Another day, another controversy! It was just announced yesterday that Trevor Noah, would be sliding into the Daily Show seat set to be vacated by Jon Stewart later this year. But within 24 hours, the South African comedian was already in the hot seat, thanks to some unearthed “comedic” tweets.
The jokes, told at the expense of Jews and women, have set off a rash of criticism. Roseanne Barr got the ball rolling with this now-deleted missive, “U should cease sexist & anti semitic ‘humor’ about jewish women & Israel.”
Comedy Central has since released a statement defending Trevor: “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.”
I’m all for cutting a comedian some slack when it comes to political correct sentiment. But still, it’s hard to imagine Jon Stewart cracking jokes like the following. And not just because he’s Jewish. Jon saves his pointedly satiric barbs for the asshats in power and media clowns. The jokes, featuring lame dudebro humor and borderline ethnic slurs, aren’t funny at all. No thanks.
Here are a few of the tweets in question, ranging from 2009-2014:
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!
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) September 18, 2009
“Oh yeah the weekend. People are gonna get drunk & think that I’m sexy!” – fat chicks everywhere.
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) October 14, 2011
Messi gets the ball and the real players try foul him, but Messi doesn’t go down easy, just like jewish chicks. #ElClasico
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) January 25, 2012
“I actually prefer the women’s league to the mens.” – Nobody ever, about any sport. (except maybe, beach volleyball)
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) January 29, 2012
Behind every successful Rap Billionaire is a double as rich Jewish man. #BeatsByDreidel
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) May 12, 2014
Noah hasn’t officially commented on the tweets. He tweeted something quickly early today, before deleting it altogether, according to MSNBC editor Anna Brand. captured a screenshot of an ostensible reaction Noah tweeted this morning then promptly deleted: “Twitter does not have enough characters to respond to all the characters on Twitter.”
Pretty quick tweet & delete from Trevor Noah pic.twitter.com/L2Yr8Dab74
— Anna Brand (@thebrandedgirl) March 31, 2015
Via Rolling Stone