Wyatt Cenac disappointed but not surprised by Jon Stewart “excusing” Tony Hinchcliffe

Cenac criticized Stewart’s history of protecting comedians despite, well, everything. Previously, Stewart had “defended” Joe Rogan, whom Spotify recently rewarded with a $250 million contract for years of spreading COVID misinformation, and Dave Chappelle, who has spent the last year reportedly buying a town in Ohio when he isn’t demonizing trans people on stage. He “feigned ignorance” over the Louis CK allegations, an open secret so open that Gawker wrote about it as early as 2012. So when Stewart guffawed at Hinchcliffe calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” Cenac was hardly shocked.

Ultimately, Cenac argues that the guy receiving a “lucrative” part-time schedule to return to being “America’s Most Trusted Newsman” is more than a clown. As Cenac notes, The Daily Show, in Stewart’s words, takes news “a little more seriously than the media did.” Stewart wasn’t “defending comedy as much as suggesting to racists maybe if their hate speech had made him laugh, he might have their backs too.” To Cenac, “defending comedy” would’ve included pointing out that Hinchcliffe wasn’t performing at a comedy club (though his Puerto Rico material died there, too—so much for the audience is always right). It might also include, as Cenac writes, holding Rogan to the same standard as other purveyors of misinformation like Glenn Back or Tucker Carlson. Alas, the failed comedians of the far right aren’t clowns; they’re the ones shaping culture, news, and beliefs.

“Like it or not, Joe Rogan is this moment’s Jon Stewart, but with content more in line with Alex Jones,” Cenac writes. “And the Jon Stewart that Rogan is emulating seems reluctant to challenge his friend out of respect to some comedy omertà.”

Read the op-ed here.