‘This is Not a Conspiracy!’ Jon Stewart Endorses Wuhan Lab Leak Theory on The Late Show’s Return to In-Person Show

Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart insisted that the origin of Covid-19 was the Wuhan Lab during a Monday appearance on CBS’s The Late Show. The moment came as Stephen Colbert made his return to his first full-capacity show at the Ed Sullivan Theater since the start of the coronavirus crisis.

Colbert brought Stewart on-stage after delivering his opening monologue and basking in the applause from the fully-vaccinated audience. As they talked about whether any significant progress has been made in pandemic science over the last century, Stewart said “I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to science. Science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic, which was more than likely caused by science.”

“Do you mean perhaps there’s a chance that this was created in a lab?” Colbert asked. Stewart scoffed as he responded “A chance? There’s a novel respiratory coronavirus overtaking Wuhan, China, what do we do? Oh, you know, who we could ask? The Wuhan novel respiratory coronavirus lab. The disease is the same name as the lab! That’s just a little too weird!”

Stewart went on from there by humorously pouring through the circumstantial evidence supporting the lab leak theory. Colbert acknowledged that health officials say the matter requires more investigation, though he and Stewart went back and forth over the theory’s merits.

“How long have you worked for Senator Ron Johnson?” Colbert quipped.

“This is not a conspiracy!” Stewart countered. “But this is the problem with science. Science is incredible, but they don’t know when to stop.”

Watch above, via CBS.