Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart officially joined Twitter on Thursday and had some ideas about Reddit-inspired traders who helped fuel the meteoric rise in the GameStop share price this week.
“This is bullshit,” Stewart said in his first tweet. “Redditors are not cheating, they are joining a party that Wall Street inmates have been enjoying for years. Don’t close them … maybe you will sue them for copyright infringement!”
“We learned nothing from 2008,” he added, referring to the 2008 financial crisis.
Stewart’s comments seemed to be directed at online broker Robinhood and other major trading platforms that have temporarily banned trading on GameStop and other popular stocks that saw large increases this week. Although Robinhood eventually reversed his decision on GameStop, he still drew criticism from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who plan to have audiences about the subject.
The financial drama attracted Stewart to Twitter. Less than a day after his first tweet, Stewart gained over 700,000 followers on the platform.
“Thanks for the warm welcome! I promise to use this app only sporadically and ineffectively”, Stewart tweeted.
The host of “The Late Show”, Stephen Colbert, noticed and welcomed him.
“Well, one thing has changed since 2008 – a friend of mine joined Twitter,” he said.
Stewart has been a fan favorite for years as the host of the “Daily Show”. In recent years, he has been known for his activism and lobbying Congress to extend benefits to early 9/11 respondents.