Trevor Noah says he did not claim "the entire UK is racist" after a row erupted over his skit on newly-appointed UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The Daily Show host said on his programme earlier this week that there had been “backlash” over Sunak’s appointment. During the skit, Trevor Noah played a phonecall from a Briton who opposed Sunak’s appointment, falsely claiming that the 42-year-old is “not even British.”
“You hear a lot of the people saying 'Oh, they're taking over, now the Indians are going to take over Great Britain and what's next?” Trevor Noah said during the segment. “And I always find myself going 'So what? What are you afraid of? I think it's because the quiet part that a lot of people don't realise what they're saying is, ‘We don't want these people who were previously oppressed to get into power because then they may do to us what we did to them.’”
Noah’s remarks were criticised by a section of the internet. British MP and ex-chancellor Sajid Javid tweeted a critical take on the comedian’s remarks. “Simply wrong. A narrative catered to his audience, at a cost of being completely detached from reality,” he wrote. “Britain is the most successful multiracial democracy on earth and proud of this historic achievement.”
Simply wrong. A narrative catered to his audience, at a cost of being completely detached from reality.Britain is the most successful multiracial democracy on earth and proud of this historic achievement. https://t.co/D6k8IUZx0I
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— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) October 27, 2022
According to the BBC, Noah has now defended the comment, saying he did not refer to the whole of the UK’s population but only to “some people” who are racist.
“I wasn’t saying “The entire U.K. is racist”, I was responding to the racists who don’t want Rishi as PM because of his race,” he tweeted in response to a critical post from TV presented Piers Morgan.
“That’s why I said ‘some people’,” Noah clarified.
C’mon Piers you’re smarter than that. I wasn’t saying “The entire U.K. is racist”, I was responding to the racists who don’t want Rishi as PM because of his race. That’s why I said. “Some people” https://t.co/QQgEQ45wJU https://t.co/bhurdPvsE8— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) October 28, 2022
Rishi Sunak is the first person of Indian origin to be named prime minister of the UK. The 42-year-old is a practicing Hindu.
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