Jon Stewart’s show could be coming to an end, after the star spoke out about his parent company Paramount’s decision to settle Donald Trump’s $20billion lawsuit.
The insight stems from an encounter between Status’s Oliver Darcy and Paramount Skydance Co-CEO George Cheeks that occurred Thursday at the company’s first press conference since being bought out by Skydance Media for $8billion.
Darcy asked Cheeks asked about Stewart, who three weeks ago revealed he wasn’t sure whether Paramount Skydance – the company now run by 42-year-old David Ellison – would cancel his show when his contract runs out in December.
Cheeks reportedly responded by asserting it was ‘day one’ of the new company, suggesting no decision had been made. Darcy, a former CNN reporter, pointed out renewals are usually negotiated months in advance.
Cheeks’ answer did not change – hinting at potential career trouble for Stewart, according to Darcy.
Moments before, Darcy asked Cheeks about Stephen Colbert, who has continued to cast doubt on CBS and Paramount’s statement that his show was canceled purely for financial reasons.
Cheeks – the CBS-Paramount exec who pulled the plug on the program – reportedly said he ‘didn’t really know’ where his relationship stood with Colbert, at this point. According to Darcy, that ‘said plenty.’
Stewart’s Daily Show just recorded its highest quarterly ratings in a decade, months after Stewart’s return to hosting Mondays after stepping away in 2015.
Jon Stewart’s show could be coming to an end, according an encounter between Status’s Oliver Darcy and Paramount Skydance Co-CEO George Cheeks
Darcy asked Cheeks asked about Stewart and Colbert, whose shows have aired alongside each other for decades. The two are pictured together at the Comedy Central Emmy Party in 2006
Since then, Stewart has flamed his parent company and CBS for pandering to the president, using both his ‘Weekly Show’ podcast and Comedy Central show as platforms. Comedy Central is owned by Paramount Skydance.
‘They haven’t called me and said like, “Don’t get too comfortable in that office, Stewart,”‘ he joked last month on his podcast.
‘But let me tell you something, I’ve been kicked out of sh*ttier establishments than that. We’ll land on our feet. No, I honestly don’t know.’
The assertion came on the heels of a separate report from Status that also suggested Skydance could let him go – or even cancel his show altogether as Cheeks did to Colbert’s.
The move was made just prior to the merger, furthering the idea CBS reached a $16 million settlement in a suit filed by Trump just to secure FCC approval for the sale, which was in limbo in months.
Stewart, 62, said on his July 8 show that the payment reeked of ‘fealty’ and ‘sound[ed] illegal.’
‘No one can ever kiss his a*s enough,’ he said of Trump, complaining news networks like CBS were ‘being held to a standard that will never be satisfactory to [him].’
CBS revealed Colbert was being canned just days later, after nearly a decade of him being a thorn in Trump’s side.
Darcy asked Cheeks asked about Stewart and his contract expiring. Cheeks responded by asserting it was ‘day one’ of the new company, suggesting no decision had been made. Darcy pointed out renewals are negotiated months in advance. Cheeks’ answer did not change
Stewart slammed Cheeks for cancelling Colbert on his program on July 21, claiming Paramount pulled the plug on the program via a backdoor deal at the behest of Skydance to stay on the president’s good side
Pictured, David Ellison, the billionaire owner of Paramount Skydance(pictured sitting in a black blazer), sitting ringside with Trump and members of his team back at a UFC event in April. His father, Larry Ellison, is a prominent Trump donor
Stewart quickly took to his show again to make clear he did not buy CBS’s claim the cancellation was ‘purely for financial reasons’ and again accused execs like Cheeks of capitulating to Trump to secure the sale.
‘I believe CBS lost the benefit of the doubt two weeks prior when they sold out their flagship news program to pay an extortion fee to said president,’ he said on-air on July 21, adding, ‘Andy Rooney must have been rolling over in his bed.’
He continued: ‘I understand the corporate fear. I understand the fear that you and your advertisers have with $8 billion at stake. But understand this.
‘Truly, the shows that you now seek to cancel, censor, and control? A not-insignificant portion of that $8 billion value came from those f**king shows.
‘That’s what made you that money. Shows that say something. Shows that take a stand.’
He told execs: ‘If you believe you can make yourselves so innocuous, that you can serve a gruel so flavorless, that you will never again be on the boy king’s radar… Why will anyone watch you?’
Ellison, the son of MAGA supporting billionaire, Larry Ellison, has said he and Skydance had nothing to do with the decision to cancel Colbert, which also has high ratings.
Others, like David Letterman, have said Cheeks and others at Paramount pulled the plug via a backdoor deal at the behest of Skydance, to stay on the president’s good side.
Daily Mail has reached out to Paramount Skydance for comment.