Salman Rushdie Recalls ‘Dancing’ Outside His Attacker’s Jail in Jon Stewart Interview

Author Salman Rushdie recalled “dancing” outside the jail where his alleged attacker is being held after recovering from the injuries sustained in a brutal knife attack in 2022.

Rushdie joined Jon Stewart on The Daily Show on Monday to discuss his new memoir Knife, which dives into his life following the attack. Rushdie was put on a ventilator after the stabbing and lost sight in his right eye, among other injuries.

Rushdie became a target of religious extremists after the publication of his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, which a depiction of the prophet Muhammad that inspired Iran’s former spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a religious edict calling for Rushdie to be killed. Rushdie went into hiding for years after this.

Rushdie opened up to Stewart about revisiting the scene where he was stabbed at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqu, New York.

“I had this desire to go revisit the scene of the crime and show myself that I was standing up where I fell down,” the author said.

A “last minute” want struck him during the visit and he decided to take a five minute drive to the jail where his alleged attacker is being held.

“You didn’t have a desire necessarily to see this individual?” Stewart asked.

“No, I just wanted to see the jail!” Rushdie said, earning laughter from Stewart and the audience.

The author recalled feeling himself dancing as he observed the jail from outside.

“I thought, you know, he’s in there and I’m out here. That feels good. And what happened is a weird thing happened. My feet started dancing,” he said.

Stewart asked if Rushdie was literally dancing, to which he said, “No, my feet were dancing!”

“I can imagine this gentleman just glancing out the window for no apparent reason going, is that the guy…?” Stewart joked.

“Yeah, and he’s dancing in the carpark!” Rushdie said.

The trial of Rushdie’s alleged attacker Hadi Matar was recently delayed ahead of publication of Rushdie’s book. Matar is charged with attempted second degree murder and second degree assault.

Rushdie said Matar admittedly had never read a word he wrote and had “messed” up his head by spending “four years in a basement playing video games and watching videos.”

Watch above via Comedy Central.