Several high-profile names have appeared in the latest batch of the Epstein files, from Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates to disgraced Melania director Brett Ratner. But an unlikely figure who popped up in the latest dump is The Daily Show host Jon Stewart.
Stewart explained to his audience on Monday why exactly he appeared in the files concerning late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Of course, to get ahead of the story, I am also in the files,” Stewart said, feigning nervousness. “We all searched our names, right?”
He clarified that it’s not as bad as the countless—and horrifying—exchanges between Epstein and some of the most recognizable faces in the world. Stewart was named in correspondence between Epstein and Hollywood producer Barry Josephson, known for films such as Enchanted, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and Dirty Grandpa.
“I take you to the scene. It is midnight. Aug. 29, 2015. Jeffrey Epstein lies wide awake, his mind turning with ideas,” Stewart said, before displaying screenshots of the emails.
Epstein and Josephson were apparently discussing the possibility of Woody Allen doing an “exclusive new stand-up routine for either Apple TV or Amazon,” as per a suggestion by Epstein.
Stewart continued narrating the exchange, “Oh, Jeffrey Epstein always had his finger on the pulse of what America was clamoring for in 2015.”
“But Barry Josephson, thinking like the out-of-the-box television professional that he was, pitched this idea. This is true, quote: ‘Make a true biographical experience with his standup being the capper. Somebody like Jon Stewart could host/narrate the biographical part,’” Stewart continued, to uproarious laughter from the crowd.
“Excuse me? I am offended,” he joked. “Somebody like Jon Stewart, or Jon Stewart? My point is, do I have the offer, or is this an audition?”
Allen, the disgraced Hollywood director, met Epstein in 2010 and features prominently in the Epstein files. Stewart remarked on the director’s role in the files, telling his audience, “Y’all know which Woody, right? It’s the Epstein files, it ain’t Harrelson, or the cowboy from Toy Story. You know which one."
Later in the show, Stewart ripped into Trump’s Department of Justice for letting the men actually implicated by the Epstein files off the hook.
