THE DAILY SHOW

Trevor Noah Cooked Kanye West For Responding With A Racial Slur To Concern About Kim Kardashian

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Kanye West Kim Kardashian Divorce
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Trevor Noah devoted a substantial chunk of time (on Tuesday night’s The Daily Show episode) to discussing the ongoing trainwreck of the Kanye West/Kim Kardashian/Pete Davidson situation. By now, you’ve surely noticed the back and forth, including how Kayne has thrown obstacles into Kim’s divorce filing (which was granted by a judge) and depicted an act of physical violence against Pete in a music video, and Noah has warned this very publicly rendered obsession could take a terrible turn.

Noah, who had discussed how his own mother endured an abusive relationship before being shot in the head (Patricia Noah did, miraculously, survive), did carefully make sure that he wasn’t accusing Kanye of physical violence. Still, Noah expressed worry and wondered, “Do we wish to stand by and watch a car crash when we thought we saw it coming? Or do we at least want to say, ‘Slow down, let’s all put our hazards on, because there’s a storm coming and sh*t might go down.’”

Before long, Kanye posted (as noted by both TMZ and Us Weekly) a response on his Instagram page. He’s since deleted the racial slur-filled post, but here’s a screenshot:

Noah stepped up and responded in the comments to that post. Of course, the post and the comment are now deleted, but Noah (via The Wrap) declared (of the racial slur), “Clearly some people graduate but we still stupid.” He added, “Don’t ever forget, the biggest trick racists ever played on black people was teaching us to strip each other of our blackness whenever we disagree. Tricking us into dividing ourselves up into splinters so that we would never unite into a powerful rod.”

Earlier on in the comment, Noah expressed concern for Kanye’s well-being, too:

“There are few artists who have had more of an impact on me than you Ye. You took samples and turned them into symphonies. You took your pain and through the wire turned it into performance perfection. I thought differently about how I spend my money because of you, I learned to protect my child-like creativity from grown thoughts because of you, shit I still smile every time I put on my seatbelt because of you.

“You’re an indelible part of my life Ye. Which is why it breaks my heart to see you like this. I don’t care if you support Trump and I don’t care if you roast Pete. I do however care when I see you on a path that’s dangerously close to peril and pain.”

As of now, there’s been no additional response from Kanye.

(Via The Wrap, TMZ, Us Weekly)

Emily Ratajkowski Shared A Compelling Observation About Robin Thicke’s Now-Infamous Alleged Groping On The ‘Blurred Lines’ Set

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Emily Ratajkowski recently threw down a convincing theory about how “only other men” are confused about Pete Davidson’s attractiveness in the eyes of women, and she’s here to level the field on a more serious subject. That would be her revelation (as published in her My Body memoir) that Robin Thicke groped her on the “Blurred Lines” set, an account that was backed up by video director Diane Martel, who cut the shoot short after the incident. Emily visited with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show, where she revealed what she’s gained in perspective from that experience.

Let’s just say that she likely did not set out to level Robin Thicke with her declaration, but that’s still part of the effect because her take is incredibly effective. She suspects that maybe Thicke felt powerless on the set (which was run by a female director and filled with women owning their sexuality, contrary to the song’s lyrics) and was acting out as a result. Yup, she said this, and Emily totally took the high road while responding to Noah’s question on how she views the experience through the lens of time:

“I think that I’m really not interested in blaming individuals. I think that we live in a culture that allows a lot of these situations to occur. [Not just in] professional settings but on dates. Again, not to beat the horse, but power dynamics is what I’m interested in talking about and really revealing because I think that, in some ways, maybe that was like an attempt at leveling the power for him, and I think we need to look at how many this culture if bad for both men and women.”

Again, Emily did not appear to set out with the intent of making Robin Thicke look like a disempowered presence on his own video set, but oh boy, that’s how it’s looking now. And it’s a powerful move on her part to make this observation, and it’s completely her prerogative to look at the situation as reflective of the whole culture. The entire The Daily Show interview is a fascinating one, and it began with Noah admitting, “This is one of the most interesting and complicated books I’ve read about the subject.”

