Tweets by new 'Daily Show' host Trevor Noah come back to haunt him

Trevor Noah steps into Jon Stewart's shoes. Comedy Central

Fans of "The Daily Show," the humorous news program run by longtime host Jon Stewart, found out who would step into their departing hero's shoes this weekend. South African comedian Trevor Noah, who has logged a few appearances on the show, is taking over the reins on Comedy Central.

The gig is a high-profile position, and with that comes a considerable amount of scrutiny. Noah's Twitter history has now been raked through, with some people calling into question the taste of certain jokes posted on the social-media site, particularly ones referencing Jewish people and women.

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!

— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) September 18, 2009

"Oh yeah the weekend. People are gonna get drunk & think that I'm sexy!" - fat chicks everywhere.

— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) October 14, 2011

Comedy Central and Noah have yet to respond to the controversy, but lots of Twitter users are having their say about it. Noah has supporters. The "fat chicks" tweet from 2011 has 281 retweets and 103 favorites. Others are calling him anti-Semitic.

I heard @Trevornoah was anti-Israel, and I was like "OK, typical @TheDailyShow." Turns out he's an anti-Semite, too http://bit.ly/19yxDlh

— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) March 31, 2015

Some Twitter users called Noah out for being unfunny. Humor columnist Candy Kirby tweets, "@Trevornoah's 'jokes' slamming Jewish kids & fat chicks? Stupid, not funny. Archie Bunker did it better in 1971. Great pick, @ComedyCentral!"

Director and producer Julie Cohen tweets, "My complaint about the @trevornoah tweets isn't the mild offensiveness but the SEVERE unfunniness. fat chicks? really?"

Abraham H. Foxman, the director of the Anti-Defamation League, released a statement welcoming Noah to his new role and acknowledging the importance of humor. Foxman's statement includes this call for discretion:

We hope he will not cross the line from legitimate satire into offensiveness with jokes calling up anti-Semitic stereotypes and misogyny. And we hope that he and Comedy Central will make a conscious effort to ensure that The Daily Show remains funny and irreverent without trafficking in bigoted jokes at the expense of Jews, other minorities and women.

It remains to be seen if Noah's tweets and the backlash against them will impact his debut on "The Daily Show." Comedy Central has yet to set a date for Noah's hosting premiere, but Stewart is expected to step down sometime this year.

(Via New York Times)

from CNET http://bit.ly/1Gdb5TO