Jon Stewart drew a big reaction from his “Daily Show” audience after resurfacing an Epstein files photo of Stephen Hawking.
The comedian brought back the controversial image of the famed theoretical astrophysicist during Monday’s monologue, where he unpacked artificial intelligence leaders’ promise of a better future.
“We’ve got a great show for you tonight. We’re doing something a little different tonight,” Stewart said at the top of the show. “We’re doing a theme show. Tonight’s program is all about AI.”
Audience members then erupted into a round of boos, prompting Stewart to respond with: “Suddenly, the audience takes a turn. My God, AI? We’re talking about it for the whole show, from A to I.”
“As you know, many of you here, there has been great concern lately over AI and what data centers will do to local communities,” he continued. “The threats posed by rogue AI agents. So President Trump called all of the biggest AI leaders to the White House to finally address the concerns of the American people. And you know that Trump is going to bring the heat because –”
Stewart’s crowd then interrupted his monologue with laughter. “Don’t be cynical,” he commented before continuing on. “He’s going to bring the heat. Trump has been very clear what he thinks about these Silicon Valley elites.”
“The Daily Show” then played all the times Trump insulted power players in the tech world, including Mark Zuckerberg – who he repeatedly called a “weirdo.”
“I got to say, I did not know Trump said true stuff at his rallies. I’ve been too hard on him,” Stewart quipped. “But no, no, this is going to be great.”
As Stewart pondered what Trump was set to announce, news footage played of the president declaring that AI leaders would “police themselves.”
“They’re tyrants. They’re tyrants. The enemies of the people will watch the dishonest,” Stewart responded. “The tyrants will watch the crooked. And everyone will keep an eye on the weirdo, right?”
“What happened? I thought you hated these guys. Now you got little inside jokes?” he continued. “What, did they give you millions of dollars or something? I’m being told they gave him millions of dollars.”
Stewart then questioned how the Trump administration could “justify letting the tech giants regulate themselves.”
Trump’s response? That these “seriously high IQ people” were “watching over each other.”
Here’s where Stewart drew attention to Hawking’s appearance in the Epstein files. “Wow. Well, yeah. I mean, seriously high IQ people would never have a problem watching over each other to make sure that moral and legal lines aren’t crossed,” Stewart quipped. “Like, in the 2008 financial crisis or this real Epstein files photo of Stephen Hawking.”
In response to the jab, the crowd at the “Daily Show” taping could be heard laughing, gasping and cheering for over 10-seconds as Stewart stared awkwardly into the camera.
“I thought it was a symposium,” Stewart then remarked while doing an impression of Hawking’s synthetic voice. This sparked another big reaction from the crowd, who loudly laughed as Stewart shrugged at the camera.
He added: “I was going to hell anyway.”
For Stewart’s full monologue, in which he debated Meta’s Muse mascot, watch the video above.
“The Daily Show” airs weeknights at 11 p.m. ET on Comedy Central.
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