(NEXSTAR) — Jon Stewart made it the entirety of the Donald Trump administration without feeling the need to join Twitter and add his commentary, but this week’s Wall Street madness around GameStop was apparently enough to get him counting characters and building followers.
The left-leaning political satirist has largely stayed out of the spotlight since retiring from “The Daily Show” in 2015. On Thursday he finally took the leap to begin tweeting, promising to “use this app in a sporadic and ineffective manner.”
Stewart’s first tweet was sent in support of the Redditors who have upended the market and hedge fund practice of betting against stocks by forcing up the share price for Game Stop and other beleaguered stocks. Some have criticized the wave of buying as injecting artificial demand into the market, but Stewart suggests it’s the system, not the day traders that needs to be reformed.
“The Redditors aren’t cheating, they’re joining a party Wall Street insiders have been enjoying for years,” Stewart wrote. “Don’t shut them down…maybe sue them for copyright infringement instead!!”
As of Friday, Stewart was yet to actually follow anyone as @jon_actual on the social media platform, but he had quickly amassed close to 800,000 followers of his own.
Stewart became one of the most incisive critics of American politics during his 15 year run as host of the spoof newscast. After the election of Trump, many felt the left-leaning voice had mistimed his departure from the show.
Steward has continued supporting key personal causes, memorably pleading with Congress in 2019 to provide expanded benefits to 9/11 first responders.