Updated Tuesday, March 31, 3:40 p.m. EDT: Comedy Central has issued the following statement about Trevor 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.”
Earlier:
Just a day after Comedy Central announced that comedian Trevor Noah would be taking over The Daily Show after Jon Stewart’s departure, Twitter users scoured Noah’s account and uncovered “anti-Semitic” and “sexist” tweets.
https://twitter.com/Trevornoah/status/4081446354https://twitter.com/Trevornoah/status/141229204829249536
The newly resurfaced tweets, some of which are over six years old, have received their fair share of complaints from people on social media:
https://twitter.com/efredman/status/582718587195908097https://twitter.com/DAVIDMDRAIMAN/status/582735008986570753http://twitter.com/YeahThatsKosher/status/582652492237930496
People are now calling for Comedy Central to fire Noah, even though he hasn’t even sat in the hosting chair yet:
https://twitter.com/AriDavidUSA/status/582769346482585600https://twitter.com/ArianaGicPerry/status/582759023474167808
But actress and comedian Roseanne Barr’s only request was for the anti-Semitic and sexist jokes to stop:
https://twitter.com/therealroseanne/status/582727771350142977
As one user suggested on Twitter, maybe Noah should have cleaned up his account and gotten rid of the evidence, but since some people seem to be of the mindset that comedians can joke about anything they want, why would he? Also, no one seems to have an issue with the jokes Noah has made about black people. Go figure.
https://twitter.com/tomgara/status/582730634252144640https://twitter.com/Minz789/status/582851160303902720
Neither Noah nor Comedy Central has released a statement about the old tweets.