topping our headlines this morning, trevor noah under fire. barely 48 hours after the south african comedian was named to succeed jon stewart later this year on the daily show, critics went looking in to his past and pointed out a history of rants on twitter they describe as racist, misogynist, anti-semitic, homophobic and even fat shaming. yesterday noah responded on twitter saying 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. comedy central is standing behind noah calling the criticism unfair. as one industry observer puts it, the line between funny and offensive is thin and trevor noah is on the wrong side. stay tuned for this as well. now he will be under scrutiny when the critics have come forward when he starts the show. big job he has got now. a lot of eyes on him. russell crowe pranked by michael jackson?
jon stewart s shoes. the old jokes that didn t land as he said, the question is whether that is how he usually constructs his comedy. part of the point here is policing of language can be positive when it helps people rethink the words and culture that can hold people down. but comedy is special and different and satire is important. jerry seinfeld was talking about this in a potential oversensitivity. take a listen to this. you re not worried that we re becoming this very gentle respectful culture that people won t be funny anymore. i m worried that every time i see a comedian apologize, just to end it, just because you took what i said seriously doesn t mean i now meant it. you don t get to decide you are in my head and know my intent. if i m saying something and i m joking, i m joking. does that defense work and do you worry that if comedian versus to apologize for everything and it cuts in to the work you are trying to do? yeah, because i don t think the apology is sincer
it doesn t offend me. britney, what do you think? i think that some of these jokes are in poor taste but the real issue is that they re cheap jokes. he goes for cheap punch lines and the problem is the daily show is a whole other stratosphere. so john stewart has gotten our respect because he doesn t usually, anyway go for cheap jokes or an easy punch line. he does really sophisticated cultural analysis. so when i saw what trevor noah was saying his digs at fat chicks. first i thought, you can t handle a fat chick. as a fat chick i can say it. but secondly he has to build our trust and i don t think he has it just yet. that the level of sophistication that is required to step into john stewart s shoes. the old jokes that didn t land as he said the question is whether that is how he usually constructs his comedy. part of the point here is policing of language can be positive when it helps people rethink the words and culture
those views are changing particularly on gay marriage even among younger republicans. so the jeb bushes scott walkers, marco rubios chris christies, rand pauls of the world really don t want to spend much time talking about this and i think asa hutchinson looks at indiana and says, i don t want to become the next mike pence. sort of national fire storm of attention on me. that may be at least part of why he changed his mind. all right. chris cillizza jean cummings fantastic conversation. appreciate your insights. well it only took a few hours for the critics to come crashing down on trevor noah the man picked to replace jon stewart on the lady show. some of his older tweets about jewish people and women. he responded, quote, to reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn t land is not a reflection of my character. for their part comedy central is standing by their choice, saying, quote, like many comedians, trevor noah pushes
new tweet. 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. comedy central quick to respond issuing a statement saying he pushes boundaries is provocative, spares no one, himself included. the boundaries between funny and offensive have been tested a lot. at monday s justin beiber roast. all these rappers on stage, and martha stewart has done the most jail time. sunday night, jamie foxx criticism with this bruce jenner joke. he is doing a his and her duet all by himself. and earlier this year snl skit about joining isis that drew as many gasps as laughs. you be careful, okay? dad it s just isis. go back and watch one episode of all in the family and see