After scuttling a months-long search for a new host, the Paramount Global network said it had enlisted Jon Stewart, who presided over the late-night mainstay’s most popular era, to serve as its host on Monday nights throughout the 2024 election cycle and to run the program. He is expected to oversee the program through 2025. Various “Daily Show” correspondents will host the program Tuesday through Thursday nights, and Jen Flanz, the current executive producer, will continue her duties on the show.
Chappelle has been under fire since the release of “The Closer” earlier this month, in which he declared himself to be a “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” (TERF).
“They canceled JK Rowling — my God. Effectually, she said gender was fact, the trans community got mad as s–t, they started calling her a TERF … I’m Team TERF,” Chappelle quipped in the stand-up special.
Stewart defended Chappelle over the anti-trans jokes he made in The Closer.
Speaking with TMZ, he described Chappelle as “warm,” “wise” and “decent.”
“Look, if this spurs a conversation where people get more on the same page in terms of understanding, that’d be great, but I know his intention is never hurtful — like, he’s just not that kind of person,” Stewart said.
“And if it is [hurtful], it’s certainly unintentional … He’s really a good man.”
Stewart and Chappelle have been friends for years, and the pair performed together in Ireland back in 2018.
Stewart specifically defended Chappelle after Chappelle referred to himself as a TERF on his standup special.