By Michael Regenstreif
A bit of a brouhaha developed online after The Daily Show announced that South African comedian Trevor Noah would succeed Jon Stewart, later this year, as host of the late-night satirical news show. It was discovered that he had a long Twitter history of almost 9,000 tweets, which included four questionable posts that some interpreted as being antisemitic.
For example, in one tweet from 2009, Noah wrote, “Almost bumped a Jewish kid crossing the road. He didn’t look b4 crossing but I still would hav felt so bad in my german car!” [sic]
And just last year, he wrote, “Behind every successful Rap Billionaire is a double as rich Jewish man.”
While I’d agree that such posts are in poor taste and not at all funny, I really don’t think there’s much there to worry about. There certainly isn’t much there in the number of tweets – four of nearly 9,000 spread over six years – or in any level of real hatred being discernable. I’m prepared – at this point – to cut him some slack. Noah is a young comedian who has put his foot in his mouth a few times. What comedian hasn’t?
And, for that matter, haven’t we all?
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