One of the tried and true euphemisms of politics is when someone in elected or appointed office steps aside to spend more time with family. It likely means they are in trouble and need to step out of the spotlight before it finds a microphone and ruins them.
Does Jon Stewart have a similar situation?
Apple TV has been paying him to do something for the past two years that was supposed to pass for entertainment and they have abruptly stopped. No more Jon Stewart Show on Apple TV.
Jon Stewart’s show on Apple’s streaming service is abruptly coming to an end, according to several people with knowledge of the decision, the result of creative differences between the tech giant and the former “Daily Show” host…
Mr. Stewart and Apple executives had disagreements over some of the topics and guests on “The Problem,” two of the people said. Mr. Stewart told members of his staff on Thursday that potential show topics related to China and artificial intelligence were causing concern among Apple executives, a person with knowledge of the meeting said. As the 2024 presidential campaign begins to heat up, there was potential for further creative disagreements, one of the people said.
Stewart’s ratings were alleged to be lousy, and the irreconcilable creative difference might be where Stewart wasn’t creating any value for Apple. And that still plays if the problem was Jon wanting to poke China in the eye. Like like most Yuge business models, Apple relies on China to make things cheaply so that when US consumers overpay for their products, they make a lot more money.
Apple axing Stewart over his wanting to make fun of China would be, as John Sexton writes at Hot Air, “pretty repulsive.” But if Stewart was dragging audience eyeballs to the platform in meaningful numbers (droves!), does Apple look the other way, even just a little bit? And how arrogant is Stewart to think that he’s Jon Stewart and he can get another show someplace else if Apple kicks him to the curb over creative differences?
Maybe he can. I’ve never been a fan and never watched his show past sharing the odd clip, so I may not be the best person to answer that question, but I bet he could get a job on MSNBC tomorrow. But The Problem with Jon Stewart (or for Jon Stewart) is they won’t be able to make fun of China there, either, if that was true the issue. He would need to wade into different waters for that. Daily Wire. Daily Caller. EPOCH Times. Which is why I think he’s done over lousy ratings and not creative differences, and I won’t even notice he’s gone.
HT | Hot Air
