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The reason for the shift? Stewart and Apple executives “had disagreements over some of the topics and guests,” the sources said. Specifically, they claimed Stewart told staffers that Apple execs took issue with planned programming related to both China and artificial intelligence, and noted that with the 2024 US election coming up, there might have been additional opportunities for disagreement then.
Shows like this should have zero input from executives. If you are not willing to let the show have free rein, you don’t deserve to host the show.
Hopefully Jon Stewart does something else with less corporate oversight.
I was so excited to have him back and so let down when he was cancelled. I really do hope he goes somewhere else
You should be clear; was he canceled or was just his show canceled?
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No, it is a fair question. Over the past few years, a person being cancelled has been defined as someone doing something which makes them a social pariah.
For Jon Stewart, his show got cancelled by his streamer. People will still work with him.
That’s not a new phenomenon. We’ve always had social and professional pariahs. What’s new is that social media has made it easier for everyone everywhere to find out you’re an asshole. Used to be only the powerful people could ruin your career and get you fired and blacklisted. Maybe you pissed off the wrong executive. Maybe you refused the sexual advances of a powerful person. Maybe you were a homosexual or a communist. Today, there are more protections against that sort of abuse at the hands of the powerful people, and there is greater power in the court of public opinion. But the effect is the same.
“Canceled” is a term assholes came up with to rebrand “consequences” to make it seem like something that isn’t their own fault.
“Canceled” is a term assholes came up with to rebrand “consequences” to make it seem like something that isn’t their own fault.
Not sure I agree with this particular take. My recollection is that this usage of cancelled started in progressive internet spaces and was absolutely used to describe consequences for being an asshole.
It’s the exact same trajectory woke took – it was language used by left-leaning people that got co-opted and intentionally diluted by conservatives.
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With “asshole” being defined as whatever the general population performing the cancellation deems it to mean, of course. History has not been kind to many of the cancellations of eras past and likely won’t be kind to some of the ones going on today.
First one, then the other.
Honestly, I hope he leans into his podcast. IMHO, The Problem’s podcast was better than the show.
The podcast was just as effective at highlighting issues of importance, but it was a bit more fun, and it commented more on the weekly news.
IMHO, the podcast did a better job of scratching my 2000’s Daily Show itch. The TV show was fine, but it felt like an even heavier version of Last Week Tonight. It wasn’t a show I could watch if I had a hard week. It was good, but I often finished it somewhat depressed.
I’ll have to check out the podcast. The show was definitely too heavy for me to want to watch most of the time.
HBO should make him an offer. Pull him over to chill with John Oliver again like the good old days.
HBO? Ohh you mean MAX, the hip and cool skateboarding cousin that showed up to HBO’s house in season 7 of the “HBO show” with the bodacious sunglasses and the backward hat.
Yeah, I’m sure that guy is jazzy and gnarly enough to support John Stewart.
Radical!
Haha I honestly forgot sometimes that the streaming platform is just MAX now. I work for a cable company and deal with customers who have HBO in their cable packages. It’s such a habit to call it HBO still heh… and Lat Week Tonight does still technically air on HBO on TV. It’s just the streaming episode goes up within 30 mins of the airing generally.
The Other Problem with John Stewart: Apple is Beholden to China
For real. Maybe PBS can afford him.
You think big business that advertised on pbs would allow that?
Have you ever watched Frontline? It’s basically The Problem, but with no jokes. They have a LOT of hour long pieces shitting on the CCP.
The government wants that which means big business has an angle, probably.
I’ve actually not seen tv in a year, even at friends’ houses. I can usually find interesting content online.
Well, Frontline has been running for many many years. My point is that PBS has shows that are famous for shitting on corrupt entities, even if those corrupt entities decide to donate to PBS.
I’m sure they do; that doesn’t discount this, though.
Holy shit, what a take.
Shows like this should have zero input from executives. If you are not willing to let the show have free rein, you don’t deserve to host the show.
What if the talent wants to glorify pedophiles?
Fuck Apple, let the man speak.
This feels like corporate shortsightedness; Apple sees a huge overlap in John Stewart and their own core user base so it seems like an easy win to give him a show that does the investigative journalism that endeared him in the first place. But then he start asking questions about the stock market and poking at potential investors and outside pressure is pushing internal executive conversations that eventually realize the millions they can make by keeping him on the air is nothing compared to the billions lost of investors start pulling out and draining the Apple stock price.
