke. It might even be unfair (Stormy Daniels famously described Trump's dick as 'smaller than average' but 'not freakishly small,' for whatever that's worth). But one thing we know for sure is that such jabs bother Trump. During a 2016 debate, Trump defensively said: 'Look at those hands, are they small hands? [Marco Rubio] referred to my hands — 'If they're small, something else must be small.' I guarantee you there's no problem.' To which we were all relieved that the next leader of the free world had a sizable disco stick. In case anyone thought Trump's sensitivity on this issue might have lessened since then, the White House quickly issued a statement on last night's South Park. Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers drew the short straw (so to speak) and had to be the one to tell reporters that the animated comedy 'hasn't been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention,' and added that the popularity of such content 'continues to hit record lows.' Of course, companies routinely make $1.5 billion five-year deals to renew shows, which are unpopular and irrelevant, that's how business works. But it's interesting to see three talents zeroing in on Trump's crotch at the same time and, of course, what's particularly interesting is they're all part of Paramount Global — which is facing an open rebellion over its handling of the 60 Minutes lawsuit, coupled with canceling Stephen Colbert's Late Show. The company is on the verge of completing its $8 billion merger with Skydance Media and perhaps that's the only thing its C-suite cares about. But it's been an incredibly messy process, resulting in plenty of hard feelings, which could have further consequences. Colbert and Stewart, certainly, will continue to open fire right up the ladder for the foreseeable future. And in the media business, the only thing that matters more than money is your reputation, and over the past few months, Paramount's reputation has gotten a lot smaller — smaller than average, certainly, if not freakishly small. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘I'm 94 years old and will not be intimidated': Has Trump met his match in Rupert Murdoch?
Lamenting the inconvenient truth that his parent company had joined a slew of other institutions in capitulating to Donald Trump's capricious demands, Jon Stewart threw out a rallying cry this week after his late-night cohort Stephen Colbert was canceled amid Paramount's desperate push to complete an $8 billion merger. 'Sack the f*** up,' the Daily Show star exclaimed, calling for media conglomerates to stop running scared and stand up to the president's legal bullying, which CBS employees have described as a 'Trump shakedown.' Could it be that Stewart has already found his unlikely champion in the form of a nonagenarian right-wing media mogul who was the driving force behind Trump's rise to power? That is increasingly looking like that might be the case. Feeling emboldened by Paramount and Disney paying him off to settle easily winnable lawsuits, the president followed through on his days-long threat and sued Rupert Murdoch on Friday for $10 billion after the Wall Street Journal published a much-anticipated story about Trump's 'bawdy' birthday letter to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Before firing off his defamation suit, the president spent the previous few days desperately trying to get Murdoch and his paper to kill the story, which promised to further fan the flames of the controversy over the administration's handling of the Epstein files as it detailed Trump's lengthy kinship with the disgraced financier. 'This is not me. This is a fake thing. It's a fake Wall Street Journal story,' Trump shouted at WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker two days before the story was published. 'I'm gonna sue the Wall Street Journal just like I sued everyone else.' Following the bombshell report's publication last Thursday night, the president whined on Truth Social that Murdoch told him 'he would take care of it,' but apparently 'did not have the power to do so.' Despite legal experts saying he has an exceptionally weak case and that it could backfire by exposing him to further scrutiny in the Epstein matter, the president went ahead and fired off his latest legal tantrum on Friday. Meanwhile, not only has the Wall Street Journal and its publisher Dow Jones stood by its reporting, but the paper dropped another blockbuster on Wednesday by revealing that Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump in May that his name appeared several times in the Epstein files. That story further helps explain why the administration reversed course this month and decided against revealing more documents in the Epstein case. It also appears that Murdoch himself has indicated behind the scenes that he has no plans to back down anytime soon. 'I'm 94 years old and I will not be intimidated,' Murdoch said, the Washington Post reported, citing three people familiar with the Fox News owner's private conversations. While the Post also notes that the president's latest volley in his all-out war on the media 'crosses a new Rubicon' as he is 'lashing out at one of his most powerful media allies,' what it really lays bare is how the Trump-Murdoch relationship has always been one of convenience between two men who see themselves as the leading figure in the conservative movement. Trump's lawsuit, and Murdoch's potential willingness to fight it to the end, could be the final crescendo to the fraught alliance between the two right-wing titans. As Puck's Dylan Byers observed this week, unlike the multi-tiered conglomerates or overleveraged companies that have bent the knee to Trump recently, 'the 94-year-old media titan is a different kind of defendant' as he has 'the resources, the freedom, and the fortitude to wage a legal fight with the president.' 