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Jon Stewart will keep hosting “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central for at least another year — despite his habit of criticizing President Trump, who’s friends with the owner of the channel’s parent company Paramount Skydance.
Comedy Central said Monday that Stewart would continue hosting the show on Mondays and serve as executive producer through the end of 2026.
The agreement capped several weeks of talks spearheaded by Paramount’s television chief George Cheeks, according to the Status newsletter.
“Jon Stewart continues to elevate the genre he created,” Ari Pearce, head of Comedy Central, said in a statement.
“His return is an ongoing commitment to the incisive comedy and sharp commentary that define ‘The Daily Show.'”
Trump has been one of Stewart’s main targets since the comedian returned to “The Daily Show” early last year.
In a recent monologue, the host blasted the president for staging a lavish “Great Gatsby”-themed party last weekend at his Mar-a-Lago, Fla., estate as the federal government shutdown continued.
Cheeks, who reports directly to Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, pushed hard to retain Stewart, Status reported. Ellison is pals with Trump, who favors Paramount’s efforts to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, as The Post previously reported.
The exec is the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whom Trump also admires.
While the president has criticized late-night hosts including CBS’ Stephen Colbert and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, who regularly rail against Trump, he doesn’t seem very interested in Comedy Central’s programming, according to Status.
The Post has sought comment from Paramount Skydance.
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Earlier this year, Skydance acquired Paramount Global in an $8 billion deal approved by Trump administration regulators.
The merger was okayed after Paramount Global management agreed to a $16 million settlement of a lawsuit brought by Trump against CBS News over a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris that he alleged was deceptively edited.
Shortly after the settlement was announced, CBS said it would be pulling the plug on Colbert’s late night show next year.
CBS head honchos insist that the decision to ax the host was due to financial considerations as late-night television audiences have dwindled in the age of cord-cutting.
Trump praised the firing, as well as David Ellison’s recent selection of Bari Weiss to head CBS News.
The renewal of Stewart’s contract — as well as its renewed deal with the Trump-hating creators of Comedy Central’s “South Park” — could mark efforts by the media giant to show it’s still independent, according to Status.
Letting go of Stewart could have been a public relations disaster for Paramount on par with the backlash to Kimmel’s suspension in September, Status noted.
Kimmel’s disrespectful comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk led ABC, which is owned by Disney, to mute him for several days.
Following the suspension, Disney+, lost nearly 3 million subscribers — twice as high as the average rate of churn.
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