Trevor Noah: Why Comedy Central Stands By Their New ‘Daily Show’ Man

Trevor Noah is set to be Jon Stewart’s replacement on Comedy Central’s Daily Show, reportedly tapped by Stewart himself. After some digging around in Noah’s Twitter account, a few of his tweets are making headlines with many people criticizing them for being offensive and hateful. Others are blasting Trevor’s tweets as “not funny.” One of the tweets dates as far back as 2009. Others were posted in 2011.

Tom Gara, business editor at BuzzFeed, had this to say about Trevor Noah’s controversial tweets.

“The most depressing thing about Trevor Noah’s Twitter timeline, other than how bad he is at Twitter, is how often he replies to @UberFacts.”

Referencing Gara’s comment, Liam Williams from the Guardian writes tongue-in-cheek, “When someone from BuzzFeed is calling you lame, you know you’re in trouble.”

With Trevor Noah’s detractors calling him “antisemitic” and “misogynistic,” the criticism he is facing has the comedian on the defensive. He posted Tuesday on Twitter, “To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian.”

To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian.

— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) March 31, 2015

Comedy Central is standing by their man and is coming to the new Daily Show host’s defense as well. In a statement, the network said, “To judge him or his comedy based on a handful jokes is unfair.” They said he’s a “provocative” comedian who “spares no one, himself included” who has “a bright future at Comedy Central.” Jon Stewart is defending Trevor, too.

According to Marc Ambinder for the Week, the Daily Show carries Comedy Central and had the network not defended Trevor Noah, the show would have been damaged, possibly irreversibly. “Controversy is good for ratings. Always,” Ambinder writes. He sees anticipation building up for Noah’s debut as the new Daily Show host, which could lead to ratings for the show staying solid.

At this time, the date of Stewart’s departure hasn’t been officially announced. He’s expected to leave at the end of the year with Noah taking over soon afterward. After sixteen years on the show, Stewart will be missed.

Are you looking forward to seeing what Trevor Noah will bring to the Daily Show? What do you think of the controversy surrounding him?

[Photo by Justin Barlow/Getty Images]