Trevor Noah has done it again. This time around, The Daily Show anchor has earned the ire of Gerard Araud, the ambassador of France to the USA, with his comments on the FIFA Men’s World Cup.
After France took took the coveted football trophy home on 15 July, Noah congratulated Africa for winning the World Cup – in a hattip to the fact that a majority of the members of the winning team were migrants or children of migrants.
Four days later, the comedian read out a letter that had been sent to him by the French ambassador who had taken offence at his comments. In the letter, the ambassador wrote that “nothing could be less true” than Noah’s comments about “an African victory”.
“France does not refer to its citizens based on their race, religion or origin. To us, there is no hyphenated identity, roots are an individual reality. By calling them an African team, it seems you are denying their Frenchness. This, even in jest, legitimises the ideology which claims whiteness as the only definition of being French,” he wrote.
Noah’s Response
In true Trevor Noah fashion, the comedian read out the letter on the next episode. While the comedian read out the letter in an exaggerated and accented voice, he was careful to address all the points in the letter. To the ambassador’s line, “the rich and various backgrounds of these players is a reflection of France’s diversity”, he suggested that perhaps the diplomat meant to say “colonial history” in place of the word “diversity”.
He questioned the logic behind asking players to pick one identity, instead of nurturing dual identities – “why can’t they be both African and French,” he asked. Noah also raked up the example of Malian migrant Mamoudou Gassama, who was awarded French citizenship for having scaled a building to rescue a child in May this year. “When they are unemployed, when they may commit a crime or they are considered unsavoury, it is the ‘African immigrants’. When their children go on to win a World Cup for France, we should only refer to them as ‘French’,” he said.
Some Cheered Noah On
Some also tried to point that the battle against discrimination is an uphill and long one.
Then There Were the Critics
One social media user pointed out that being of African descent and having African identity are different things.
What do you think of the whole situation?
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