Jon Stewart is getting attacked by his usual lefty admirers after fully throwing his support behind the belief that COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese lab.
The former “Daily Show” host started going viral after a blistering appearance on “The Late Show” Monday in which he scoffed at anyone who doubted that the pandemic originated in Wuhan could not be tied to the major coronavirus-studying lab in the same city.
“The disease is the same name as the lab!” he repeatedly said, saying, “That’s f–ed up.”
His support of the theory — long rubbished by the left after being touted by former President Trump and his administration — appeared to irk host Stephen Colbert, who flailed around for comebacks.
“And how long have you worked for Sen. Ron Johnson?” Colbert asked, comparing Stewart, 58, to the Republican Senator who last week said that evidence of a lab leak “has been hiding in plain sight for months.”
Amid a barrage of outrage from leftist commentators on social media, Stewart’s appearance even drew an op-ed in The Washington Post.
Opinion writer Paul Waldman openly admitted that much of his beef was that Stewart “always delighted more in skewering Republicans,” suggesting that his new direction meant he was no longer an “immensely important figure.”
“This [lab-leak] theory has become associated with conservatives trying to prove that former President Donald Trump was right about everything,” he said, ignoring the fact that President Biden has ordered a major investigation into it.
Stewart’s lengthy tirade came when he was asked about scientific measures tied to the pandemic as he appeared on Colbert’s first “Late Show” back in front of a live audience.
“Science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic … which was more than likely caused by science,” he said to nervous laughter and applause.
Colbert made it clear he does not support the lab-leak theory, asking his guest, “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.”
“A chance? Oh my god!” Stewart replied with clear incredulity. “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, don’t you think?” he said.
