[Content Note: Antisemitism; misogyny; fat hatred; domestic violence; regionalism.]
So, the new host of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah, has a history of tweeting shitty "jokes" about Jewish people, fat women, domestic violence, and people in "flyover" states.
(As an aside, I've watched one of his stand-up specials, much of which was fairly solid, so it's pretty crappy to know he's capable of punching up but is happy to punch down in other spaces.)
And many people have reacted by accusing The Daily Show of failing to properly vet Noah.
Except that sort of ignores the fact that the The Daily Show is pretty much fine with xenophobic, fat-hating, misogynist, regionalist humor.
Imagining this was a vetting problem is contingent on forgiving disablism, fat hatred, mockery of intersex bodies, reproductive policing (with more fat hatred), jokes about how feminists are so scary and violent, etc. That's hardly a complete list. The Daily Show, with Jon Stewart at the helm, did a lot of punching down, when it should have always been punching up.
Maybe this isn't a vetting problem. Maybe this is a decency problem.
Shakesville is run as a safe space. First-time commenters: Please read Shakesville's Commenting Policy and Feminism 101 Section before commenting. We also do lots of in-thread moderation, so we ask that everyone read the entirety of any thread before commenting, to ensure compliance with any in-thread moderation. Thank you.
blog comments powered by Disqus