• Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Sunster

The Fallen
Oct 5, 2018
10,009
"Awwww the how cute! The little people in India and Pakistan are having a lil fight!" 0w0

that's pretty much what I took from it.
 

Hokahey

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,288
The OP is Indian (and so am I) so that observation isn't even accurate.

Fair enough. But from what I've read in this thread, the majority consensus from anyone self described as Indian is not of offense. That was my point. Not that no one that is Indian is offended. Most seemed to not be.

Either way, I see no harmful attempt to be racist or to egregiously stereotype with this joke.
 

Irminsul

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,034
He never implied that. Never. The joke was essentially that "blackness" won. The whole conversation was misunderstanding between the ambassador and Trevor. Trevor's side saying "black (Africa) people won still." despite African teams losing. The ambassador's side saying "they're not African, they're French" thinking he's talking about nationality.
So if he never implied that, what did he mean by saying "They're not French, they're African"?
 

Dream Machine

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,085
How is it a racist stereotype to mimic a Bollywood movie? I'm confused. I think a lot of people offended dont actually understand the joke. Its interesting that the people of Indian heritage that have posted in this thread found the joke funny. I suspect it's because they understand the joke better than those not from Indian heritage. It wasn't cruel. It wasn't mocking. It wasn't punching down. It was making light of a particular aspect of their culture and how it would jokingly impact them at war.

Also, it's not an Apu accent. It's an Indian accent. Just like there are accents in every region of the world, including the various parts of the US.

This would be like if Canada was threatening war and he said it'll be like "do ya mind if I shoot at ya, eh?"

This constant offense lessens the impact of mass offense in appropriate situations. Like the boy who cried wolf. At some point, most everyone stops caring about the cries.
It's usually not a great look to babble nonsense in imitation of another language as a joke these days.

It could work if there was more to the joke, but the joke was basically the Indian equivalent of a ching ching bing bong joke imitating an east asian person. Not everyone would be offended or call out the joke teller, but if people want to on social media, why not? Also, and correct me if I'm wrong, I think there might be more than one accent in India, "just like there are accents in every region the world", so a broad Indian joke accent being called an Apu accent is an apt description.
 

Ocarina_117

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,562
He's a racist cunt. Fuck him and fuck him thinking his joke made more news than the actual story of the conflict.

It will impact over one billion people. A world exists out of the US and Twitter.

Deserves a lot more heat for that pathetic "joke".

Edit - Hokahey I'm of Indian heritage and I found it very offensive. Mimicking my mother tongue with gibberish and calling a war that would impact over a billion people "entertaining".

Fuck him. It's my home region that will be impacted the most by this conflict as it was torn apart the most when the countries first split.
 

Hokahey

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,288
It's usually not a great look to babble nonsense in imitation of another language as a joke these days.

It could work if there was more to the joke, but the joke was basically the Indian equivalent of a ching ching bing bong joke imitating an east asian person. Not everyone would be offended or call out the joke teller, but if people want to on social media, why not? Also, and correct me if I'm wrong, I think there might be more than one accent in India, "just like there are accents in every region the world", so a broad Indian joke accent being called an Apu accent is an apt description.

I don't know that I realized either of the points you are making. Assuming you are correct, then he made what should have been a non offensive joke in to something potentially worthy of offense.
 

Hokahey

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,288
He's a racist cunt. Fuck him and fuck him thinking his joke made more news than the actual story of the conflict.

It will impact over one billion people. A world exists out of the US and Twitter.

Deserves a lot more heat for that pathetic "joke".

Edit - Hokahey I'm of Indian heritage and I found it very offensive. Mimicking my mother tongue with gibberish and calling a war that would impact over a billion people "entertaining".

Fuck him. It's my home region that will be impacted the most by this conflict as it was torn apart the most when the countries first split.

I missed the gibberish part. That's entirely your right to be offended and not for me to have any say so in. Period.

