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Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart became a household name as the original host of The Daily Show, bringing his own particular mix of heartfelt and snarky takes on the top news of the day, and becoming a major political influencer along the way.
His successor, Trevor Noah, has put his own brand on the show, and a number of Daily Show alumni have become stars in their own right, including Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Samantha Bee, and Steve Carell.
Stewart has also spent the last few years as a tireless advocate for wounded veterans and 9/11 first responders, which makes him a winner in the general "hey, thanks for being a good human being" sense. We're in the media business, not in the altruism business, so we'll leave the crowning of a Humanity Winner to others, but recent news makes Stewart a Media Winner for sure.
This is definitely good news for everyone who missed Stewart's version of the Daily Show. He is heading back to your television screens, having signed a multi-year deal with Apple TV+ for a current event series.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stewart's deal with Apple's streaming service will include a companion podcast. Each episode will be an hour long and will cover topics ranging from the latest news to Stewart's advocacy work.
Regardless of how the election goes (less than a week left!), it's always nice to have a good laugh, and Stewart's got a solid track record of delivering just that. |
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 | MEDIA LOSER:
Justin Turner
Getting the coronavirus doesn't make you a loser, but acting like an irresponsible jacka** sure does.
Justin Turner, the third baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was a key part of their journey to the World Series, including Tuesday's Game 6 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays for the championship -- up until the 7th inning, when he was pulled from the game after testing positive for Covid-19.
Even without Turner, his team won the game 3-1, securing that crucial fourth victory in the best-of-seven series, and making the Dodgers the 2020 World Series Champions.
That's when things took a disturbing turn.
As television cameras showed the team celebrating their victory, their first World Series win since 1988, Turner was seen back on the field joining the postgame festivities.
He had a face mask but was spotted frequently removing it as he hugged his teammates, kissed his wife, passed around the trophy, and gathered closely for a team photo.
Twitter reacted with understandable shock and horror.
Leaving aside the questions we have about a testing regimen that was unable to return results until hours into the game, it was wildly irresponsible for Turner to expose not just his teammates but the members of the media, stadium employees, security officials, and other bystanders.
Turner got his photo with the trophy but didn't act like a winner at all. |
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| LESS THAN A WEEK LEFT! This election season is finally drawing to an end, finally, and both President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden are making their final pitches to the voters.
Trump is continuing to have his big mostly-maskless rallies, and of course he is spending his time on the podium attacking his critics. At a stop in Michigan, he went after 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl for being so "rude" to him, and took a few whacks at the state's governor, Gretchen Whitmer.
Oh, he also sent a message to suburban women that he'll put their "husbands back to work."
The fiery rhetoric in Michigan was followed by a chilling scene -- literally! -- in Nebraska, with thousands of Trump fans left stranded in the freezing cold after the rally ended. Seven were reportedly hospitalized.
Meanwhile, the White House Science Office was throughly mocked for listing "Ending the Covid-19 Pandemic" as a first term accomplishment for the president.
Biden got some good news in the latest Wisconsin poll.
Biden senior adviser Symone Sanders was not having Trump's claim that he's been great for the Black community, citing high Black unemployment and deaths from Covid.
Trump site hacked
Trump's campaign website was briefly hacked on Tuesday night, and the site's content replaced with a message. Read the message the hackers wanted to share here.
At least they weren't slimed
The children's channel's election special, Kids Pick The President, ran an online poll asking children who they preferred for president, and bots tried to spoil the results. Over 130,000 bot-generated votes were removed from the final results. Read the details -- and find out which candidate the kids picked -- here. Tech titans testify Some of the biggest names in tech testified on Wednesday before the Senate Commerce Committee, including Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google parent company Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
The tech CEOs appeared via video due to Covid precautions, and there was some comic relief early on when Zuckerberg had technical difficulties getting a connection established.
The real fun, though, was when Dorsey popped up on the screen sporting an epic quarantine beard.
Less amusing was the very serious topic of how these social media companies handle curating and censoring content. With the overwhelming influence these platforms have, it's understandable why some have concerns. Among the issues addressed at the hearing: the ongoing restrictions on the New York Post's Twitter account and anti-Semitic comments made by Iranian leaders.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) had an especially contentious exchange with Dorsey.
Getting worse, not better
Some depressing comments from two of the nation's top coronavirus experts. Dr. Anthony Fauci pushed back on Trump's comments that we had "turned the corner" on the pandemic, saying that the reality was that we were "getting worse and worse," not better, and he expected it would take "easily by the end of 2021 and perhaps into the next year before we start having some semblance of normality.”
Testing czar Adm. Brett Giroir made clear that the spike in cases was not just because of more testing, but that cases were going up. 6.5.0 |
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| 'Our interview is now OVER!' Rudy Giuliani has been having a rough time lately. His awkward and creepy cameo in the Borat sequel spawned a million memes and jokes, and has continued to generate new headlines as he and the film's star, Sacha Baron Cohen, have tossed insults back and forth.
That trend continued in Giuliani's Tuesday appearance on Kennedy's Fox Business program, with the show's host asking him if he regretted his actions as shown in the movie.
“Now that’s a stupid question isn’t it?” Giuliani snapped.
“No, it’s not a stupid question at all,” Kennedy replied. “I have a 15-year-old daughter, I watched that and I was kind of grossed out by it. I’m giving you a chance to explain.”
The interview got even more heated when Kennedy asked about Giuliani's accusations regarding Hunter Biden.
There was quite a bit of shouting. Watch the off-the-rails segment here. |
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