Anticipation of a potential showdown between the “Daily Show” host and the SpaceX CEO has been brewing ever since Musk last week signaled his willingness to appear for an interview.

Jon Stewart has made it clear: Tech billionaire and White House ally Elon Musk has a formal invitation to appear on “The Daily Show.”

Anticipation of a potential showdown between the “Daily Show” host and the SpaceX CEO has been brewing ever since Musk last week signaled his willingness to appear for an interview – on one condition. Answering calls from his supporters to go head-to-head with Stewart, a frequent critic, Musk said on social media site X he’d do it, “if the show airs unedited.”

Stewart then began his monologue Monday night by addressing Musk’s terms for coming on Comedy Central’s flagship satirical news program.

“After thinking about his offer, I thought, you know, hey, that’s actually how the in-studio interviews normally are – it’s unedited – so, sure,” Stewart said, followed by a round of applause from the audience.

The potential showdown between Stewart and Musk would come after the “Daily Show” host delivered a tirade last week of the richest man in the world’s efforts to slash federal spending under President Donald Trump’s administration. Were Musk to accept Stewart’s invitation, the two would discuss cuts made under the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk unofficially leads.

Musk appears to cast doubt on whether he’d go on ‘Daily Show’ after all
Jon Stewart poses with an Emmy in September during a ceremony in Los Angeles.
But Musk, who recently sat down with Joe Rogan on an episode of his popular podcast, appears to be throwing cold water on an interview with Stewart, even after he accepted the challenge one week ago.

In recent posts on X, which Musk owns, he called “The Daily Show” host a “propagandist,” and claimed Stewart “used to be more bipartisan.”

Stewart addressed Musk’s claims Monday night, theorizing that the tech mogul was setting the stage to back out of an interview. Unconvinced by Musk’s argument, Stewart poked fun at Musk’s “Dark MAGA” hat and the hundreds of millions of dollars he spent on Trump’s campaign.

“Look, Elon,” Stewart said. “I do have some criticisms about DOGE … If you want to come on and talk about it on the show, great. If you don’t want to, sure.”

He continued, “but can we just drop the pretense that you won’t do it because I don’t measure up to the standards of neutral discourse that you demand and display at all times?”