I don't take issue with joking about war however. I can certainly understand why it would be bothersome for you, but I'm of the mind that no subject is off limits if you get the joke right, which I now see that he clearly did not. At least not in execution.
 

Ocarina_117

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,562
I missed the gibberish part. That's entirely your right to be offended and not for me to have any say so in. Period.

I don't take issue with joking about war however. I can certainly understand why it would be bothersome for you, but I'm of the mind that no subject is off limits if you get the joke right, which I now see that he clearly did not. At least not in execution.
Thank you for being understanding.

Moreso than the joke about war, I'm angry at the fact he feels his joke is a bigger talking point. There's a lot to mock about the current ongoings in the subcontinent- mock Modhi or the state of the Indian media. His joke was awful and he resorted to casual racism and stereotyping.

Personally, it's my home region in North India which would suffer most should war break out. It won't happen, but hearing someone joke about it being entertaining is gross to me.
 

Hokahey

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,288
Thank you for being understanding.

Moreso than the joke about war, I'm angry at the fact he feels his joke is a bigger talking point. There's a lot to mock about the current ongoings in the subcontinent- mock Modhi or the state of the Indian media. His joke was awful and he resorted to casual racism and stereotyping.

Personally, it's my home region in North India which would suffer most should war break out. It won't happen, but hearing someone joke about it being entertaining is gross to me.

When someone takes the time to explain something sincerely, and it's clear I'm wrong or missed something, I do my best to reconsider my opinion. So thank you for explaining.
 

Seductivpancakes

user requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,790
Brooklyn
I don't find racist or stereotype jokes funny. Especially when it's mocking an accent.

It's really weird to me. Actual racist assholes make those kind of jokes all the time and somehow it's cool cause "comedy"? What a thin line.
 

Deleted member 9100

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
3,076
Trevor Noah is trash. After his "joke" about how all aboriginal women are ugly and his subsequent non apology, I completely wrote him off.

Not surprised he continues to be an asshole. Sad to see what the daily show has been reduced to with him as the host. Hopefully they replace him.
 

Deleted member 31817

Nov 7, 2017
30,876
Is the video in the OP tweet supposed to be muted? Anyone have an original link?
 

Ebullientprism

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,529
Fair enough. But from what I've read in this thread, the majority consensus from anyone self described as Indian is not of offense. That was my point. Not that no one that is Indian is offended. Most seemed to not be.

Either way, I see no harmful attempt to be racist or to egregiously stereotype with this joke.

I dont know where you getting that "most" from. I am India and everyone I know who has seen this finds it absolutely insulting.
 

Window

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,282
Trevor Noah is trash. After his "joke" about how all aboriginal women are ugly and his subsequent non apology, I completely wrote him off.

Not surprised he continues to be an asshole. Sad to see what the daily show has been reduced to with him as the host. Hopefully they replace him.
I thought that was far worse than this tbh. Did he not apologize for it though?
 

Opto

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
4,546
NPR and BBC often talk about the situation between Pakistan and India but they never talk about Noah. So way to make it all about you, guy.
 

darz1

Member
Dec 18, 2017
7,075
Trevor Noah is trash. After his "joke" about how all aboriginal women are ugly and his subsequent non apology, I completely wrote him off.

Not surprised he continues to be an asshole. Sad to see what the daily show has been reduced to with him as the host. Hopefully they replace him.
Yeah fuck trevor noah
 

Heshinsi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,091
Trevor Noah is trash. After his "joke" about how all aboriginal women are ugly and his subsequent non apology, I completely wrote him off.

Not surprised he continues to be an asshole. Sad to see what the daily show has been reduced to with him as the host. Hopefully they replace him.
I totally forgot about this shit. If the comments you make are indistinguishable from the comments bigots and asshats make, then what exactly is it that you're trying to achieve?
 

