A day after a report said the U.S. Energy Department now views a lab leak as the most likely explanation for the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic, comedian Jon Stewart recalled how he was ostracized for voicing the same opinion two years ago when it was widely panned as a conspiracy theory by most mainstream media outlets, the New York Post reported Tuesday.
Stewart was referring to his appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in June 2021 in which Stewart said "science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic, which was more than likely caused by science."
Colbert responded: "Do you mean perhaps there's a chance that this was created in a lab? If there's evidence, I'd love to hear it."
Stewart replied: "A chance? Oh, my God! There's a novel respiratory coronavirus overtaking Wuhan, China, what do we do? Oh, you know who we could ask? The Wuhan novel respiratory coronavirus lab."
Stewart recalled that the backlash he faced was "swift, immediate and quite loud," adding that "the part that I don't like about it is the absolutes and the dismissive like, F you, I'm done with you. I will never forgive you, you have crossed an unforgivable line. You've expressed an opinion that is antithetical to mine, or not mine," the New York Post reported.
"What was stunning to me, I think, was the anger."
Stewart added: "The larger problem with all of this is the inability to discuss things that are within the realm of possibility without falling into absolutes and litmus-testing each other for our political allegiances as it arose from that.
"My bigger problem with that was, I thought it was a pretty good bit that expressed kind of how I felt, and the two things that came out of it were: I'm racist against Asian people, and how dare I align myself with the alt-right."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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