Jon Stewart says playing National Anthem at sports events is a ‘weird ritual’

"Does anyone know when that started, playing the national anthem before games? It’s such a weird ritual," said Stewart to Cuban during his podcast, which was released on Thursday.

The pair discussed many issues during the long-format podcast, including "diversity" in the boardroom, of which we have made a video clip available, reproduced above.

Cuban is also the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, an NBA team. He famously back in Feb 2021 decided to no longer play the anthem before games.

"I’ve always thought about when Kaepernick took the knee and the whole thing was like, 'You gotta stand for the anthem!'" continued Stewart.

Stewart then pointed out what he considers to be the double-standard of actually being in the stadium or being at home watching the event:

"Now I imagine like in living rooms, guys are getting nachos ready, and f*cking, the wings, and the anthem comes on and they all just have to [stand]."

"But like why is that? When the anthem comes on, you only have to stand if you’re there. But the transitive principle through the television, if it’s through the television you can do whatever the f*ck you want," Stewart went on.

"You can take a sh*t during the National Anthem as a patriot. But if you’re at the stadium there’s like a whole regimen you have to go through," Stewart said of the "weird ritual."