# ...Trevor Noah. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 27, 2018, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650 "2018-07-27T00:56:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/1 "2018-07-27T00:56:28Z")
…a few years ago Trevor Noah told a really bad joke. > [@](#): > > “All women of every race can be beautiful,” Noah says in the clip, which has since been removed from YouTube. > > "And I know some of you are sitting there now going, ‘Oh Trevor, yeah, but I’ve never seen a beautiful Aborigine’. > > "Yeah, but you know what you say? You say ‘yet’. That’s what you say; ‘yet’. Because you haven’t seen all of them, right? > > “Plus it’s not always about looks. Maybe Aborigine women do special things? Maybe they’ll just like, jump on top of you?” It was a racist joke. It was an offensive joke. Its a problematic joke that played into hurtful stereotypes of a people that have almost nothing left and have been treated like dog-shit for much of their existence since invasion day. There were many different ways Noah could have handled this. Just last week he went on the offensive when the French Ambassador didn’t take too kindly to one of his jokes. But how Noah has decided to handle this is like this: > [@](#): > > The comedian told triple j the joke was made in South Africa in a different cultural context, and that comedy does not always translate across borders. > > Expanding on comments he made on Twitter last week, Noah said he stopped performing the joke after being told by someone he met in Australia that it was hurtful. > > “That’s why I am saying when you learn about something from someone who is a different culture, you understand how much gravity a joke can have in one place versus another place,” he said. > > There are certain things that maybe we talk about in South Africa that aren’t seen as denigrating or aren’t seen as extremely bad, but when you travel to a different place it changes. That’s comedy everywhere, all over the world." > > … > > Asked if he would apologise for any hurt caused, Noah said: "Well, my question is, how many times will people ask for the same thing? > > "This is a thing I realised … as a comedian, you are going to make jokes that some people like and some people don’t like. > > "I always go back to intention. If you are trying to hurt people, then you would carry on doing the joke. If you are not trying to hurt people, then you don’t do the joke … you change the joke to work. > > … > > “They go, ‘no, we are angry’, and regardless of how many times you speak about the thing, they still want to be angry.” > **[Trevor Noah refuses to apologise for joke about Indigenous women](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-26/trevor-noah-refuses-to-apologise-for-joke-about-indigenous-women/10038876)** > > Host of The Daily Show in the US, Trevor Noah, says he understands the offence caused and has stopped telling the joke, but says comedians will always offend some people. No Trevor. Being a racist fuck does not depend on context. It doesn’t depend on who your audience is. Your joke was racist as fuck whether it was performed in front of a group of South Africans or a group of Americans. The very least you could do is apologise. That you choose not to: that you choose not to listen to the voices of indigenous Australians and to characterize them as “angry for the sake of being angry” says everything we need to know about you. You are not welcome down-under. You are a despicable, hypocritical peice of shit. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/2 "2018-07-27T01:08:09Z")
Uh, ok. When he first got his current gig people dragged up a bunch of his touchier old twitter gags. A numb of them were perhaps over the line and I didn’t appreciate the handwaving of some of it. That said, he seems like a genuinely caring and thoughtful person for the most part. So I won’t be joining you in this mostly bullshit manufactured outrage. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/3 "2018-07-27T01:12:00Z")
Hell, it was an offensive joke before he even dragged race into it, and then it took the fast train to disastrous. Suck it up and apologize, dipshit. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/4 "2018-07-27T01:16:50Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Uh, ok. > > When he first got his current gig people dragged up a bunch of his touchier old twitter gags. A bunch of them were perhaps over the line and I didn’t appreciate the handwaving of some of it. That said, he seems like a genuinely caring and thoughtful person for the most part. So I won’t be joining you inthis mostly bullsht manufactured outrage. …oh fuck off. Nothing about this is “manufactured.” “Genuinely caring and thoughtful” people know how to say “sorry” for telling racist-as-fuck jokes. He’s just about to do a tour of Australia. Plenty of indigenous Australians have tried to engage him respectfully about this and he has chosen to ignore them. This isn’t about the joke. Its how he has chosen to react. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/5 "2018-07-27T01:26:43Z")
