The American Jewish Congress has called on Comedy Central to drop Trevor Noah as the new host of The Daily Show.
AJC President Jack Rosen released an open letter this week in which he condemned the now infamous tweets posted by Noah in recent years for being sexist and anti-Semitic.
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Those tweets included the following:
“South Africans know how to recycle like Israel knows how to be peaceful, ” and how an athlete did not fall down because he, “doesn’t go down easy just like Jewish chicks.”
Rosen was also baffled at how one of America’s most famous Jewish celebrities, Jon Stewart, could turn over his legacy to someone who Rosen feels is an anti-Semite.
The letter said, “Last week, Comedy Central announced that South African comedian Trevor Noah would replace Jon Stewart as host of the Daily Show. A series of alarming jokes about women and Jews in Noah’s Twitter feed has since cast doubt on that choice.”
“How can one of the world’s most admired Jewish comedians leave his legacy to a sexist anti-Semite?
“Do sexist, anti-Semitic jokes really represent the comedy institution that Jon Stewart has spent the last decade building? Is this crude humor something that fans of the Daily Show will be receptive to? We don’t think so.
“That’s why we’re calling on Jon Stewart: Rescind Trevor Noah’s Daily Show contract.”
The AJC’s position stands in stark contrast to that of the head of the Anti-Defamation League Abe Foxman who said that his organization is willing to give Noah a chance. Last week Foxman released his own letter in which he said, “We welcome Trevor Noah to his new endeavor at ‘The Daily Show’ and wish him success. We need humor — perhaps now more than ever — and we hope that he will build on Jon Stewart’s great legacy.”
“We hope he will not cross the line from legitimate satire into offensiveness with jokes calling up anti-Semitic stereotypes and misogyny. And we hope that he and Comedy Central will make a conscious effort to ensure that The Daily Show remains funny and irreverent without trafficking in bigoted jokes at the expense of Jews, other minorities and women.”
Jon Stewart has himself expressed support for Noah.
