Jon Stewart was back on The Daily Show this week to kick off Pride Month.
The Emmy Award winner ripped into the hypocritical nature of rainbow capitalism on Monday’s episode, but not before he paid tribute to Pat Sajak following his final Wheel of Fortune episode.
“I would be remiss if I did not comment on the big news in broadcasting,” he said at the show’s opening. “Pat Sajak stepped down from Wheel of Fortune after 41 years, it was incredibly emotional. And I just want to say to Pat Sajak… have you thought about just doing Mondays? Because you could phone that f***er in.”
Sajak’s final episode as host of the Wheel of Fortune aired Friday after he first stepped into the role in 1983. Ryan Seacrest was announced as his successor shortly after the news of Sajak’s retirement broke last year.
Stewart then tackled the confusing landscape of corporate Pride as companies began rolling out their rainbow-themed merchandise.
The comedian pointed to gimmicks like Burger King’s burger with “two bottom buns” and Skittles’ colorless candy so as not to have “competing rainbows,” as well as an Oreo ad that takes viewers on a bizarre rollercoaster.
He also called out Target for scaling back its Pride selection over the right-wing backlash, as well as Bud Light’s controversy around trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
“Why are we allowing ourselves to get worked up over whether giant multinational corporations are pro-gay or have traditional American values?” he reasoned. “Because corporations have but one value: shareholder value. That’s all they have!”
Stewart added later in the segment, “Let’s stop pretending that a corporation can even be woke, or unwoke, or patriotic, or unpatriotic. Let’s just let corporations live their truth… as the profit-seeking Patrick Bateman psychopaths they are. At the very least, we might finally get some honesty from them as well.”