This was a joke he told in South Africa, right? But we know he was referencing Australia somehow? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/6 "2018-07-27T01:38:10Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > This was a joke he told in South Africa, right? But we know he was referencing Australia somehow? 😕 Where else are there people called aborigines? Seriously, I’ve never heard it referring to anyone else. I don’t even know why that joke would be funny to South Africans – do they have a lot of aborigines that come to visit? Do they mean something else by aborigine? I tried looking for definitions, but they all seem to point to Australian aborigines. Maybe if I found my way to Google South Africa. That joke doesn’t seem very funny anyway. I guess you had to be there. That said, I really miss Jon Stewart. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/7 "2018-07-27T01:40:50Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > Nothing about this is “manufactured.” Well, it may not have been run through an assembly line, but any outrage it might generate now seems contrived to _me_. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/8 "2018-07-27T01:42:29Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > This was a joke he told in South Africa, right? But we know he was referencing Australia somehow? …for fucks sakes. Are you being fucking serious? No he wasn’t referencing Australia. He was referencing indigenous Australians. If you have any further questions please feel free to let me know. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/9 "2018-07-27T01:45:33Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, it may not have been run through an assembly line, but any outrage it might generate now seems contrived to _me_. …the revelation of the video may have been contrived by the same right-wing-trolls that are actively trying to stir up trouble. The reaction to how Noah has chosen to respond to the video are not contrived at all. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/10 "2018-07-27T01:52:54Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > 😕 Where else are there people called aborigines? Seriously, I’ve never heard it referring to anyone else. Aboriginal people is a phrase used in Canada. Other western countries probably have similar usages. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/11 "2018-07-27T02:01:20Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Aboriginal people is a phrase used in Canada. Other western countries probably have similar usages. …New Zealand, Australia, South Africa are all countries with a lot of shared history. There is no doubt who Noah was talking about. The entire context of everything Noah has said since regarding the comedy clip make it clear he was talking about indigenous Australians. That’s why this is especially galling. But lets pretend that instead of Australian indigenous people he was talking about Canadian indigenous people. Does that suddenly make it less racist-as-fuck? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/12 "2018-07-27T02:13:12Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …New Zealand, Australia, South Africa are all countries with a lot of shared history. Not really. > [@](#): > > But lets pretend that instead of Australian indigenous people he was talking about Canadian indigenous people. Does that suddenly make it less racist-as-fuck? Well, first off it would make it harder for you to act all personally offended. Which is big. But obviously the whole joke is racial based. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/13 "2018-07-27T02:15:06Z")
Noah should apologize. Sincerely and repeatedly. What an ugly thing to say. It’s baffling that he doesn’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/14 "2018-07-27T02:45:21Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …the revelation of the video may have been contrived by the same right-wing-trolls that are actively trying to stir up trouble. The reaction to how Noah has chosen to respond to the video are not contrived at all. It’s a foolish, childish reaction. So he said something insulting and racist a few years back and is not sufficiently apologetic about it to some arbitrary standard. I do not believe an adult of sound mind would feel outraged by this, therefore if someone who is ostensibly an adult of sound mind _says_ they feel outraged by this, I don’t believe them. If it makes them form a negative opinion about Noah that impacts their opinions of anything he might do in future, fine. If they’re actually angered by it… grow the fuck up. For what it’s worth, I don’t like Noah and haven’t watched _The Daily Show_ since Stewart’s departure. I care nothing about Noah’s past work, I just don’t like his voice or delivery. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/15 "2018-07-27T02:47:59Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …a few years ago . . . I am curious how long ago the joke was last repeated and when was the pursuit of an apology begun. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/16 "2018-07-27T03:34:14Z")
Oh, what’s that I spy in the distance? Accusations of liberal hypocrisy coming in hot and fast in 3… 2… 1… ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/17 "2018-07-27T03:39:15Z")
Can someone explain the joke to me? Then I’ll decide if I’m outraged. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/18 "2018-07-27T04:00:28Z")
Total liberal hypocrisy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/19 "2018-07-27T04:08:14Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Can someone explain the joke to me? > Then I’ll decide if I’m outraged. Google pictures of aborigines and you’ll get the joke. Not all of them, but certainly a lot of them are pretty hard on the eyes, I’ve heard similarly edged jokes about how British people look. I’m not a fan of Trevor Noah but comedy isn’t really an area that is meant to be policed. Comedy is subjective, you don’t get to tell other people what is, or isn’t funny. If you don’t think he’s funny don’t listen to his jokes, I don’t think he’s funny, so I don’t listen to him. Comedy is truly an art form in a lot of ways, and it’s one of the last bastions of free speech. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650/20 "2018-07-27T04:52:47Z")
Maybe don’t worry so much about what someone on the other side of the Indian Ocean thinks is pretty. Certainly there are a _lot_ of mixed-race aboriginal Australians, so they are attractive to people who are familiar with them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trevor-noah/818650.md?page=2)