Jon Stewart delivers personal blow as ugly battle with Elon Musk goes public
Elon Musk and Jon Stewart got into an ugly — and very public — battle with Elon Musk as the two hurled insults at each other, and the comedian delivered a personal blow to finish it off.
The dispute began after Stewart aired a segment on "The Weekly Show" examining X's impact on democracy. He criticized the Tesla head's focus on undocumented voting, stating, "Musk has pushed this idea that undocumented, non-citizen voting is rampant, it is sowing the seeds of our destruction, and we cannot do it."
Stewart highlighted what he viewed as a fundamental contradiction in Musk's position. He said: "The irony of it all is [because of] this guy's platform, this guy's algorithm, which he is in charge of... he is a far more relevant actor in the warping of our democracy, through his money and his algorithm, than any measure of undocumented, non-citizen voting will ever be."
Stewart predicted Musk's defense, stating, "What his argument—and I think his people's argument—would be, is: Now that we're getting uncensored material, now that the First Amendment has primacy, people move to the right because they learn the truth."
Stewart countered, "The truth is that algorithm incentivizes the misinformation from the right, and he designs it."
A clearly angry Musk responded directly with an attack on Stewart's credibility. "Jon Stewart is an extremely skilled propagandist disguised as a truth-teller," he wrote.
Stewart fired back, characterizing Musk as just, "An extremely skilled propagandist."
"Not as good as you! Stop being so humble," Musk fired back late Thursday.
Stewart subsequently invited Musk to appear on his show to discuss their disagreements. However, a previous invitation went unfulfilled. Last year, Musk indicated he would appear on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" if the interview aired "unedited," but the appearance never occurred. Stewart later revealed that Musk had "ghosted" him after reading a follow-up message.
That's when Stewart went personal.
"Judging from his most recent revelations of his baby mamas, I think everyone has been left on read at some point by that gentleman," he said on his podcast.
Musk has at least 14 children with four women.
Musk's X platform has faced widespread criticism for inadequately addressing misinformation. In 2024, researchers reported that false claims originating from Musk received approximately 2 billion views on the platform, according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
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