Trevor Noah, Welcome To The Internet Spotlight
Trevor Noah, as you might have heard, had a good day yesterday. Named the new anchor of The Daily Show, his profile is almost certainly on the rise. Overnight, he went from a semi-obscure stand up with a few big appearances on The Daily Show and David Letterman as well as a couple of comedy specials to someone who will be a taste maker in the world of comedy and politics.
However, with the heightened attention now comes the heightened scrutiny in to his past. Noah has come under fire for some tweets he put out several years ago on his feed. Like most comedians, his twitter account has been a place to quip or make jokes for his followers and his own amusement. Yet, people now are upset that some of his humor may have crossed the line.
Most of his jokes poke fun at some of the low hanging fruit of comedy: Jewish people, fat people, white women and somehow, now people have started to be scandalized that a man who makes his living by cracking jokes would dare to crack jokes about specific people. There is, of course, a time and a place for good taste and a discussion in to what can and cannot be said, but this feels more like the internet once again course-correcting because it can and must find something to yell about. Noah himself took to twitter to try and make sense of the matter, essentially saying a few bad jokes don’t make him a terrible person.
While it’s doubtful this will have any impact at all on Noah’s standing at Comedy Central, it’s yet another reminder that nothing is ever forgotten on the internet. Yesterday’s bad joke is today’s outrage. Trevor Noah, welcome to the a bigger stage.
