After seven years, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah announced he is leaving for good. Noah joined the satirical TV show in 2014 as a consultant and took over the hosting job in 2015 after Jon Stewart left.
Noah announced his departure before a shocked audience: “I found myself thinking throughout the time, everything we’ve gone through – the Trump presidency, the pandemic, just the journey… and I realized that after the seven years, my time is up.” (via Connecticut Public)
During Trevor Noah’s tenure, he had many great as well as not-so-great moments that stirred a lot of controversies online and elicited negative reactions because of his insensitive jokes.
Sexist Jokes
Noah’s Twitter account is not spared from his tactless humor. Most of his controversial tweets contain sexist jokes. One time he tweeted, “Messi gets the ball, and the real players try foul him, but Messi doesn’t go down easy, just like Jewish chicks.” On another occasion, he also said, “Originally when men proposed they went down on one knee so if the woman said no they were in the perfect uppercut position.” What a humorous way to describe fragile masculinity.
Aboriginal Australians
Not only Noah made sexist jokes toward women, but he was also very specific when he targeted indigenous women. In a stand-up show back in 2013, he once said, “All women of every race can be beautiful. And I know some of you are sitting there now going, ‘Oh Trevor … I’ve never seen a beautiful Aborigine.’ But you know what you say? You say, ‘Yet.’ Because you haven’t seen all of them, right? Plus, it’s not always about looks, maybe Aborigine women do special things, maybe they’ll just like, jump on top of you.” Not only this showed disrespect to women, but also blasphemy towards the indigenous culture.
The Indian-Pakistan Border
It is not proper to make jokes about countries in conflict, especially if it has already caused so much bloodshed and trauma to millions of people. The conflict between India and Pakistan is one of the most critical events in history. Noah made a joke about it in the show and said that if these countries go into a full-blown war, it will be the most entertaining of all. He said this while imitating an Indian accent. This caused outrage from viewers, and he was forced to make a public apology.
Anti-Semitic Posts
At the height of Trevor Noah’s popularity, people turn to social media to find out the dirt on someone, and the host is not exempted. Apparently, Noah has posted a very offensive tweet that put him under fire. He said, “Almost bumped a Jewish kid crossing the road. He didn’t look before crossing, but I still would have felt so bad in my German car!”
Jokes About Murder
One of the most tactless jokes made by Trevor Noah happened after the news about Oscar Pistorius, a Paralympic sprinter who shot and killed his girlfriend, broke out. The host made a tweet that goes, “And the Oscar goes to – jail.” While this is not as explicit as the other jokes, the issue should not be taken lightly.
