With Jon Stewart and Jimmy Kimmel away from their respective shows this week, both late-night hosts weighed in on social media after news broke on Sunday afternoon that President Joe Biden is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
Stewart, who has faced a backlash among some Democrats for his criticism of Biden since returning to The Daily Show desk in February, had a one-word response in a Twitter/X post on Sunday afternoon: “Legend.” (Cue the familiar calls for Stewart to join the Democratic ticket.)
Legend.
— Jon Stewart (@jonstewart) July 21, 2024
Kimmel, meanwhile, posted a photo of himself with the Bidens to Instagram, writing “Thank you President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden for your leadership, integrity, empathy and service to our country.”
Kimmel—long an antagonist of Donald Trump on his show (and, famously, at the Oscars)—had publicly supported Biden, hosting the Los Angeles fundraiser for the President that George Clooney later wrote about in a New York Times op-ed in which he described witnessing a diminished Biden.
Unlike Stephen Colbert, also a Biden supporter, Kimmel’s summer-long vacation has afforded him the rare luxury of not having to speak publicly about the president’s disastrous late-June debate performance, Biden’s state at the Los Angeles fundraiser, or the growing chorus of elected officials and others calling for him to end his campaign.
As of this writing, Colbert and Seth Meyers have yet to weigh in on Biden’s withdrawal from the race. Both had stopped just short of calling for Biden to step down in comments on their shows in recent weeks. Colbert will no doubt share his reaction on his show Monday night. Meyers is currently on break until after the Summer Olympics.
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