Overview

Trevor Noah's Tweet Controversy refers to the online backlash toward a series of tweets discovered in South African comedian Trevor Noah's Twitter history in late March 2015, following the announcement that he would become the new host of the satirical news program The Daily Show following Jon Stewart's retirement. Many accused the jokes found in Noah's feed as being offensive to jews, women and atheists, calling for Comedy Central to reconsider hiring Noah as the new host of The Daily Show.

Background

In December 2014, Noah began appearing as a recurring guest contributor on the Comedy Central satirical news program The Daily Show. On March 30th, 2015, the cable television network announced that Noah would replace host Jon Stewart following the comedian's retirement from the show later that year. That evening, a series of tweets were discovered in Noah's Twitter feed history that many argued were fat shaming, misogynistic and anti-Semitic (shown below).^{[1][2][3][4][8][9]}

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

Following the discovery of the tweets on March 30th, many Twitter users criticized the tweets for being ignorant and dim-witted.

On March 31st, 2015, Redditor MoralZorel submitted several of Noah's tweets mocking atheism and deceased author Christopher Hitchens to the /r/atheism^[5] subreddit (shown below). The same day, Redditor El_Charly submitted a tweet by Noah mocking fat women to the /r/fatpeoplehate^[6] subreddit.

Noah's Response

On March 31st, 2015, Noah posted the tweet "Twitter does not have enough characters to respond to all the characters on Twitter." The tweet was subsequently deleted.

Comedy Central's Response

Also on March 31st, Comedy Central issued a statement defending Noah:

“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.”

News Media Coverage

In the coming days, several news site published articles about the tweet controversy, including BuzzFeed,^[7] Entertainment Weekly,^[10] The New York Times,^[11] The Daily Dot,^[12] E! Online,^[13] The Guardian,^[14] The Independent^[15] and UpRoxx.^[16]

2018 World Cup Comments

Following France's victory in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Trevor Noah made a series of controversial jokes about the players of African descent on the French team, congratulating Africa on its win. On July 17th, 2018, Noah said in a segment on The Daily Show (shown below, left), "Africa won the World Cup."

The following day, the U.S. French Embassy responded to the jokes on Twitter.^[17] The French Embassador Gerard Araud wrote, "By calling them an African team, it seems you are denying their Frenchness. This, even in jest, legitimizes the ideology which claims whiteness as the only definition of being French." The post (shown below, right) received more than 4,200 retweets and 12,000 likes in six days.

That day, Noah responded to the letter on a "Between The Scenes" online segment. Noah defended the joke, stating that the ambassador's letter "erased" the identity of the players and the history of French colonialism. The post (shown below) received more than 3 million views in six days.

On July 23rd, Redditor^[19] kiwidave posted about the controversy in the /r/OutOfTheLoop subreddit, received more than 1,900 points (91% upvoted) in 24 hours.

The controversy revived some of the previous criticisms of Noah's comedy, particularly the anti-semitic and misogynistic tweets from Noah's past. On July 22nd, the Facebook group FeminismAndDecolonisation posted a video of Noah's 2013 standup routine in which Noah jokes that he has never seen a "beautiful" aboriginal woman. The post (shown below) received more than 525 reactions and 500 shares in two days.

That day, Noah responded to the critiques,^[18] "@joewilliams_tew you're right. After visiting Australia's Bunjilaka museum and learning about aboriginal history first hand I vowed never to make a joke like that again. And I haven't. I'll make sure the clip from 2013 is not promoted in any way." The tweet (shown below) received more than 75 retweets and 425 likes in two days.

Search Interest

Not available.

External References