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NY Times

New ‘Daily Show’ Host Already Embroiled in Controversy

Apr 1, 2015  •  Post A Comment

Less than 24 hours after news broke that Comedy Central had found its replacement for Jon Stewart as host of “The Daily Show,” the new guy, Trevor Noah, found himself at the center of a firestorm.

Comedy Central was defending Noah, who hails from South Africa, after an Internet controversy erupted over old posts on his Twitter account. The New York Times reports that some Internet users took offense to his comments about women and Jews.

“In several posts, Mr. Noah came across as mocking or derisive of women,” The Times reports. “In one from 2011, he writes: ‘Oh yeah the weekend. People are gonna get drunk & think that I’m sexy!’ a quote that he attributes to ‘fat chicks everywhere.’”

Noah’s posts cover a wide range of interests such as global politics and race issues, the report notes, and have at times tested the boundaries of good taste.

The Times notes: “Mr. Noah has also posted jokes about Jews and about Israel. As he wrote in 2009, ‘Almost bumped a Jewish kid crossing the road. He didn’t look b4 crossing but I still would hav felt so bad in my german car!’”

Comedy Central released a statement Tuesday in which it said: “Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included. 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.”

Noah also responded to the controversy, writing on Twitter: “To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian.”

trevor noah 2Trevor Noah

2 Comments

  1. Seriously? You make it sound like he’s some sort of raving racist mysoginst! Read the Washington Post article – http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/03/31/in-defense-of-trevor-noahs-stupid-tasteless-tweets/
    I bet most people make way more tasteless remarks on a daily basis than the SIX whole tweets in question.

  2. Do Jews find the tweet about the German car offensive? So if a comedian can’t be edgy and controversial (like Jon Stewart) what is left for him to say? Oh! I know….”Why did the chicken cross the road”?

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