Jon Stewart admitted he was “a little surprised” at the pushback he received after revealing that he believed the coronavirus came from a lab-leak in Wuhan, China.
“I don’t think he [host Stephen Colbert] was nervous,” the 58-year-old former television host of “The Daily Show” shared during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in a piece published Wednesday.
“It’s not like he doesn’t know what I’m going to say,” he added. “Listen, how it got to be that if it was a scientific accident, it’s conservative, and if it came from a wet market, it’s liberal, I don’t know — I’m just not sure how that got politicized.” (RELATED: ‘Lunatic Conspiracy Theories’: Here’s How Liberal Fact Checkers Treated People Who Supported Lab Leak Theory)
.@JonStewart is back, and he has a lot to say https://t.co/Pc5jNXProQ pic.twitter.com/ypltGHLgiu
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 15, 2021
“But it was an inelegant way to get to a bit that I’ve done for years, which is our good-intentioned brilliance will more than likely be our demise,” Stewart continued. “The bit is about the last words that man ever utters, which are, ‘Hey, it worked.’ I guess I was a little surprised at the pushback.”
The political commentator/comedian made headlines earlier this year when he appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
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“So, I will say this—and I honestly mean this—I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to science,” Jon shared at the time. “Science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic, which was more than likely caused by science.”
Colbert pressed Jon if he was suggesting COVID-19 “was created in a lab.” (RELATED: Media Downplayed Or Ignored These 8 Lab Leak Theory Facts For Over A Year)
“A chance?” Stewart replied. “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. The disease is the same name as the lab. That’s just a little too weird!”
When questioned further by the host, Stewart doubled-down on the idea the coronavirus originated in a lab.
“It could be possible that they have the lab in Wuhan to study the novel coronavirus diseases because in Wuhan there are a lot of coronavirus diseases because of the bat population there,” the former talk show host shared.
“It’s a local specialty, and it’s the only place you can find bats,” he added. “Austin, Texas has thousands of them that fly out of a cave every night at dusk. Is there an Austin coronavirus? No, there doesn’t seem to be an Austin coronavirus. The only coronavirus we have is in Wuhan where they have a lab called – what’s the lab called again, Stephen?’
“The Wuhan novel coronavirus lab,” Colbert responded.
“I believe that’s the case,” Stewart replied.