Fox News refused to have Jon Stewart on to talk about veterans' healthcare: 'We’ve been begging'
Update July 29, 2022: Fox News has released the following statement: "We have welcomed Jon Stewart on our programs many times to spotlight his critical work with veterans and 9/11 first responders and look forward to having him on America's Newsroom today at 10:30 a.m. as well as Special Report this evening."
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On MSNBC Prime Thursday, Jon Stewart appeared from his car at a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike to discuss Senate Republicans blocking legislation meant to help veterans suffering from health issues related to burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq. Earlier in the day, Stewart spoke outside the Capitol, he appeared on The Lead With Jake Tapper on CNN, and even found himself on right-wing outlet Newsmax.
“Look, you and I can talk about it ’til we’re blue in the face, they’re never gonna hear this. There’s an information silo,” Stewart said. “I was lucky enough to be able to get ahold of Newsmax this morning and go on there. Might have been the first time those viewers had ever heard about it.”
But Fox News, whose primetime lineup ignored the story altogether, repeatedly declined to let their viewers hear what Stewart had to say.
“Fox News, they’ve refused to put me on all day,” Stewart said. “We’ve been begging them to get on the air all day long so that we can finally bring along some possible accountability to these senators.”
And Stewart pushed back on a narrative regularly pushed on Fox, that the military is falling short of recruiting goals because of so-called wokeness. Stewart believes it’s actually because of exactly the sort of thing we’re seeing right now.
“They keep talking about, boy, there’s a recruitment problem in the Army because of the pronouns they’re using. It’s not the pronouns,” Stewart said. “It’s that young people see that this government doesn’t live up to its obligations to its fighters. It’s as simple as that.”
Video Transcript
JON STEWART: Look, you and I can talk about it till we're blue in the face. They're never going to hear this. There's an information silo. I was lucky enough to be able to get a hold of Newsmax this morning and go on there. Might have been the first time those viewers had ever heard about it.
KYLIE MAR: Jon Stewart appeared on MSNBC Prime Thursday, where he discussed Senate Republicans blocking legislation meant to help veterans suffering from health issues related to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. Stewart spoke earlier in the day outside the Capitol. He spoke to CNN's Jake Tapper and on right-wing outlet Newsmax. But Fox News, whose primetime lineup ignored the subject altogether, refused to have him on.
JON STEWART: Fox News, they refused to put me on all day. We've been begging them to get on the air all day long, so that we can finally bring along some possible accountability to these senators.
KYLIE MAR: Stewart also called out Senate Republicans for now blocking a bill that they overwhelmingly supported just last month.
JON STEWART: By the way, most of whom voted for the bill and then turned around and voted against it even though there was no material change. I've never seen anything like it. Nobody on the Hill has ever seen anything like it.
KYLIE MAR: And Stewart pushed back on a narrative regularly pushed on Fox that the military is falling short of recruiting goals because of so-called wokeness. Stewart believes it's because of exactly the sort of thing we're seeing right now.
JON STEWART: They keep talking about, boy, there's a recruitment problem in the Army because of the pronouns they're using. It's not the pronouns. It's that young people see that this government doesn't live up to its obligations to its fighters. It's as simple as that.
