First on LateNighter: Viewers on multiple platforms were left scratching their heads Monday night when, four minutes into Jon Stewart‘s Daily Show monologue about the failures of Donald Trump‘s first 100 days in office, their screens cut to black for eleven minutes.
DirecTV, Hulu, and Xfinity subscribers all reported the outtage.
Stewart was talking about a recent approval poll that showed Donald Trump at a record-low when the screen cut out:
'The Daily Show' was knocked off the air on multiple platforms for over ten minutes Monday night as Jon Stewart delivered a monologue about the failures of Donald Trump's first 100 days. pic.twitter.com/g4gNrh632o
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) April 29, 2025
Though all indications are that last night’s outtage was a due to a technical error, its timing led some to cry censorship, coming as it did on the heels of news that Paramount brass, eager to ease tensions with the Trump Administration as it awaits approval of its merger with Skydance Media, has been involving itself in the day-to-day operations at 60 Minutes. (Trump and CBS are currently embroiled in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit over the TV newsmagazine’s 2024 interview with Kamala Harris.)
But while Monday night’s Daily Show was interrupted for some viewers watching on satellite and cable, Stewart’s monologue was posted in its entirety to YouTube at the same time it aired, and is also available for viewing on Paramount+.
It also appears that other Paramount-owned cable channels were affected by the outtage, with viewers watching MTV and CMT on the same platforms reporting similar issues at the same time.
It’s not the first time a technical glitch has hit a late-night show at an editorially inopportune time. In 2022, ABC’s Dallas-Fort Worth affiliate WFAA ran a series of commercials at the wrong time, interrupting Jimmy Kimmel as he delivered a serious six minute monologue in which he took he took Texas officials to task in the wake of the massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.
The station later posted an explanation of the technical issues on its website. “WFAA apologizes for technical difficulties that interrupted Jimmy Kimmel Live at multiple points, including during his monologue on gun control,” the station said in a statement.
Kimmel accepted WFAA’s apology, writing in a Twitter post of his own, “I’ve known the staff at @wfaa personally and professionally for almost 20 years and believe this mistake was made unintentionally,” he said. “Thanks for reposting and for correcting this error. Sending love to all my friends in Texas.”
We’ve reached out to Comedy Central for comment on last night’s Daily Show interruption and will update this post if/when we hear back.
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Very suspicious to me that it only happened as Jon Stewart delivered his usual stinging remarks toward DJT. I think it was intentional, but who knows?
Jon Stewart should repeat monologue to prove it wasn’t censored.
so 13 rabid viewers of Jon Stewart were affected. poor things.
Youtube TV’s coverage of The Daily Show was uninterrupted, we were able to watch JS rip into tRumps first hundred days of incompetence.