NEW YORK, USA – Jon Stewart’s return to The Daily Show on Monday, February 24, 2025 took an unexpected turn when an impassioned monologue about the cost of prescription drugs left him with a bloody hand.
The incident occurred as Stewart criticised the limited scope of the Biden administration’s drug price negotiations, sarcastically mocking what he saw as a minor concession from pharmaceutical companies.
“But you know what’s so horrible about our system now? And the corruption that lays within it?” he asked the audience.
“We’re so f—ing numb to it, we actually tout tiny cracks in that exploitation as victory.”
The segment escalated when Stewart, mimicking astonishment, said, “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.” He then slammed his coffee mug onto the desk in frustration.
The audience initially cheered, seemingly unaware of what had happened. But as Stewart looked down at his hand and smiled, he quipped, “I’ll be going to the hospital soon.”
Despite the injury, Stewart continued the segment, keeping his right hand below the desk. When he later lifted it into view at around 21:32 in the episode, revealing blood, the audience gasped.
Stewart took it in stride, later joking on social media that it had been a “bloody good episode” and calling himself “an idiot.”
The show continued with an interview featuring Rupa Bhattacharyya, the former Special Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
Discussing budget cuts affecting similar aid programmes, Stewart gestured toward his bandaged finger, remarking, “It makes me so angry, I want to smash another mug.”
Pausing to observe his hand, he then deadpanned, “Oh, wow, this thing’s really coming out. In the commercial break, I had a lightsaber battle with one of the crew members, and that’s how that happened.”
Stewart’s injury was a dramatic, if unintentional, visual metaphor for the passion he brings to his critiques—a return to form for the veteran host, albeit at a personal cost.
