Trevor Noah’s Comments On ‘Backlash’ Against UK PM Rishi Sunak Draw Ire Of Tory Politician
Trevor Noah’s days as host of The Daily Show are coming to an end but he still knows how to cause a stir.
Earlier this week, The Daily Show’s Twitter posted a video in which Noah claimed there had been a “backlash” against new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who became the UK’s first leader of Asian descent and Hindu faith earlier this week.
This led to former Tory Chancellor and Health Secretary Sajid Javid reposting the video and writing: “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.”
In Noah’s video, titled ‘Unpacking the backlash against new UK PM Rishi Sunak,’ he said: “Watching the story of Rishi Sunak becoming England’s first Prime Minister of colour, of Indian descent, of all these things and then seeing the backlash is one of the more telling things about how people view the role that they or their people have played in history.
“And what I mean by that is this, 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?’ “And I always find myself going ‘So what? What are you afraid of?’”
Watch the full video here.
The Daily Show has also made headlines this week week for a segment in which comedian and senior correspondent Ronnie Chieng joked Indian people such as Sunak are not Asian.
“I know everyone is excited that this is the first Asian prime minister, but let’s be clear: Indians are not Asians, okay? They’re still people — great people — just not Asian people,” said Chieng.
Noah’s last show as host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show will be on December 8. He has been in the role since 2015, when he replaced Jon Stewart.