U.S. Dept. of Energy’s assessments noting the COVID-19 virus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, echo the findings of multiple teams of scientists from as early as Mar 7, 2020. However, for the last two years, those assessments were rejected by Biden administration officials and federal health agencies such as the FDA and CDC.
Stewart, well known for his television show, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” suggested during a June 2021 guest appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” the COVID-19 virus may not be naturally occurring and may have originated in a lab in Wuhan.
Though Stewart was merely encouraging a dialogue on possibilities, the left harshly criticized him and he almost lost his job.
During Monday’s episode of his new AppleTV+ show, “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” the comedian was asked if recent admissions by the FBI and U.S. Energy Department made him feel “vindicated.”
Stewart laughed when the question was asked, saying, “Do you want me to be canceled, again?” He added, “First of all, I wasn’t waiting on the Department of Energy to weigh in on this.”
Noting the importance of being able to discuss matters honestly and objectively, Stewart said: “The larger problem with all of this is the inability to discuss things that are within the realm of possibility without falling into absolutes and litmus-testing each other for our political allegiances as it arose from that.”
Speaking of how those who question the official narrative concerning COVID-19 are often vilified, Stewart said: “My bigger problem with that was, I thought it was a pretty good bit that expressed kind of how I felt, and the two things that came out of it were, I’m racist against Asian people, and how dare I align myself with the alt-right.”
Stewart noted the backlash he experienced following his comments on the Colbert show was “swift, immediate and quite loud.” The host added: “The part that I don’t like about it is the absolutes and the dismissive like ‘f–k you, I’m done with you. I will never forgive you, you have crossed an unforgivable line. You’ve expressed an opinion that is antithetical to mine, or not mine.”
Stewart continued, “What was stunning to me, I think, was the anger.”
At the time, Colbert seemed shocked by Stewart’s comments. When Stewart said, “Science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic, which was more than likely caused by science,” Colbert replied: “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.”
Stewart pushed back: “A chance? O…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.”
“There’s been an outbreak of chocolatey goodness near Hershey, Pennsylvania. What do you think happened?'” Stewart added. “Like, ‘Oh I don’t know, maybe a steam shovel mated with a cocoa bean?’ Or it’s the … chocolate factory.”
On Feb 13, CBS News reported that “House Republicans have kicked off an investigation into the origins of COVID-19 by issuing a series of letters to current and former Biden administration officials for documents and testimony.”
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