Jon Stewart hosted FTC (Federal Trade Commission) chair Lina Khan on his weekly Daily Show segment yesterday, but Stewart’s own revelations were just as interesting as Khan’s. During the sit-down, Stewart admitted that Apple asked him not to host Khan on a podcast, which was an extension of his The Problem with Jon Stewart Apple TV+ show at the time.
“I wanted to have you on a podcast and Apple asked us not to do it,” Stewart told Khan. “They literally said, ‘Please don’t talk to her.’”
In fact, the entire episode appeared to have a “things Apple would let us do” theme. Ahead of the Khan interview, Stewart did a segment on artificial intelligence he called “the false promise of AI,” effectively debunking altruistic claims of AI leaders and positing that it was strictly designed to replace human employees.
“They wouldn’t let us do even that dumb thing we just did in the first act on AI,” he told Khan. “Like, what is that sensitivity? Why are they so afraid to even have these conversations out in the public sphere?”
The Problem With Jon Stewart was abruptly cancelled ahead of its third season, reportedly following clashes over potential AI and China segments. That prompted US lawmakers to question Apple, seeking to know if the decision had anything to do with possible criticism of China.
While I appreciate the heads up, I’ve had far more people in the industry complaining about the intentional misnomer (some even consider it irresponsible) on the part of the media.