The Daily Show has gone beyond satire and has emerged as an authoritative source shaping current affairs opinion in America. Jon Stewart and his fantastic team of writers are responsible for this.
For a lot of fans in India, The Daily Show is the one-stop-shop to understand the idiosyncrasies of American policy making. Many tripped on Stewart’s attempts to educate Americans about the Indian General Election 2014 and the hilarity of Prime Minister Modi’s show at the Madison Square Garden in New York last year.
Two months ago, Jon Stewart announced his retirement. And on Sunday night Comedy Central announced that a relatively unknown comedian from South Africa would succeed him as the host of The Daily Show. Fans sifted through the depths of 31-year-old Trevor Noah’s Twitter page and extracted tweets that were racist, sexist and just not funny.
Comedy Central defended Noah saying
Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included. To judge him or his comedy on a handful of jokes is unfair
Noah, the son of a Swiss father and a Black South African mother often refers to his mixed race during his routines. The comedian defended himself on Twitter, saying he was being judged unfairly.
He found quick support from Seth McFarlane whose Oscar outing in 2014 was described as “Hostile, Ugly and Sexist” by The New Yorker.
If nothing else, this online outrage has given Trevor Noah some good material to work with. The date of when Trevor Noah will take charge as The Daily Show host is not yet known.
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