SneerfulOwl

Member
Nov 4, 2017
1,858
No one gave a single fuck when Stephen Colbert made a joke about North Korea and eating dogs. If he made a racial joke and general public gave it a pass, then pretty much it's a calling card for every comedian talk show hosts to do the similar thing. Someone should hold these guys accountable otherwise this shit will be an ongoing shtick for them.
 

ginger ninja

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,060
His greatest offense isn't even this lams joke, it's that he is terribly unfunny. How dare he sit where Stewart sat, who was amazingly nuisanced when discussing other cultures and parts of the world.
 

Musubi

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
23,611
Can no comedian just take an L and apologize?
 

Chariot

Member
Oct 26, 2017
141
Hamburg
I think that's a bit silly personally.

He never implied that. Never. The joke was essentially that "blackness" won. The whole conversation was misunderstanding between the ambassador and Trevor. Trevor's side saying "black (Africa) people won still." despite African teams losing. The ambassador's side saying "they're not African, they're French" thinking he's talking about nationality.

I say it's silly because African isn't a nationality, it's continent. For him to get confused on that is odd. I think it was an insecurity on his part, as there were players who were actually from countries in Africa, such as Samuel Umtiti.
You didn't understand what the Embassador was saying. Trevor did, but also doubled down instead od apologizing.

A win by the French team is not a victory for Africa. It's a victory for France and it's French players who happen to be black. It's not as common in Europe as it is in the USA to co-opt ethnicial origins to connect to a culture you didn't live in. I am looking at the bunch of odd Americans that pretend to be Scottish or Irish, despite only having a connection to the countries through blood (often distant).

If the individual players feel connected to the countries of their parents, that's cool. But maybe they're not. Maybe, as many were born and grew up in France view themselves as French. And I think at least two even said so.

But Traver didn't ask, Trevor didn't care.

I am German. You wouldn't think so looking at me, because my parents are not German. But I was born here, raised here, educated here and work here. I don't feel anything, but German. I have no connection to the culture of the home country of my parents. Calling me a "Vietnamese-German" would offending me, because you choose to highlight me being "other". Not a full German, but some kind of hybrid of cultures - which is not accurate since I only have German culture.

And it is different for everyone. But point being: the respectful thing would be asking the players and not just running through with it, ignoring their feelings and opinion on their identity.
 

Yams

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,841
Trevor Noah is trash. After his "joke" about how all aboriginal women are ugly and his subsequent non apology, I completely wrote him off.

Not surprised he continues to be an asshole. Sad to see what the daily show has been reduced to with him as the host. Hopefully they replace him.

Wait what? Link that shit
 

Stalker

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
6,726
I hated Trevor when he was doing the UK comedy panel scene, he's a boring comedian then I found out he made it big in the US and just groaned but this is some shit
 

Deleted member 5853

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,725
Having seen the video, it is cringe-inducing when he does the whole gibberish Hindi thing. As far as the joke goes, it's certainly tired. Lord knows how many times someone's made fun of Bollywood with the whole "lmao, song breaks" and "lmao, its long." Personally, I don't find it offensive, but I do find it lazy. I can also see why other people find it offensive. If you're Indian-American, you spend a lot of time dealing with how "other" you are. People find the food you eat weird in elementary school, no one who isn't from that region of Asia can say your name properly so you spend a lot of time developing "white-friendly" alternatives like "AJ" or "Nick", people make fun of you for liking Bollywood songs and so on. At some point, you just get angry at the jokes predicated on how "other" you are and how weird and wacky you are.

It's just kinda annoying for someone to make a joke about how weird and wacky those Indians are when 1) Indian cinema is diversifying and changing as we speak and 2) you're drawing from the same well of linguistic jokes that once contained making fun of how Chinese and Japanese sounds. My guess is that, if another comic made the same joke but about the Xhosa language, Trevor might feel a bit different.
 

Grug

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,644
You really have to go back to the 11th century and Harold Godwinson inheriting the English throne from Edward the Confessor to find a fair comparison of a major prize being handed over to absolute sub-mediocrity when John Stewart handed over to Noah.

