General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHey Jon Stewart, Jokes About Wearing Masks Aren't Funny
Critics of the host say hes a hypocrite.
Julia Métraux
Over the weekend, Covid-cautious individuals shared clips on social media of Jon Stewart punching down on people who are masking, who are presumably doing so to protect themselves from Covid, the flu, and other infectious diseases that are spreading across the United States.
On the December 11 episode of the podcast The Weekly Show With Jon Stewart, guest Tim Miller of The Bulwark said there have to be at least two people at fellow guest Jon Favreaus workplace wearing masks because its a progressive organization. Stewart responded, Theres always two, and you always say, Oh, are you sick? And they go, Uh, I dont want to talk about it.'
Disappointed to see Jon Stewart & co joke about masking in public. I do it for my medically fragile daughter (Batten Disease). People not masking properly led to her getting pneumonia, which led to her being on life support, which led to me getting price quotes on her cremation just in case.
— Philip Palermo (@palermo.bsky.social) 2025-12-29T03:31:53.258Z
First of all, asking people why they are masking is invasive behavior. No one randomly owes you information about their health, their loved ones health, or, understandably, just wanting to avoid Covid, which is the only way to prevent Long Covid. As Ive also previously reported, disabled people in New Yorks Nassau County have reported being harassed after the county passed a mask ban. Cancer patients have also told their stories of being questioned about why theyre masking. Even before the start of the Covid pandemic, populations including cancer patients and organ transplant recipients have been encouraged to mask by healthcare professionals.
Sad that Jon Stewart and friends have become just more white liberals who enjoy punching down at marginalized people who are just doing our best to survive, Karistina Lafae, a disabled author and essayist, told me. Those of us who have Long COVID, who have watched family and friends die of COVID, we are being mocked for taking common-sense precautions against illness and further disability.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/12/hey-jon-stewart-jokes-about-wearing-masks-arent-funny/
newdeal2
(4,716 posts)This is NOT the face of the Democratic party. They have no ideas or bold action - just platitudes about finding ways to get along with Republicans.
Jose Garcia
(3,422 posts)He's a comedian. Comedians tell jokes.
WhiskeyGrinder
(26,216 posts)He hasn't become; he's always been. People just like to give him a pass because he says funny things sometimes. In the meantime he gave oxygen to the lab leak theory and is generally terrible on public health in general. He's an entertainer, not someone to follow.
yardwork
(68,918 posts)I didn't see this coming but it had to begin years ago. People wouldn't have responded so stupidly to basic COVID measures if they weren't already inclined to distrust scientists and medical professionals.
RFK, Jr. did a lot of damage but it can't have been only him.
WhiskeyGrinder
(26,216 posts)yardwork
(68,918 posts)I think what surprises me is that that kind of intentional ignorance became mainstream.
Maybe it's the key to what's happened over the last 40 years.
tanyev
(48,605 posts)and is wearing a mask to protect everybody else!
Maybe, just maybe, it's nobody else's damn business why I choose to wear a mask. Hmph.
Iggo
(49,612 posts)Because Fuck You. Thats why.
Works every time. Im done having to be a science teacher for random idiots. In fact , one of my favorite going-out-and-about shirts says Science Says Youre An Idiot. (Thank you to Glenn from SpectreSoundStudios.)
MustLoveBeagles
(14,605 posts)They should be able to wear them publicly with out harassment. They have their reasons for why they do it and don't owe anyone an explanation.
I'm disappointed in Jon Stewart and the others for punching down. We don't need that shit on our side
🎊 🥳 🎉
Iggo
(49,612 posts)Two seconds of critical thinking told me: Theres always somebody sick on the bus. Theyre probably trying to not get sick.
So theres no reason to ask unless youre trying to start a fight.
MustLoveBeagles
(14,605 posts)tanyev
(48,605 posts)One time the PA came into the little room and saw me with a mask on, she got an alarmed look on her face and asked, "Are you feeling OK?"
LisaM
(29,473 posts)I always assumed that they were trying not to get sick, but since COVID, I also found out that they were trying not to spread germs if they thought they were coming down with something. So good for them.
Attilatheblond
(8,225 posts)It's nobody's business and exceedingly rude to think masked people owe any explanation. Of course, except, for the overpaid violent offenders working for ICE. THEY have a lot to answer for and should be fired for hiding their faces from the public that is forced to pay them.
I was stationed in Japan years ago and we have a friend from the Philippines. It seems most Asians wear masks themselves when they are not feeling well. Also I do use the 'fuck you , that's why' and I use the 'because I can' when people ask stupid questions.
