Softpedia >News >Life and Style >Television
Softpedia Homepage   

Comedy Central Responds to Trevor Noah Backlash, Deems It “Unfair”

Jon Stewart replacement is an anti-Semite, sexist, racist

Apr 1, 2015 09:55 GMT  ·  By
Trevor Noah and Jon Stewart backstage at the Daily Show
   Trevor Noah and Jon Stewart backstage at the Daily Show

Jon Stewart will be stepping down from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show later this year, and a replacement for him has been found in CC contributor Trevor Noah. Shortly after the Internet got over the shock of finding out that said replacement was a virtual unknown, the backlash started.

It had nothing to do with the fact that Noah wasn’t even half as famous (or funny or smart, according to some) as the man he was supposed to replace, and everything to do with the fact that he came across on Twitter as sexist, racist and an anti-Semite.

Daily Show fans do some digging around, bad jokes come out

As you can see in the few tweets embedded below, back in 2009 (and more recently too), Noah considered jokes about women, Jews and blacks to be the perfect source material. The moment Daily Show fans came across them, they were reposted and shared on social media, sparking a violent reaction against him - and Comedy Central for hiring him.

Even celebrities / fellow comedians, like Roseanne Barr, joined in on the criticism, urging the network to reconsider its position of giving Noah such a high-profile position.

Until some hours ago, both Comedy Central bosses and Noah himself were mum on the topic, choosing not to engage in the debate, even though the uproar online was increasing in intensity. Again, you can find some tweets on the topic below.

Don’t judge a book by its cover and a comedian by his tweets

It took Comedy Central a while to come up with a statement, but we have a hunch it’s not the kind people who were offended were expecting: Trevor Noah isn’t going anywhere, so if you too were hoping he’d get fired over his 2009 tweets, you’re in for a disappointment.

“Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included,” the statement reads, as per Variety. “To judge him or his comedy based on a handful of jokes is unfair. Trevor is a talented comedian with a bright future at Comedy Central.”

This is exactly what Trevor thinks too: don’t judge him by his old tweets because they’re not illustrative of who he is as a man and as a comedian. He doesn’t exactly disown the things he said back then, but he suggests he’s outgrown this stage in his life, which should be enough for those who were offended to give him a chance as host of the show.

Many of them aren’t convinced, so as of the time of writing, the backlash continues.

Will you be giving Noah a chance when he takes over from Jon Stewart? Here’s his introduction to the show, in case you missed it.

Play Video