‘Daily Show’ Alum Jon Stewart Starts Twitter Account to Defend Reddit Users Buying Stock

Former The Daily Show anchor Jon Stewart joined Twitter on Thursday to comment on GameStop’s sudden rise at the stock market thanks to Reddit users this week. Stewart’s first tweet was on the situation, then he followed that up by thanking everyone for the warm welcome. He signed his first message as “Stewbeef” and took the handle @jon_actual. His former Comedy Central co-star Stephen Colbert welcomed him to the social network.

“This is bulls—. The Redditors aren’t cheating, they’re joining a party Wall Street insiders have been enjoying for years,” Stewart wrote. “Don’t shut them down…maybe sue them for copyright infringement instead!! We’ve learned nothing from 2008.” Stewart, whose Twitter profile photo is a dog, signed the message “StewBeef.” He later added in a second tweet, “Thanks for the warm welcome! I promise to only use this app in a sporadic and ineffective manner.”

Colbert, who often brings Stewart on The Late Show, was among the many celebrities to welcome Stewart to Twitter. “Well, one thing changed since 2008 — a friend of mine joined Twitter,” Colbert wrote. Many others found it hilarious that Stewart avoided Twitter during President Donald Trump’s presidency, but joined the platform to comment on this situation. “RealDonaldTrump? Is this you?” Jimmy Kimmel joked.

Although Stewart is not following anyone himself, over 265,000 people have started following him in the five hours since he posted for the first time. It comes a few months after Stewart plotted his return to television. In October, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Stewart signed a multiyear deal with Apple to host an hour-long current affairs show for AppleTV+. Each episode will focus on a single issue, much like HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Stewart has been mostly absent from television, aside from his infrequent Late Show appearances, since he left The Daily Show in 2015. He has also been a vocal advocate for 9/11 first responders in recent years, lobbying Congress to pass better legislation on their behalf.

Earlier this week, the stocks for GameStop, the struggling video game retailer, suddenly surged to more than $480 a share on Thursday morning, reports USA Today. The stock dropped to just under $200 a share by the end of trading on Thursday, far below the $346.37-per-share mark at Wednesday’s closing. The climb was credited to small investors working together on the Reddit subreddit r/WallStreetBets. Shares for AMC Entertainment also jumped when #SaveAMC started trending because the movie theater chain has been close to bankruptcy due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that U.S. regulators might investigate GameStop’s surge. At one point, the Robinhood app made it impossible to buy GameStop stock, as well as stocks in other companies that experienced sudden surges this week. Robinhood said customers would be able to make “limited buys” on Friday. While the stock sales were stopped, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Robinhood in New York.