On the most recent episode of “The Daily Show,” comedian-host Jon Stewart revealed that his former bosses at Apple stopped him from interviewing the chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission.
After his monologue on Monday, Mr. Stewart sat down with FTC head Lina Khan for an interview. During the interview, Mr. Stewart said executives at Apple told him not to interview Ms. Khan for a podcast.
“They literally said, ’Please don’t talk to her,’ having nothing to do with what you do for a living. I think they just … I didn’t think they cared for you is what happened,” Mr. Stewart said Monday. ” … Why are they so afraid to even have these conversations out in the public sphere?”
After leaving hosting duties at “The Daily Show” in 2016, Mr. Stewart started a new commentary and interview show on Apple TV+ called “The Problem With Jon Stewart.” While the show was successful and brought Mr. Stewart’s voice back into the mainstream, he and the tech giant parted ways over creative differences in late 2023.
Monday’s revelation comes in the wake of a massive antitrust lawsuit brought against Apple by the U.S. Department of Justice. The suit, filed March 21, marks the biggest legal attack on Apple from federal regulators.
The suit accuses the company of using illegal business practices to stamp out competition and control speech.
“Apple undermines apps, products, and services that would otherwise make users less reliant on the iPhone, not by making its own products better, but by making other products worse,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said after the suit was made public.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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