TV host causes controversy with surfaced tweets.
Sexist, racist — two terms that a talk show host never wants to be associated with, but those words were terms that critics called Trevor Noah, the next host of The Daily Show, after several controversial posts were discovered on his Twitter account, @Trevornoah.
In March, Noah, a native of South Africa, was announced as the replacement for Jon Stewart, the host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, who will be leaving later this year.
Many of his tweets that surfaced online were deemed offensive to women and Jewish people.
Noah’s account has more than 2 million followers.
Controversial jokes such as Noah’s have different impacts depending on the person, said Patty Stokes, a professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Ohio University. Circumstance also plays into it, she added.
“Generally, people are less likely to offend with ethnic, racial or other stereotypes when they’re a member of the group they’re mocking,” Stokes said. “Jon Stewart and Sarah Silverman both make Jewish jokes on a regular basis without usually provoking a backlash, for instance.”
Stewart and Silverman are both Jewish comedians.
Stokes said jokes such as these are “lazy” and that she gets more discomforted as a comedian moves from joking about groups they’re a part of to ones they aren’t.
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“If Jon Stewart jokes about young Jewish women, that is liable to make me cringe more than if he makes jokes about middle-aged Jewish men,” she said.
She said the criticism Noah has drawn is likely due to the fact that he does not belong to the groups he is joking about.
Mikel Zeidenstein, a sophomore studying economics and a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternity, said he does not see a problem with comedians using religious jokes as long as they don’t cross a line.
“I don’t have any issue with it if it’s for comedic purposes,” Zeidenstein said.
He said, however, that if someone who is not a comedian or a friend makes a joke about being Jewish, he would not be pleased.
“If I don’t know who you are and you make a joke about my religion then I’ll take it offensively,” he said.
He added that jokes such as those about the Holocaust should not be made by anyone, Jewish or not.
Zane Tracy, the creative director of Black Sheep Improv, a comedy group at OU, said he does not think there are any subject matters that can’t be joked about, but that comedians must be careful.
Tracy, a senior studying video production, said people should also be aware of the point of view the jokes are coming from.
“I don't think those topics should be used for one-off jokes,” he said of Noah’s tweets. “You're supposed to be a comedian; this was like a really shitty dad joke.”
Comedians can subvert expectations when it comes to jokes that deal with racism, sexism and homophobia and can even use their routines to address societal issues, Stokes said.
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“There’s another approach to comedy that deals with racism or sexism, and that is to portray it as benighted and clueless,” Stokes said.
She cited Tina Fey’s character, Liz Lemon, on 30 Rock as an example of this, as Lemon is not tuned into race relations.
Tracy said people should be cautious about making jokes on Twitter because they are both permanent and public.
“Everyone should be reminded that before you tweet that you may get some success in your life and everyone is going to be looking back through your stuff,” he said.
@w_gibbs
wg868213@ohio.edu
