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Comedy Central defends Trevor Noah, calls judgment based on tweets ‘unfair’

Should Comedy Central have to step in?

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Audra Schroeder

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In the span of a day, newly announced Daily Show host Trevor Noah experienced both the highs and the lows of being thrust into the national spotlight. Noah’s post-announcement honeymoon period ended quickly when the Internet discovered offensive tweets from his past, but Comedy Central has stepped in to say it’s standing by him.

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The channel’s PR Twitter account issued the following statement on Tuesday afternoon.

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Many were upset by what were seen as anti-Semitic tweets, as well as jokes about punching and body-shaming women. The Internet’s lightning-fast cycle of insta-judgement ginned up outrage and counter-outrage from Noah’s critics and defenders; suddenly, everyone became an expert on joke-telling and satire.

Some people pointed out the ethical murkiness of judging others based on years-old tweets. 

https://twitter.com/anylaurie16/status/582991591628898304

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https://twitter.com/oldmanweldon/status/582953220697280512

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Ari Shaffir, another Comedy Central personality, also came under fire this week for body-shaming a fellow comedian during a nationally televised stand-up set. The network has not yet commented on that incident. It was around this time last year that Stephen Colbert faced the Internet mob for an out-of-context tweet about Asians.

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At press time, Noah had not yet commented on the fallout.

Screengrab via Trevor Noah/YouTube 

 
The Daily Dot