Iggo
(49,612 posts)3catwoman3
(28,535 posts)...season, almost all the Japanese wore masks when out and about in public, especially in large crowds. Seemed smart to me.
Srkdqltr
(9,332 posts)Liberal or not.
LisaM
(29,473 posts)I also think he helped Hillary Clinton lose.
Oneironaut
(6,204 posts)Its kind of silly to say that wearing a mask is a tribal thing. It really isnt. Im not sure why this misconception still exists. I dont think almost anyone just wears a mask to virtue signal. Kind of silly.
Can we also ditch the term, masker? Theyre wearing a medical mask.
MustLoveBeagles
(14,605 posts)It wasn't my intention to cause offense. I'll amend my post
🎉
Oneironaut
(6,204 posts)I was more just hoping it falls out of general use in this country - more so when its used in a derogatory way.
displacedvermoter
(4,105 posts)None our new "heroes" - the Bulwark crew, the Lincoln Project crew, Rick Wilson, Adam Kinzinger, the Cheneys, et al - are Liberals. A number of them have had conscience searing moments over the years, perhaps, though others are just out of jobs in this new much more Fascist GOP that now runs the show they used to be leaders of.
As for Stewart, his shelf life is pretty much expired. Both siderism is really not funny anymore.
Johonny
(25,314 posts)The end of 2024 when Liberals were pointing out that Joe Rogan and other podcasters weren't interested in liberals and that the MSM was clearly biased against the Democratic party during the election year, Tim was laughing that off.
Now Tim is 100 percent all in on the Tech Bros are a real political danger to America and the MSM is a RW mouth piece. The Bulwark crew is always 20 years behind actual liberals.
Pretty soon they will figure out Transgender people are just people...
Renew Deal
(84,661 posts)Rebl2
(17,350 posts)paragraph, first sentence, should insert rich white liberals. I have had the flu. Come on over guys and let me cough all over you, assholes!
I hope you are feeling 100% soon. 💗🙏🏼
markodochartaigh
(4,958 posts)their money from investment and speculation support Democratic politicians and liberal causes, that's great. I will get behind their parade and gladly sweep the streets.
But they should realize that covid, and long covid are real. When their customers die, or are too feeble to buy their products they lose a lot more than if they had separated the tables in their restaurants and encouraged the simple precautions which are all anyone is asking for.
Hope22
(4,449 posts)911 responder support does not negate the damage he continues to do. Face it ignorant people walk around sick as dogs and do not give one f! I on the other hand have people who I love and care for and can not get sick! I still mask and am happy to do it!
Ps..Jons mocking of President Biden was a continual source of disgust for me. Jon, those insults are the reason we are in this mess!
karin_sj
(1,321 posts)... until March 31, 2026: "Mandatory Requirement to Wear Face Masks in Patient Care Areas of Health Care Delivery Facilities During the Designated Winter Respiratory Virus Period."
Of course, you still have the idiots who refuse to wear a mask and there's not much that staff can do to make them wear one. But for the most part, people here wear masks at the doctor's office and at hospitals, and I think that's a good thing.
Went to visit my sister in Sonora last week, and she took a fall and went to the urgent care center. There was one family with an infant, and only they (and us) were wearing masks. Then infant was so young, she wouldn't wear the mask, and was coughing quite a bit. About six other people came in after, looked at the masks that were offered, and sat down (no mask requirements there). My sister said she could hear the doctor talking to the family when she was in the exam room and after a while, they said, "Your daughter has RSV." I was really glad we had been wearing our masks!
surfered
(11,285 posts)PatrickforB
(15,339 posts)1. Plaques honoring black soldiers dying liberating Holland from the Nazis taken down.
2. MASSIVE medicare and medicaid cuts.
3. SS-ICE thugs rounding up people right and left.
4. National guard deployed illegally.
5. Desecration of White House.
6. Redactions and holiday release of Epstein files.
7. Illegal bombings in Venezuela and Nigeria.
8. Social Security in danger.
9. Major recession about to happen.
10. Massive inflation from tariffs.
11. Farmers going broke because of tariffs.
Seems like Jon is NOT THE RIGHT SCAPEGOAT.
Gosh, maybe it is Trump and the GOP. Because not to be smart alecky or anything, but this kind of stuff seems just a little more important, as does Trump's treason against this republic because Putin is demonstrably calling the shots.
And WHERE are the Democrats? Asking me for donations. That's where. Oh, pleeeeeeeeze give me money.
