Jon Stewart shocks viewers after cutting hand open during furious Daily Show speech

‘I’ll be going to the hospital soon,’ said comic. Jon Stewart’s appearance on Monday night’s episode of The Daily Show left him injured after he smashed a coffee mug while giving an impassioned speech about the cost of prescription drugs. The comedian was giving a monologue about the high price of prescription drugs in America, and he began by showing a clip of former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris promoting what a news anchor called “the first ever negotiation with pharmaceutical companies” and announcing that they'd come to an agreement to lower the price of 10 different drugs for Medicare users in August last year.

Stewart grew increasingly irritated as he said: “But you know what's so horrible about our system now? And the corruption that lays within it? We're so f***ing numb to it, we actually tout tiny cracks in that exploitation as victory.”. The presenter continued in a sarcastic tone, saying: “Ooh, can it be? The companies we subsidise with billions of dollars are allowing us the privilege of negotiating the price of 10 of their drugs.”.

As the speech continued, Stewart grew more impassioned as he began to shout: “And 10 is all of them, right? It would be embarrassing if it was a small drop in the bucket and that the American people didn't expect that we should negotiate for all their f***ing drugs! Because we've already paid for 'em with our subsidies!”.

At this point, the comic picked up the mug placed on his desk and slammed it down, smashing it into dozens of pieces. Stewart then looked down at his hand to notice that it was covered in blood and laughed nervously as he said: “I'll be going to the hospital soon.”.

Stewart continued the report by holding his injured right hand below the desk, out of view from the audience. When he pulled his hand up into view later, the audience gasped at the amount of blood. During his later appearances on the programme, the host had his hand in a bandage.

After the incident, Stewart posted on X/Twitter, saying: “It’s a bloody good episode…emphasis on bloody…I’m an idiot.”. Concerned viewers got in touch with him online, with one person writing: “Hope your hand is OK! I saw that bit in real time tonight and wondered why the mug wasn’t one of those pretend movie props.”.

Another person added: “Are you OK?? I wanted a medic to be out there working on you (out of the sight of cameras) if you couldn't stop long enough to get it addressed during the break.”. “Was that a prop/break-away mug that just didn't break correctly? Or did you just break a regular mug while in the moment?” said another viewer.