Comedian Jon Stewart ripped into pundit Tucker Carlson over his recent trip to Russia and what Stewart called his capitulation to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Stewart opened his weekly Comedy Central late-night show by mocking Carlson’s two-hour interview with the Russian leader, including the commentator’s lack of pushback on Putin’s propaganda and facial expressions.
Mentioning a video Carlson later published lauding Russian subway systems and grocery stores, Stewart said, “I know I’ve said this before, but you’re such a dick.”
“You aren’t as dumb as your face would have us believe,” Stewart said of Carlson. “Perhaps, if your handlers had allowed, you would have seen there is a hidden fee to all your cheap groceries and orderly streets.”
Stewart brought up the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison last week, calling it “the literal price of freedom.”
“The question is why is Tucker doing this,” Stewart said. “It’s because the old battle civilizational battle was capitalism versus communism … but now they think the battle is woke vs. unwoke. And in that fight, Putin is an ally to the right. He’s their friend. Unfortunately, he’s also a brutal and ruthless dictator. So they have to make Americans a little more comfortable with that.”
Stewart found himself the target of criticisms online and in the media for a monologue last week in which he blasted both President Biden and former President Trump over their ages.