No. We gave Harris over $1 BILLION and Thiel/Musk put their thumbs on the scale to make it look like Trump won.
The only Dems that seem to even have a spine are the younger ones. But we still have a bunch of institutionalists in power, and they are happy because their donors are happy. AOC, Bernie, the rest of the squad - all the progressives. And we have Newsom and Pritzker both showing some spine.
WHERE THE HELL IS CONGRESS????????????????? Because Trump is pulling this thing down around our knees. We have three more years of these nazis in power before we can sift through the ruins and start picking up the pieces.
THERE HAD BETTER BE SOME TRIALS FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY COME 2029. Miller, Bannon, Bondi, Noem, Vance, RFK, Hegseth, Thiel, Musk, Zuck. These people need to be on the dock facing life in prison or possibly execution. How many people have died already because of these criminal fucks dancing to the tune of Russian oligarchs????????????????
So we got one off color joke. Jon was wrong. Yes. Horribly wrong...but what about???????????????
I'd say we need to clean house, get rid of fucking Wall Street financiers and billionaire parasites corrupting the government like so many modern robber barons, and impose a NEW FAIRNESS DOCTRINE by changing the rules of corporate governance to include a fiduciary responsibility for corporate officers to hold the interests of workers, the environment AND consumers. This could include a special clause requiring TRUTH in news reporting for consumers of news from publicly traded media companies.
Otherwise the experiment our founders tried will fail.
WhiskeyGrinder
(26,216 posts)PatrickforB
(15,339 posts)So what IS our plan Whiskey? If the species of Sapiens does not learn to live in harmony with the Ain Soph, each other and our sacred earth, the earth itself will cast us off.
The Issues
This government is so corrupt it can no longer function, and the people in charge are giving away the treasury to the billionaire locusts. Wall Street is roaring but layoffs are about to begin. The same AI that is being crammed down our throats and up our rectums isn't that smart and it is creating a big market crashing bubble, just like the dot-com bust in 2001 and the housing derivative bubble in 2009.
Wall Street and the billionaires are out of control and squeezing all of us to death economically.
There are around 3,300 billionaires on this planet. The top 1% of the wealthy, including these billionaires, are emotionally diseased people who live in such fear they won't have enough that they now control over 40% of the world's wealth.
In the meantime, 3.5 BILLION people live in poverty, with around 900 million of those in extreme poverty. The worst? Over 17 people DIE OF HUNGER RELATED CAUSES EVERY MINUTE.
Spiritual Plan
My plan includes meditations and other spiritual practices that lift my own consciousness to the highest realms of consciousness. These states were identified using kinesiology in the 1991 book Power vs Force written by psychiatrist David Hawkins. These highest levels of human consciousness on Hawkins' log scale are love, joy, peace and enlightenment. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, we must hold our consciousness at 'love or above.'
In addition, I am striving to shed both fear and attachment.
Economic Plan
Materially, I'm still working at age 67, and in the process of downsizing so my post-work income will be enough. I am a caregiver to my spouse, as well, and her needs must be somehow met.
And, I am calling my two US senators - my rep is BoBo, so calling her office is futile - at least once a week. I speak to their staff members about these issues. I have in fact spoken to both of their policy teams about overturning the current legal doctrine of shareholder primacy and replacing it with a stakeholder approach that holds the needs of workers, consumers and the environment EQUAL to shareholder profits. This, as I said in my original post, would need to include the right of consumers to truth in news reporting from publicly traded media companies, not biased to generate higher profits through increased clicks and thus higher ad revenue. The reason this is important is we MUST get rid of Fox news and other right wing propaganda organs, and right now the fiduciary responsibility of the senior news producers on MSNow, CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS is ALWAYS to generate maximum profits for shareholders. Nothing really required in terms of truth in news reporting.
Lastly, as a reasonably well-respected economist, I have been working with economic developers throughout my state to advance agritech as a viable economic development strategy, because with vertical farming, we don't consume as much water, and can grow a greater variety of crops. The Netherlands has led the way in this - over the course of this century they have quietly increased their ag capacity to the point they are the SECOND largest exporter of produce in the world behind the US. My question is why we cannot achieve these results here, and several states have so far been adopting Dutch practices that has yielded measurable increases in like-to-like produce output per 1,000 people employed.
I am also involved in looking for ways to mitigate energy requirements, because data centers take up huge amounts of power. There is solar and wind, of course, as well as conservation. Hydrogen power remains blocked by greed-based economic interests, while at the same time promising advances have been made in fusion and it may be feasible by 2030 to create business parks around tiny fusion reactors tied to the power grid. This all has potential.