'I don't think he has any intention of settling. Why would he?' one Murdoch source told Byers, noting that the mogul could 'relish the fight' against Trump. At the same time, it appears that both Trump and Murdoch understand how important it is to keep Fox News – Murdoch world's crown jewel – out of the fray for the time being. The president's lawsuit was carefully compartmentalized to avoid pulling in the right-wing network – which the president enjoys a symbiotic relationship with and uses as a staffing agency for his administration. All the while, Fox News has all but ignored the ongoing Epstein saga in recent days and has largely avoided mentioning either the Wall Street Journal's story or the president's lawsuit against their boss, which has also led the White House to punish Fox's sister publication by pulling their reporters off the travel press pool. Instead, the network's pro-Trump hosts have gone all in on trumpeting the administration's efforts to distract from the Epstein mess – specifically glomming onto Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's misleading and false claims that the Obama administration engaged in a treasonous 'coup' with its Russia election interference assessment. In fact, the network has mentioned former President Barack Obama three times more than Epstein since Gabbard released her report. Additionally, senior members of the Trump administration have continued to flock to Fox News for softball interviews and friendly sitdowns that have completely sidestepped the Epstein controversy. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who has blasted Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal repeatedly over the Epstein-Trump story, was asked to react to Hunter Biden's profane podcast appearance in two separate Fox News interviews. This odd dichotomy prompted NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo to press attorney Alejandro Brito – who is representing the president in his lawsuit – why Trump's allies 'keep using Fox News' if Murdoch is so 'inimical to the cause' and essentially public enemy #1. Brito essentially shrugged and dodged Cuomo's pointed question. According to the New York Times, people close to the president have said that he 'considers Fox News — and for that matter, The New York Post, another business owned by Mr. Murdoch — to be in a separate, friendlier category, where he has warm relations with various personalities.' For example, on the same day Trump filed his lawsuit, the president promoted his close pal Sean Hannity's show, urging his followers to watch later that evening because Hannity 'really gets it.' In the end, Murdoch has barely constrained his disdain for Trump over the years, and has at times hoped to even make him a 'non-person' within GOP politics – especially when the reality star-turned-MAGA king has damaged Fox News' balance sheet. Early on in Trump's political rise, Murdoch hoped to stop the former Apprentice star dead in his tracks with the first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. 'This has gone on long enough,' he told his then-lieutenant Roger Ailes, directing the Fox News chief to have the moderators pummel Trump with hard-hitting questions. Of course, after Trump publicly attacked Megyn Kelly following the debate and the right-wing base ate it up, Murdoch and the network eventually relented and sided with the eventual president over their star anchor. The on-again/off-again friendship, meanwhile, would continue over the course of the next decade. After keeping things congenial throughout Trump's first term, tensions once again escalated between the two following the 2020 presidential election, which saw Fox News become the first network to call the battleground state of Arizona for Joe Biden. That decision resulted in a domino effect that saw Fox News' ratings briefly collapse as furious MAGA supporters fled to fringe right channels that would peddle Trump's election lies, eventually leading to the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News – which began trumpeting election fraud conspiracies to lure back viewers – that would cost Murdoch $787.5 million. Following Trump's exit from office in 2021, the two men barely talked for years, and Trump was even given a 'soft ban' from appearing on Fox for a period of time. Murdoch also attempted to use his vast media empire to back potential challengers to Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination, particularly Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. The Fox News audience, however, was having none of it and Trump easily secured the nomination – and Murdoch's backing once more. Still, even before Trump decided to take Murdoch to court, the president continued to air his gripes about the coverage he was receiving from the mogul's news outlets – especially the Wall Street Journal. Hosting Murdoch in an Oval Office meeting in February, Trump groused when a reporter asked about a recent WSJ op-ed blasting him for starting the 'dumbest trade war in history.' 'I'm going to have to talk to him about that,' Trump grumbled with Murdoch sitting mere feet away. Amid the president's ongoing assault on legacy and mainstream media outlets, whether it's coercing news organizations to settle frivolous lawsuits or pressuring billionaires to change their newspapers' editorial direction or defunding public media groups, some have wondered if Murdoch will stand up and be the improbable savior of the First Amendment. 'Is this what we have come to—depending on Rupert Murdoch to stand up for press freedom?' Tina Brown, the former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair and The Daily Beast, wrote recently. 'Amidst the Trumpian slide towards authoritarian bullying of the press, it raises the increasingly urgent question of whom we can turn to keep independent journalism alive.'
