AppleThink: Apple, Jon Stewart Part Ways Thanks over China Coverage

Apple is no longer moving forward with comedian Jon Stewart’s show due to concerns over his potential coverage of topics related to China and artificial intelligence (AI), The New York Times reported.

Stewart and Apple executives agreed to go their separate ways because of their editorial disputes, two sources told the NYT. Stewart informed his team for the show titled, “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” on Thursday that possible subjects pertaining to China and AI resulted in Apple executives raising creative concerns, an individual familiar with the discussion told the NYT.

Apple executives told Stewart they must be “aligned” on the topics covered on the show, sources told The Hollywood reporter.

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently visited China following the iPhone 15’s lackluster sales in the country, according to CNBC. The tech giant’s stock recently tumbled hundreds of millions of dollars in the two days following reports of a broad Chinese government iPhone ban, according to CNN Business.

Cook previously traveled to China in March and spoke at the China Development Forum in Beijing, according to The Financial Times.

“We could not be more excited,” Cook stated. “Apple and China . . . grew together and so this has been a symbiotic kind of relationship.”

Apple restricted its AirDrop tool for iPhones sold in China last year in a software update. Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong had used it to share messages that escaped China’s internet restrictions during protests in 2019, Quartz, a business outlet, reported.