Apple’s only identity at this point is the billions it makes from an over valued stock price. Mr. Stewart threatened it. So capitalism happened.
Oh come on. They’re not preventing him from speaking, they’re choosing to stop putting million$ into a show with someone they no longer want to do business with (for whatever reason; details not clear).
If the show has legs, Stewart will certainly find a new host. Could be a nice catch for one of the other biggies.
Yeah they’re allowing him to speak about only what they deem as “appropriate”. Preventing him from speaking about china is not “letting him speak” as you put it. It also sounds like the reasons for not wanting to do business is pretty clear. Stewart wants to talk about things that apple feels might show them in some not great light, so they can’t have any of that.
He can and will say whatever he wants!
Apple just doesn’t want to fund the show.
Two different things.
He can say whatever he wants as an individual, but Apple is absolutely preventing him from speaking on their services because he’s saying things they don’t agree with. Don’t be pedantic
Yeah I wonder why they suddenly aren’t cool with the show. Seems pretty strange
As usual Jon shows that he is a man of principles. Fuck apple.
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Where can he go? Haven’t we turned every platform into profit seeking machines. Any places that could have supported this type of media got chocked out long ago.
PBS?
I would love a Jon Stewart PBS tote bag.
Unless John Oliver is next to get the can, HBO has always been a safe spot for true free speech, and he really pushes the envelope. But they may not have room in their schedule for two shows like his.
Please don’t say those words out loud. That would be a travesty… I get nervous because he has already been doing this show for 9 years next month and that’s kind of getting into show ending territory.
Shows like John Oliver could go 20+ years easily. If he’s happy and making the exact show he wants to make, I don’t see why he wouldn’t keep going. Bill Maher is on season/year 21. And it really can’t be that expensive compared to their other tent poles.
He’s doing it for fun at this point. He can post on Oddysea/Peertube/etc… and be completely out of just about anyone’s jurisdiction.
There are small independent news groups who I’m sure would be happy to have him. They don’t have their own streaming services, but could likely put his videos on their website or YouTube. The big issue is they couldn’t afford Stewart.
Between this on Apple TV+ and Netflix cancelling Patriot Act with Hassan Minaj, it seems there is definitely a big issue with profit driven platforms worried about pissing off actual nations by literally just stating facts.
For profit corporate owned platforms really are starting to show their limitations at this point. Eventually I think we’re going to need a lot more self hosted, possibly federated, platform hosting if we want to address the limitations imposed by a single for profit platform owner driven by engagement and beholden to investors.
Apple deplatforming Stewart is the same issue as Musk tanking Twatter or YouTube demonetizing small content creators because it’s profitable - a privately owned platform with the sole goal of maximizing profit and investment income doesn’t advance the cause of free discussion for the public good.
The problem isn’t hosting its paying for production of content. His existing stuff will probably stay up and I find it unlikely that YouTube will take down the mean things John Oliver has said about China. The issue is shows with that amount of research and production is that they need a lot of money to produce content.
It’s not anything new that you feel pushback in media whenever someone attempts to challenge the status quo.
More reason for universal standardized content access with universal type apps, anyoen can create content and distribute it to millions of people. These networks have always been about convenience, which they have a properietary tech on apparantly.
Did you just invent YouTube?
No, they invented html.
Hassan Minaj
Didn’t he have problems with his staff? They complained on twitter iirc.
This would happen at Amazon or Netflix or Disney, too. Apple’s not special in not wanting to piss off the CCP
John Oliver doesn’t seem to have a problem with HBO/Max
Colbert seems to struggle more with the FCC regulations on what he can’t say and show more than what CBS wants. It’s less often now but at the start of his Late Show he really appeared to be mean to CBS on-air specifically to prove that they didn’t have a presence in his writers room.
HBO doesn’t have a hardware business dependent upon China
My guess is that it has more to do with viewership and Emmy wins. His show was frequently telling people that AT&T has terrible service. I can’t imagine AT&T would’ve let that fly if he wasn’t driving viewers and signups.