Microeconomics
I am also buying only what I need. Nothing frivolous. The current figures on retail sales show a 4.1% increase from 2024 in Black Friday gross sales, but inflation has outpaced that, suggesting the American consumer is being squeezed by Wall Street greed-flation - spending more for the same amount of goods or less.
What are you doing?
twodogsbarking
(17,531 posts)TV used to be entertaining.
Johonny
(25,314 posts)I'm not sure why he came back. I rarely listen to him. He is the Joe Manchin of comedians. Past his time. I've moved on to listen to people that feel the moment, and are not immune to it by ego and wealth.
Response to SocialDemocrat61 (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Ocelot II
(128,920 posts)The covid pandemic established pretty conclusively that wearing a mask, at least the N-95 type, was a very effective means of limiting the spread of the virus. And people who are wearing masks might not be sick themselves, but are just trying to avoid getting sick, maybe because they have weakened immune systems or maybe because they just prefer to be cautious - since most people aren't wearing masks any more even when they are sick. If you are concerned about people coughing behind masks maybe you should wear one yourself.
Response to Ocelot II (Reply #31)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Ocelot II
(128,920 posts)They have to work; they have to shop; they have to be out for any number of reasons. Having a cough might mean nothing but a cold, and the mask-wearer just doesn't want to spread their cold to others. Yes, masks are uncomfortable. My glasses fogged up, too, and my face itched, but I wore one anyhow, for my own safety. If you see a person wearing a mask just keep your distance and stay upwind.
Response to Ocelot II (Reply #36)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Ocelot II
(128,920 posts)Weren't you just here?
Covid wasn't widespread anywhere in February of 2020. The lockdowns and mask mandates didn't start until the middle of March.
Response to Ocelot II (Reply #44)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Ocelot II
(128,920 posts)Response to Ocelot II (Reply #47)
Name removed Message auto-removed
QueerDuck
(928 posts)Imagine that, they removed their post. It's hard to argue with people that have good critical thinking skills. Good on you, Ocelot.
I think LG is still here, but with a new name now.
Response to Coolgoober (Reply #49)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Emile
(40,428 posts)RedWhiteBlueIsRacist
(1,732 posts)Bunch of damn snowflakes, can't handle getting their dainty little eardrums busted from bang-bang...
Protect ears ok
Protect lungs bad
Coolgoober
(225 posts)flvegan
(65,712 posts)Haven't seen it posted anywhere, not sure if valid or if The Outrage Factory is trying to put in some year end overtime.
Wild blueberry
(8,113 posts)To prevent the spread of flu and colds.
You know, almost like everyone cares about other people.
3catwoman3
(28,535 posts)As soon as fall-winter illness season hit, masks on everyone, everywhere. And they actually had them over their noses and mouths, not dangling under their chins.
I thought then, and still do, Americans could stand to learn a few things from the Japanese - always being polite, saving face by not behaving like an asshole in public, just to name two.
Chemical Bill
(3,040 posts)I'm not sick, but I don't trust you to not be infectious. When was your last COVID test? This morning?
awesomerwb1
(4,965 posts)Stewart's expiration date was 15 years ago.
duckworth969
(1,145 posts)In my opinion, he gets more press than he should.
Dude aint funny either.
Ferrets are Cool
(22,510 posts)Why don't you bitch about ICE masking up instead of those who actually need to do so. Again, FUCK YOU Jon.
markodochartaigh
(4,958 posts)I've been vaxxed and boosted all along. I have Asperger's so social distancing is my superpower. When I got covid I had just stopped wearing a mask. I tracked my exposures because I'm retired and it was easy to do. I kept my exposure to less than an hour a week by severely limiting my time out of the house. I got covid from one trip of less than thirty minutes to Publix. No one was even coughing, that I was aware of. Covid almost killed me and I believe that long covid will take at least a decade off my life.
And almost certainly I got covid because people here in SW Florida have not taken the pandemic seriously.
If you get long covid I bet it will change your opinion of taking simple precautions.
Pluvious
(5,222 posts)Orrex
(66,638 posts)Really, anything that requires action by the individual was declared ineffective against Covid.
Hardly surprising that Stewart is of that mind too.
betsuni
(28,665 posts)Defends him on the brain worm and dead bear things. Guests do not agree RFK would be a good candidate.
nitpicked
(1,578 posts)I've no clue if it's food poisoning or one of those nasty viruses, but I'm due a visitor and I don't want THEM to come down with this if it's spreadable.