Daily Show host Trevor Noah found himself the target of Kanye West’s ire earlier this year when he called out his harassment of Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson. Now he’s opened up about why he felt compelled to speak up about Ye’s behavior online.
In a chat with Variety for its Awards Circuit Podcast, Noah explained why he spoke about Kanye’s worrying comments about the relationship, then later criticized the Grammys when Ye’s appearance was canceled as a result. “I said counsel Kanye, not cancel Kanye,” said Noah, who hosted the awards show.
“I’ve just become more comfortable speaking my mind in situations where I feel like the mob forgets that we’re dealing with human beings,” the 38-year-old comedian shared when reflecting on situation from earlier this year. “It’s easy to stand on the sidelines, see a train crash coming and say nothing about it. And then after the train crashes off the tracks, we say, ‘Oh, I saw that coming!’ Well, then why didn’t you say anything? Especially if you have some sort of platform, you have some sort of obligation to speak a truth. You know, see something and say something.”
Trevor added that humans are a “paradox” and it’s entirely possible to “love people who we hate” and “hate people who we love” when an artist’s behavior and creative output are at odds.
"I don’t like to live in a world where we constantly discard human beings like pieces of trash. Kanye West is somebody who has an indelible impression on my life," Noah continued. "His music has literally taken me through different periods of my journey, But then there are also moments where I go, like, ‘Man, Kanye, you, you’re going off the rails here.’ But I can still say that, ‘I care for you as a human being, that’s, that’s why I’m speaking out. I’m not going to not care for you, I’m not going to hate you all of a sudden.’ That’s how I try and see the world, that’s how I would hope people would see me."
Noah said he hopes everyone, at least at some point in their lives, has the courage to confront someone they care about when they’re engaging in dangerous behavior. "I think we have gotten very comfortable discarding human beings, immediately tossing them away and making them irredeemable characters," he said. "When in fact I think all of us should be afforded the opportunity to redeem ourselves. All of us should have an opportunity at redemption.”
Kanye didn’t take too kindly to Noah’s criticism earlier this year, and he responded by directing racial slurs at the Daily Show host that eventually got West suspended from Instagram.
