Newly anointed Daily Show host Trevor Noah has come under fire after a deep dive of his some 9,000 tweets revealed a few some find to be offensive.
Noah addressed the hubbub yesterday, saying the jokes in question are not an accurate or total reflection of him as a comic and that his humor has evolved with time.
Comedy Central is also supporting the comedian, seemingly putting an end to speculation his position is in jeopardy.
Noah’s situation has sparked questions about the state of comedy in 2015 and its place in a hypersensitive society.
Patton Oswalt, who often puts words together more eloquently than anyone else on the planet, explored the topic while lending his backing to Noah in an epic Twitter essay early this morning.
It explores all the ways a seemingly innocuous joke can be broken down into social commentary when people mine for outrage.
It is, in a word, brilliant.
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of some of the jokes Noah made that landed him in hot water. But I feel like I can accept that others did enjoy them and move on with my life.
Comedy really doesn’t have to be for every single person. Much like music and movies and sports and food and … everything else, we are armed with the ability to pick and choose what we consume and how we react to it.
I find it infinitely more troubling that someone went through 9,000 tweets with great care trying to find scandal than the actual content of those tweets.
Bravo to Oswalt for putting this stuff in perspective.