A Rising Star Stalled by Toxic Tweets
Is Trevor Noah the new Charlie Hebdo?
Most of the civilized world seemed to rise in heartwarming solidarity after that French satirical magazine was attacked by Islamic terrorists in January. But some of that support suddenly softened as many discovered just how offensive many of the edgy publication's cartoons actually were.
Sure, the weekly was and continues to be an equal-opportunity offender. But today's hypersensitive age constantly raises new questions about what humor is acceptable or not, especially when it tries to cross cultural boundaries.
That thought comes to mind as another "Wait ... what?" moment follows the news that Noah, 31, a mixed-race South African comedian, will replace Jon Stewart as host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show."
I, for one, was surprised and delighted by that choice. His breakthrough appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" in 2012 showed him to be a bright, engaging new talent. He mined thought-provoking comedy gold out of his experience as a biracial man "born a crime" in apartheid-era South Africa where interracial marriage was still illegal.
I was surprised and delighted that Comedy Central was willing to challenge its audience, not only by casting a black South African host but also by doing it on a show that is followed by another show with a black host, "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore."
I was disappointed that they hadn't chosen one of several talented women who I would have considered, but at least Noah wasn't blocked by a quota on black men.
Otherwise the choice brought near-universal praise, until folks looked more closely at some of Noah's Twitter tweets. They had to look hard, it must be said. Since Noah joined Twitter in June 2009 he has tweeted almost 9,000 tweets to his currently 2.17 million followers.
But if Noah didn't know it before, he knows by now that unseen legions of joke police have nothing better to do with their time than to dive eagerly into the Internet's digital dumpster to peruse every past moment of attempted wit on social networks.
This particular witch hunt found pay dirt in a few of Noah's tweets that unfortunately stand out as stunningly unfunny and even cruel. A sampling:
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