Jon Stewart Slices Hand Open While Slamming DOGE on ‘The Daily Show’

The DOGE cut is the deepest. During a Daily Show segment on Monday, an impassioned Jon Stewart got a bit too riled up behind his desk while discussing the Elon Musk-headed governmental budget-slasher, smashing a coffee mug on his desk and injuring his hand in the process.

At the time, Stewart was mid-rant about DOGE’s approach to pharmaceutical subsidies. “The companies we subsidize with billions of dollars are allowing us the privilege to negotiate the price of 10 of their drugs,” he said. “And 10 is all of them, right? It would be embarrassing if it was a small drop in the bucket, and that the American people didn’t expect that we should negotiate for all their fucking drugs, because we have already paid for them with our subsidies!” On the word “subsidies,” Stewart slammed his “World’s Most Dad” coffee mug on his desk with his right hand, breaking it into pieces and causing the studio audience to audibly gasp.

“Come on! It is fucking insane!,” he shouted, desk covered in shards. While the audience loudly cheered, Stewart looked down at his right hand and then put it below his desk. “I’ll be going to the hospital soon,” he added, calmly.

Stewart continued his segment on DOGE and budget cuts with his right hand under his desk for the majority of the taping. About four minutes after the mug smashing incident, Stewart revealed his right hand—now covered in blood— to the audience, eliciting a concerned “Ooooh!” from the crowd. “It’s fine!” he screamed, before putting it back under the desk and hanging his head.

While the gash looked gnarly, Stewart stuck out the rest of the show, returning to his desk after the commercial break for an interview with Georgetown Law’s Rupa Bhattacharyya, former Special Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. His right hand was bandaged up, but still bleeding. “Oh, wow, this thing’s really coming out,” he said, looking at his bloody finger. In true Stewart fashion, he made light of his injuries during the interview. “In the commercial break, I had a lightsaber battle with one of the crew members, and that’s how that happened,” he said.

His injury must not have been all that serious, as Stewart continued the jokes on X: “We’re back! New Daily Show tonight! It’s a bloody good episode…emphasis on bloody…I’m an idiot.”