Jon Stewart Calls Donald Trump the ‘Thief of Joy’ After Knicks Debacle: ‘He F**king Ruined It’

Speaking at an FYC event for "The Daily Show" with his fellow hosts, Stewart reacted to the President's contentious appearance at Madison Square Garden on Monday. "I haven't been to a Finals game with the Knicks in 53 years, and he fucking ruined it."

Less than 24 hours after the New York Knicks came away with a deflating loss in the NBA Finals, Jon Stewart embodied his city’s dejection — and perseverance — at “The Daily Show‘s” FYC event on the Lower East Side. Stewart led the 90-minute discussion himself, introducing highlights from the past season and gleaning insight from each of the assembled hosts: Ronny Chieng, Josh Johnson, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta, and Desi Lydic.

But he couldn’t hide his disappointment over the events of the night prior, when New York hosted its first NBA Finals game since 1999, and Stewart attended his first NBA Finals game in his hometown since 1973. It didn’t end the way he or the rest of orange-and-blue faithful hoped.

It didn’t start the way they hoped, either; not with Donald Trump’s unwarranted disruption, first to midtown Manhattan and then to the Knicks’ 13-game postseason winning streak. “They say comparison is the thief of joy, but I think it’s Trump,” Stewart said. “I haven’t been to a Finals game with the Knicks in 53 years, and he fucking ruined it.”

Trump’s unprecedented decision to attend an NBA Finals game provoked turmoil for the team and their fans. Pedestrians and drivers were kept out of Midtown between 30th and 35th Streets and 6th and 8th Avenues after 4 p.m. ET on Monday. (Yes, during rush hour.) Watch parties next to Madison Square Garden were canceled and moved outside of the restricted zone (to Bryant Park, more than half-a-mile away). Anyone entering the arena was advised to arrive a minimum two hours before tip-off to accommodate the extra security measures upon arrival (because everyone likes spending $8,000 on tickets so they can stand in line for three hours).

Pair those immediate disturbances with record-setting lows in popularity, and it’s no wonder New Yorkers heaped deafening boos on the President.

Stewart asked the team what they thought of Trump’s unwelcome reception, when he was shown on the Jumbotron during the national anthem. “I do think it’s a nice shield to try to throw up,” Johnson said. “[Like,] ‘There’s no way they’ll boo during the anthem.’ It was almost like watching a pastor get booed at church.”

“It was kind of a remarkable experience to see him booed during the national anthem,” Stewart said. “Because people were really thrown off in the sense of, ‘Well I love my country. But I hate that fucking guy.'”

“The best part was that he got booed and created such chaos, and then proceeded to sleep through the entire game,” Lydic said.

Lydic arrived at the Metrograph fresh from recording Tuesday night’s episode of “The Daily Show,” which led off with a segment on the Knicks’ loss and Trump’s involvement in it. (A sample line: “Also in attendance last night was the only New Yorker who spends more time in court than the Knicks: Donald ‘Jumpshot’ Trump.”)

“We reacted to Trump being at the Knicks game and New York’s enthusiasm to welcome him here,” Lysic said of the episode. “It’s pretty much 12 minutes of New Yorkers booing.”

“I was watching a little bit of Fox News, because I like to do research,” Stewart said, “and they were all like, ‘What a great reception he got.’ It’s just mind-boggling to think of what their audience must be thinking.”

“Here was one of the excuses for why he got booed,” Lysic said. “Someone on Fox News today said, ‘Oh, well, it’s because those tickets were $8,000 a pop, and the arena was filled with elites. But if you put him in front of the working man in New York City, those people [love him.]’ So then we cut to Bryant Park, and it’s just, ‘Boooo!!'”

A refusal to acknowledge reality came up again later in the panel, when Klepper spoke about his field segments among the MAGA faithful.

“One of my favorite moments was when I was talking with a woman about Trump’s first impeachment, and at that point, Trump was blocking John Bolton from talking,” Klepper said. “She was like, ‘[Trump is] the most trustworthy person. You can tell because he’s letting everybody speak, everybody talk.’ And I was like, ‘Well, if he was blocking people from speaking, that would be an admission of guilt.’ She was like, ‘Of course it would, but he’s not doing that.’ And I told her, ‘Well, he’s doing exactly that,’ and she took this very long pause — she truly contemplates it — and she goes, ‘I don’t care.'”

“That’s it!,” Klepper said. “There’s this liberal mindset that [believes] with enough points and evidence, I can change this person’s mind. But the reality is the political debate we’re having [in that interview], that was for show. She was there because the biggest parade came to town. It is her identity. It gives her space and community in this world, and therefore she will engage with the conversation with this asshole from ‘The Daily Show,’ but her mind is not going to be changed by pointing out hypocrisy. She has what she needed by being there.”

Still, a little delusional thinking can be a good thing when it means holding onto hope. Although Stewart ended the panel by thanking the assembled TV Academy voters — “We really appreciate your support through all of this because, believe me, we’re just trying to get through this thing, too” — he started the panel with the same first question he “always” asks:

How many games in the seven-game series will it take for the Knicks to triumph?

“Knicks in four still,” Klepper said.

And Stewart smiled.

“The Daily Show” airs Monday – Thursday at 11 p.m. ET on Comedy Central. Episodes are available the next day on Paramount+.