From there, Emily discussed what empowerment really means and how our culture has commodified women. She sees this as extreme in society, to the point where the OnlyFans back-and-forth on whether to ban explicit material was a way for someone to attempt to take power from those women. She compares that situation to the “Blurred Lines” video, and she further says, “Every woman can relate to the experience of getting dressed and knowing, you know, sort of the negotiation of how tight to I want my shirt to be? How, you know, much do I want to cover up?” Emily Ratajkowski gets it.

Trevor Noah Dove Deep Into How Spotify Treats Non-Major Artists On ‘The Daily Show’

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For years now, streaming services like Spotify have faced criticism about how much they pay the artists whose music they depend on. It’s a nuanced situation, so on The Daily Show last night, Trevor Noah broke it down and spoke about how hard it is on make money on Spotify as a non-major artist.

After sharing a compilation of news clips that charted the music industry’s shift from CDs to digital downloads to streaming, Noah got into it, starting by calling streaming “the best thing to happen to the music industry since the government created LSD.” He then noted, though, that while streaming services have “arguably saved music,” they’re “not exactly sharing the wealth.”

Noah shared more video clips, ones illustrating how little artists get paid when their songs get streamed. Then, Noah got into Spotify specifically, giving them credit for providing smaller artists with valuable exposure. He went on to point out, though, that regardless of who subscribers listen to, a hefty portion of their money still goes to major artists. As Noah put it, “Even if you are way too cool to listen to the top ten artists on Spotify, they still get most of your money. And the bands that you do listen to get almost none of it.”

Noah concluded by noting, “For now, maybe the most important things for artists to do is get the word out to their fans.” Then, he introduced Aloe Blacc, who has been vocal about issues with streaming music since he earned just $4,000 from streaming for Avicii’s international hit “Wake Me Up,” which he co-wrote. For The Daily Show, Blacc wrote and performed a new version of his “I Need A Dollar,” with lyrics modified to directly address Spotify and streaming problems.

Watch the whole segment above or find just Blacc’s performance below.

Trevor Noah Had An Amazing Response To Learning That Jay Z And Beyonce Actually Know Who He Is

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Comedy Central

Celebrities, they’re just like us! They, too, get excited when they learn that two of the most famous and brilliant people in the world actually know who they are. That’s what happened to Trevor Noah the other night when he went to Barclays Center to see the playoff game between the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks. The Daily Show host and sporadic Ted Cruz sparring partner was casually sitting courtside when who should show up but former Barclays stake holder Jay Z and his wife, Beyonce, who is also very popular.

A Getty photojournalist just happened to snap the meeting of the minds, catching Noah and Beyonce mid-fist-bump. Noah made sure to post that pic to his Instagram feed, complete with a gushing, fanboyish, pinch-me-is-this-real? caption:

“I’ve thought of every possible caption for this picture but really what can I write? You’re at the @brooklynnets game, the King of Brooklyn walks in with his wife @beyonce and then they both fist bump you. You try to act cool but then later you see a picture of the moment and you realise that this life is insane!!! What a privilege and magical moment to experience in life. And even though magic happens to me every day, I hope the little South African boy inside of me never stops reminding me that I’m living a dream.”

Who among us hasn’t been sitting courtside at an NBA playoff game and traded fistbumps with Jay Z and Beyonce? Many were quick to congratulate Noah on the honor, though in the comments, Daily Show colleague Jordan Klepper took some jokey umbrage with one detail of his caption: him referring to Jay Z as “the King of Brooklyn.”

Instagram / @TrevorNoah

“To be clear, I live in Brooklyn,” Klepper wrote. “Is the Jay Z is King a totally settled thing?”

Anyway, it’s great to know one of the world’s most powerful power couples watches The Daily Show.