Capitalism can commercialize anything including critiques of capitalism.
Similarly, corporations can sell anything, including critiques of themselves.
Reminds me of the Beatles selling “Beatles Hater” merch.
Oliver also has a lot of Emmy wins. He might also have a larger viewing audience.
My guess is that Oliver, like Viacom era Jon Stewart, is popular enough that he can shit on his employer.
Stuart has 22 Emmys from the Daily Show and Colbert Report combined. John Oliver has 17; 3 from the Daily Show and 14 from Last Week Tonight.
I agree with others who said this is Apple’s problem, not Stewart’s. He can get a platform/desk anywhere he wants one.
The past wins are kind of irrelevant. My point is that viewership and wins for his new show might not be strong enough for him to push back hard.
Not trying to victim blame the guy, just saying that he’s been in stronger positions with past shows. The Daily Show was raking in emmys and was the primary reason many people tuned into Comedy Central. It was probably really easy for him to pushback on network notes back then. He had the ability to seriously hurt viewership if he bailed CC.
“That’s right, Business Daddy! Bend over and get ready to take it”
Oliver shits on Business Daddy regularly.
And business daddy appreciates that it’s good business. As soon as you threaten business daddy’s business interest it’s game over. Luckily HBO’s motives are more aligned with journalism than Apple’s. Apple is literally the Orwellian nightmare they mocked in ads 40 years ago.
He’s been shitting on his employer pretty much since the beginning. It just seems like he went for the fuck around and find out method and I am willing to bet that him and his staff are quite surprised he hasn’t found out after all these years.
He likely more power back in the day. He drove a LOT of viewership at Comedy Central. They needed him more than he needed them. That probably not the case for his Apple show. That’s Ted Lasso, Severance, or Foundation.
eh, wth would netlfix or amazon care what china thinks??
apple has major physical investment in china… thats the conflict of interest here. a media conglomerate changing the story because businessmonies.
Netflix is a bad example, but Amazon and Disney do a lot of business with China. Amazon has e-commerce and web services offerings in china. Also they, like Apple, manufacture a LOT of shit there. Disney is simpler. They want to sell their media in China.
I’m sure most Disney merchandise is also made in China.
I wonder if this was a Youtube channel he owned… Would google capitulate? Though I can’t imagine it would be worth it for Jon to be on Youtube.
YouTube is blocked in China and most other oppressive regimes. You can definitely find lots of china criticism there.
Jon could start an entire new video platform in this very moment.
The combination of long overdue hatred for YouTube, along worh our being tired of unnecessary restrictions on free speech, means someone is gonna make a kick ass video sharing plafltform soon. I hope. But they need to have a lot of existing clout, like Jon has.
Right now, nobody has found a way to make a video platform financially viable yet. The only way to ask for crazy high subscription fees, and even then it’s very risky.
Google has been trying to get a foothold in China for a couple of decades. The government there don’t want Google, and Google has previously jumped through hoops to make apps and services just for that market to try to placate them. It wasn’t successful before but they keep trying. I don’t think Google would think twice about axing a YouTube channel if they were aware the content was anti-CCP and has a big enough audience.
They all want access to the Chinese market.
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Yep, and the article says that:
“The show’s cancellation is indicative of the kinds of challenges owners of platforms (like Apple, Amazon, Google, and others) face when they are producing content, too.”
Netflix is for less beholden to the ccp than Apple or Amazon
I always remember, when I see Martin Scorsese throw shade at Disney in an interview, that when he made Kundun, the CCP didn’t like it and made Disney restrict distribution of the film. Michael Eisner literally hired Henry Kissinger to do damage control afterwards.
Good on Stewart for not being a corporate shill. Fuck Apple!
What a badly written article. It’s like an article that had a point that got forgotten 2/3rds through and then just ends. If you’ve read the NYT article, this adds literally zero information. It’s a poorly executed paraphrase.
I didn’t watch the show (because I don’t have Apple+) but I’m still really disappointed because he had a podcast companion that I listened to, and the man and his writers and researchers are sharp as fuck. It was so incisive, and I really admired how he was bringing what felt like Eugene Debbs and Studs Terkel levels of socialism but without ever using those words.
I also liked how the show clearly had diverse voices, but it didn’t seem to pander or brag about it.
