Five popular late-night talk show hosts — four of them comedians — have either “interviewed” or served as hosts for Clinton Foundation events, raising questions over whether late-night TV will have a pro-Hillary bias heading into the 2016 election.
Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Charlie Rose, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers have all appeared at Clinton Global Initiative events since 2012. And while the appearances have not been kept secret, it is unlikely that the the hosts’ audiences have been made aware of the clear-cut conflicts of interest.
Those conflicts are of a slightly different nature than the one revealed Thursday involving ABC “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos. The Washington Free Beacon reported that Stephanopoulos has donated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation.
A former Clinton White House aide, Stephanopoulos failed to disclose the donations, even during last month’s interview with Peter Schweizer, the author of “Clinton Cash.” The book details numerous apparent conflicts of interest involving the Clintons, their foundation, and wealthy donors.
While the discussion about media bias usually focuses on straight news content, the case could be made that nightly talk show hosts — including comedians — have a major impact in shaping public opinion.
In March 2012, Jon Stewart, the outgoing host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” “interviewed” Clinton at a Clinton Global Initiative University event held at George Washington University in Washington D.C.
Stewart was nothing but charitable to the former president.
“President Clinton is being very modest. He could have taken the route that some ex-presidents take — you do a couple of speaking engagements, and you get yourself a nice little manor, and a pool, and the whole thing. But his commitment to changing the world and to making conditions better around it is inspiring.”
In April 2013, Stephen Colbert held a Q&A session with Clinton at a Clinton Global Initiative University meeting at Washington University in St. Louis.
During the “interview,” Colbert famously helped Clinton sign up for the social networking site Twitter.
In Sept. 2013, Charlie Rose, the host of a nightly show on PBS and co-host of “CBS This Morning” interviewed Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York City.
Rose, the only non-comedian of the Clinton event hosts, conducted a straight, but light-hearted, interview about global issues and the environment.
In May 2014, ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel “interviewed” the entire Clinton clan at the closing session of the Clinton Global Initiative University session held at Arizona State University.
“I am honored to be here with the three of you tonight,” Kimmel said. “[I’m] very friendly with Chelsea, and a great admirer of all of yours.”
“When we see you, we see a super family, a family of people that came from a place that none of us know.”
“You had families and parents and grew up in humble beginnings and all of those things…How do you become the Clinton family?” Kimmel asked, glowingly.
And in Sept. 2014, Seth Meyers, the current host of NBC’s “Tonight Show,” hosted the 8th annual Clinton Global Citizen Awards.
Like Stephanopoulos, Meyers came under fire for failing to disclose his appearance after he aired a segment on his show slamming Schweizer and “Clinton Cash.”
The Daily Caller was unable to determine if any of the hosts were paid for their Clinton event appearances.