Hopefully his figurative Battle of Hastings is soon forthcoming.
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,789
I've noticed Trevor likes to imitate accents a lot, sometimes they land and sometimes not. I've definitely wondered if some groups were more sensitive to it than others though because it's a type of joke that is slowly falling out of favor but nobody seemed to care when it's his French, UK, African or American voices.
 

Whirlpool

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
144
So if he never implied that, what did he mean by saying "They're not French, they're African"?

I don't remember him saying that. It was the French ambassador who said the other way around. All Trevor did was say "I think Africa did win." and show a picture of the French team.

You didn't understand what the Embassador was saying. Trevor did, but also doubled down instead od apologizing.

I understand completely what he's saying but it's not relevant here.

In my last post, I explained that "African" is not a nationality, at least not traditionally. It's actually an extremely broad and confusing category. If I say "I'm African." I'm not necessarily saying that I'm black, but I could be if I am of African descent. I could be a white dude and be from Africa, and say that I'm African, and I'd be correct as well. There's difference between the two is that one is a place of origin and the other is ancestry.

What I'm saying here is that Trevor used "Africa won" to refer to blackness. How do I know this? In his follow up (you can see his in-between the scenes videos) he replies to the ambassador he literally says he's referring to "African" as "African descent." Everyone was right in their arguments, but it was a misunderstanding at the end. Mostly on the ambassador's side.

I'm glad we can openly dislike Trevor Noah now. I was willing to give him a shot at first but it quickly became clear that he just isn't a good fit for the show, at least the show Jon Stewart left.

While I understand people being angry at this joke. What I don't understand is why people are praising Jon Stewart in the same light that they're shitting on Trevor Noah for this. Jon Stewart did caricatural impressions of black people and got criticisms for it. When he got criticisms, his responses were as dull as Trevor's. Actually, he verbally attacked a black staff member at the Daily Show for calling him out for it. It makes me think that people have other biases against Trevor other than his poor jokes.

Edit: Remember that Jon Stewart told Wyatt Cenac to "fuck off" when he called Jon out for racial insensitivity on an impersonation.
 
Last edited:

NoRĂ©N

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,623
I see people have been itching to get one over on Trevor Noah after he essentially indirectly called out everyone in the Jussie thread, huh.
 
Oct 27, 2017
1,611
Australia
Absolutely shocked to hear that the guy that thought "them Aboriginal women sure are ugly, hey?" was a good joke to tell while touring Australia might have issues with racial sensitivity.
 
Oct 26, 2017
8,206
Fair enough. But from what I've read in this thread, the majority consensus from anyone self described as Indian is not of offense. That was my point. Not that no one that is Indian is offended. Most seemed to not be.

Either way, I see no harmful attempt to be racist or to egregiously stereotype with this joke.
Because we're used to shitty jokes at our expense doesn't make them okay.

Also to an earlier point you made, Apu's accent isn't a real or an accurate Indian or South Asian accent. Do you think Mickey Rooney was also doing an accurate representation of a Chinese person in Breakfast At Tiffany's?
 

Thorrgal

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,301
Didn't watch the clip

But since when is war "off limits" to make fun of?

This I don't get either.

You should be able to do it, just not they way he did it with stupid stereotypes.

But he should be able to make fun about it in a comedy news show, because that's the point of it, talk about the relevant news with a comedic spin. Just not that way
 

Heshinsi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,091
You really have to go back to the 11th century and Harold Godwinson inheriting the English throne from Edward the Confessor to find a fair comparison of a major prize being handed over to absolute sub-mediocrity when John Stewart handed over to Noah.

Hopefully his figurative Battle of Hastings is soon forthcoming.
Nah, 2013 when Sir Alex nominated David Moyes as his successor to manage Man United, is a more apt and contemporary example.
 

Mona

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
26,151
How dare he sit where Stewart sat

IdealisticSpectacularDormouse-size_restricted.gif
 

shauntu

Member
Oct 27, 2017
320


With the India-Pakistan tensions escalating, Trevor Noah decided to comment on things. And you know what, he's a comedian, so it's his job to look at things through the lens of humor. The trouble was his "joke" being a poor one making light of a very real military tension that was on the verge of escalating into full fledged war between two nuclear powers, and resorting to regressive stereotypes to do so. There was, predictably, backlash to his comment. The response to that backlash though...