The Podcast was really really good. I preferred it to the show. I hope he continues to explore that format.
Won’t someone think of the poor billion dollar corporations!!
Trillion
I cannot even fathom that amount of money.
And it’s trillions. Plural. Imagining one trillion is impossible. Having that same amount more than twice is just… Seems a bit much.
On a separate note (or possibly related), I just couldn’t get into this show. I love Stewart and watched daily show for years. I found the problem with… Problem was that it had a fear that the content wasn’t good enough to stand on it’s own so there was this constant barrage of quips that frequently fell flat. Maybe the show got better over time (I only caught the first 3 or 4 episodes).
The Daily Show was mostly upbeat and highlighted the absurdity of politics even when they were covering serious topics, so the jokes seemed to flow pretty naturally. In The Problem Jon Stewart would oscillate between serious/morose to a few jokes and back again, it was giving me thematic whiplash and I couldn’t hang with it either. I think Last Week Tonight is The Daily Show’s spiritual successor.
Man have you not watched last week? Morose and serious is like how I would define it. Oliver even made a joke last week about how ‘if I’m talking about something it’s probably horrible and tragic’.
I think this all goes to show tone shifting is a difficult art and artists who choose to do it need to be able nail it or get ready to fall flat. I think Oliver is a master at tone shifting and it’s all done with taste and confidence.
Jon Oliver is very careful to segregate jokes for levity from sensitive topics. Jon on the Problem would regularly never make a tonal or topical shift when putting in a joke, which really made it feel like a desparate, uncomfortable interjection during a serious rant rather than a lighthearted reminder that we’re still on Earth while discussing a travesty.
Same thing happened to me. I wonder if these articles are just ignoring the ratings.
Which ratings do think we should use that is not manipulated these days? Apple’s own rating? IMDB? Any others?
For someone going after state actors like China, they could drop them overnight, or trickle it to go under the radar.
ratings… geez, next you’re gonna say we should trust ecommerce ratings for online purchases.
they should just make an AI John Stewart and deep fake the video so they can have all the clout John brings without the potential trouble John’s rational and thoughtful dialogue also brings
Bummer. Apple has had some of the best streaming content right now. IMHO, it’s what HBO should’ve been. This is definitely puts a black eye on the service for me.
This is definitely puts a black eye on the service for me
Right, forget about all the sweatshops and suicide nets and slave labour. this one is crossing the line.
“but but but everyone does it…”
no shit, Apple normalized it.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Its cancellation sheds some light on the conflict of priorities Apple faces as it leans more into content rather than just selling tools, platforms, and gadgets.
The New York Times article cites “several people with knowledge of the situation,” saying that staffers working on the show were told at the end of the day Thursday that it would not move forward.
Specifically, they claimed Stewart told staffers that Apple execs took issue with planned programming related to both China and artificial intelligence, and noted that with the 2024 US election coming up, there might have been additional opportunities for disagreement then.
Regarding China, Apple execs may have been worried that Stewart’s planned commentary could alienate customers or partners in the country.
Primarily, it uses machine learning to drive things like search suggestions, photography, and palm detection.
The show’s cancellation is indicative of the kinds of challenges owners of platforms (like Apple, Amazon, Google, and others) face when they are producing content, too.
The original article contains 440 words, the summary contains 162 words. Saved 63%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the problem with all modern media. It’s all profit based. It’s all a manipulation scheme to get you to fork over money.
Freedom of the press has evolved into press for sale. It is ironic that we live in a world that is more interconnected than ever before, with anyone able to speak their mind to people across the globe, yet the rich still control the flow of information.
This is why Severance is so fucked
Why?
I started writing “Because Apple is keeping an underground slave workforce” as a joke, but had to circle back.
Could Amazon swoop in and hire him? Would be a boss move if they did that.
If there is one company more evil than Apple it’s Amazon. At least the genius bar workers arent forced to piss in bottles and work thru tornados
Yes that’s definitely worse than exploiting slave labour in China for 2 decades, amirite?
Oh you sweet summer child. You think Amazon reviews the supply chain of the products they sell? Unlike apple they get to feign ignorance.
It’s not about good and evil, it’s about relying on someone business-wise or not.
