Jon Stewart Worries 'The Daily Show' Will Be a Casualty of Paramount's Capitulation

There was a part of me that wondered if, maybe, David Ellison — the owner of Skydance who gave nearly $1 million to Joe Biden’s reelection efforts — would buy Paramount and return 60 Minutes and CBS News to their former glory after Paramount’s current majority shareholder, Shari Redstone, capitulates to Trump, settles for $40 to $60 million (as the latest rumor suggests), and pushes through the acquisition.

I think that ship fully sailed when David Ellison was spotted at a UFC fight in April with the President. Ellison is a billionaire, and billionaires do what billionaires do: sacrifice ethics, morality, and even personal beliefs in the pursuit of more money. If the merger ever goes through, it’s entirely possible the situation at CBS News could get even worse. Its president, Wendy McMahon, was forced out along with 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens for refusing to play ball, and that may just be the beginning.

It’s certainly a concern for Jon Stewart, who hosts The Daily Show and worries that the Comedy Central series could become collateral damage in the merger. As he told The Bill Simmons Podcast when asked whether he’d consider hosting a second night each week:

“I’m in a spot where I can do [The Daily Show on] Monday until the company is bought out by people that don’t want anything to do with The Daily Show, and then who the fuck knows what’s gonna happen. I mean, look at what they’re doing now at 60 Minutes and CBS News and everything else,” he said.

“What you’re seeing now is all must pay tribute to the king, and the price of peace is different. ABC had to pay $15 million. Bezos had to pay $40 million for a documentary on Melania. The reason the guy from 60 Minutes and the head of CBS News left is — it’s not even about the money … Part of the deal is they have to apologize. And in that moment, these people who have built careers on their excellence and their integrity have to look and go, alright, I hope I’ve done well enough that I can weather this, but there is no fucking way that I am going to apologize for doing my job the way it’s supposed to be done just because this one guy is offended by it.”

And the thing is, even if Shari Redstone settles, there’s no guarantee Trump will allow the merger to go through. There’s zero evidence that capitulation has worked for anyone. The $15 million payment didn’t stop the President from crapping on ABC. Government cases against Google and Facebook have continued despite payments from their CEOs. Apple CEO Tim Cook played ball, and the President is still threatening 25 percent tariffs on iPhones. These payments buy, at best, a few days of appeasement. The loss of reputation, however, is permanent, as several law firms who paid the President are now finding out, and they will suffer further when they have to endure the indignity of fighting on behalf of the President’s frivolous lawsuits for free.

And I guess my question is: why would David Ellison even want Paramount after all of this? It’s damaged goods.

“Imagine paying $50 million for fucking nothing, just to get somebody to approve a merger,” Stewart said on the podcast. “A policy of appeasement always leads to more conquest.”

Not for nothing, but it’s also an illegal bribe, as several members of Congress and a group of Paramount shareholders have argued and will be arguing in court. It’s hard to see paying $50 million to the President over a meritless lawsuit in exchange for approving a merger as anything but a bribe. And that’s illegal.

Or at least it used to be.