By Dustin Rowles | Late Night TV | December 1, 2015 |
By Dustin Rowles | Late Night TV | December 1, 2015 |
When Grainger mentioned yesterday that The Daily Show had booked Chris Brown to be a guest during a week of all-black guests (Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, and Spike Lee), it felt “out of character” for the progressive news show. It was especially odd that Trevor Noah — whose own mother was violently abused by Noah’s step-father — would have Brown on his show, given Brown’s felony assault history with Rihanna.
Turns out, the booking was a cause for concern and, according to The Daily Beast, “many staffers” on The Daily Show disapprove[d] of the booking decision.”
Good for them.
During an all-hands meeting yesterday, however, Noah suggested that he was going to use the interview opportunity to “bring light to domestic abuse issues,” which could make for an awkward sit-down for an unseasoned interviewer. It could be a shifting point for Noah, or it could be a disaster.
The opportunity is doubly loaded because — and I didn’t realize this — among all of Noah’s questionable tweets four years ago were two about Chris Brown and Rihanna:
Chris Brown's FAME album is no#1 on iTunes. Rihanna is cancelling shows due to poor sales. I guess he beat her again.
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) March 24, 2011
Today because of allergies, I woke up and my face was puffy and swollen- I looked like I was in the car with chris brown.
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) October 25, 2009
Yeah.