Jon Stewart is publicly torching CBS guardian firm Paramount International and its controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, accusing them of capitulating to President Donald Trump’s political strain so as to advance an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.
Stewart, star of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, which is a subsidiary of Paramount International, mentioned the media local weather has deteriorated to the purpose the place “all must pay tribute to the king,” likening latest company payouts and newsroom purges to mafia-style extortion.
“They just put money into the pot so that hopefully they don’t get [targeted],” Stewart instructed “The Bill Simmons Podcast” on Friday.
“They’re paying — what does that remind you of, Michael? Protection money. Right? It’s protection money.”
His feedback come as Redstone, who stands to personally achieve round $2 billion if the Skydance deal goes via, supported the ouster of CBS Information CEO Wendy McMahon — a transfer sources instructed The Submit alerts progress in mediation talks geared toward settling Trump’s $20 billion defamation lawsuit in opposition to Paramount.
The lawsuit alleges CBS deceptively edited a “60 Minutes” interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris throughout the 2024 election cycle.
Stewart dismissed the lawsuit as a pretext to extract monetary concessions.
“It certainly doesn’t rise to the level of libel, slander or whatever the f–k else they think they’re doing with a $20 billion lawsuit. It was a purely subjective editorial decision,” he mentioned.
“Ultimately, what an awful precedent that these media companies have set.”
McMahon was reportedly pushed out after resisting efforts to settle with Trump, which insiders say contributed to the resignation of veteran “60 Minutes” producer Invoice Owens.
In her resignation memo, McMahon wrote: “It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward.”
CBS CEO George Cheeks instructed employees she would stay for a number of weeks to help with the transition.
Stewart wasn’t refined in his implication that Redstone was behind the strikes, suggesting that high CBS executives have been instructed to challenge apologies as a part of the merger technique.
“Imagine paying $50 million for f–king nothing just to get somebody to approve a merger. It’s bribery,” he mentioned.
“They have to apologize. And these people looked at it and thought, ‘There’s no f–king way I’m going to apologize for doing my job the way it’s supposed to be done just because this one guy is offended by it.’”
Sources instructed The Submit that Skydance government Jeff Shell had little confidence in McMahon’s skill to steer CBS Information.
Her departure adopted a number of controversies, together with plummeting rankings, poor newsroom morale and backlash over perceived interference in editorial choices — corresponding to reprimanding anchor Tony Dokoupil for a troublesome interview with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates on Israel-Hamas tensions.
“I mean, look what they’re doing now at ’60 Minutes’ and CBS News and everything else,” Stewart mentioned.
“I don’t know if these institutions I thought would last my lifetime are going to survive this. It’s insane.”
The “Daily Show” host broadened his criticism to incorporate different media titans.
“ABC had to pay $15 million. [Amazon founder Jeff] Bezos had to pay $40 million for a documentary on Melania. [Meta CEO Mark] Zuckerberg had to pay,” Stewart mentioned, arguing these have been examples of firms bowing to Trump to keep away from authorized threats.
He warned that Redstone’s method units a harmful precedent that Trump will exploit additional.
“Now he’ll go after Harvard and Comcast or whatever the hell else he does. Because a policy of appeasement always leads to more conquest. It’s tragic,” Stewart mentioned.
The Submit has sought remark from Paramount International, Meta, Bezos and ABC Information.