Okay Trevor: a) no, you were not trending more than the war was trending. You weren't even trending more than the war was trending in North America. That is an arrogant, America-centric view (this war isn't as important as me), and it's false; b) your joke was bad and relied on tired stereotypes; c) "people are looking to get offended", give me a fucking break; d) is it that hard to apologize?

Given how aware of race issues Noah usually can be this is shocking and disappointing to me.

From Pakistan, and thought his joke was hilarious.
 

Hypron

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,059
NZ
You didn't understand what the Embassador was saying. Trevor did, but also doubled down instead od apologizing.

A win by the French team is not a victory for Africa. It's a victory for France and it's French players who happen to be black. It's not as common in Europe as it is in the USA to co-opt ethnicial origins to connect to a culture you didn't live in. I am looking at the bunch of odd Americans that pretend to be Scottish or Irish, despite only having a connection to the countries through blood (often distant).

If the individual players feel connected to the countries of their parents, that's cool. But maybe they're not. Maybe, as many were born and grew up in France view themselves as French. And I think at least two even said so.

But Traver didn't ask, Trevor didn't care.

I am German. You wouldn't think so looking at me, because my parents are not German. But I was born here, raised here, educated here and work here. I don't feel anything, but German. I have no connection to the culture of the home country of my parents. Calling me a "Vietnamese-German" would offending me, because you choose to highlight me being "other". Not a full German, but some kind of hybrid of cultures - which is not accurate since I only have German culture.

And it is different for everyone. But point being: the respectful thing would be asking the players and not just running through with it, ignoring their feelings and opinion on their identity.

To be honest I think he could have easily gotten away with it without even apologising by saying something like 'I made this joke from an American point of view, I now know it can be perceived offensively from a French point of view but that wasn't my intention' and leaving it at that. But instead he had to mock the ambassador and act like a self righteous douche in his reply.
 

ginger ninja

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,060
Pakistani origin. Not offended but ass joke and unfunny. Like who laughs at this shit, is his audience 12 year old's ? Daily show has really gone down the drain.
 

Keuja

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,183
I don't remember him saying that. It was the French ambassador who said the other way around. All Trevor did was say "I think Africa did win." and show a picture of the French team.



I understand completely what he's saying but it's not relevant here.

In my last post, I explained that "African" is not a nationality, at least not traditionally. It's actually an extremely broad and confusing category. If I say "I'm African." I'm not necessarily saying that I'm black, but I could be if I am of African descent. I could be a white dude and be from Africa, and say that I'm African, and I'd be correct as well. There's difference between the two is that one is a place of origin and the other is ancestry.

What I'm saying here is that Trevor used "Africa won" to refer to blackness. How do I know this? In his follow up (you can see his in-between the scenes videos) he replies to the ambassador he literally says he's referring to "African" as "African descent." Everyone was right in their arguments, but it was a misunderstanding at the end. Mostly on the ambassador's side.

So when the US win the basketball world championship, I hope Noah make a "joke" on how Africa wins not the US. Or when Usain Bolt wins, maybe this dumbass will claim the record for Africa instead of Jamaica.

The french players themselves said they want to be seen as representing France not Africa but they must misunderstand as well... you and that "comedian" are parroting the argument of the European far right "They are black so they can't be real French who are whites, they're African! ".
 

SuperBanana

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,740
Trevor Noah is trash. After his "joke" about how all aboriginal women are ugly and his subsequent non apology, I completely wrote him off.

Not surprised he continues to be an asshole. Sad to see what the daily show has been reduced to with him as the host. Hopefully they replace him.

He has no idea of the difference between making people laugh during a bad moment and making fun of a bad moment. You can be respectful and still crack a joke. Normally in a bittersweet sense. He simply isn't capable of doing that and shouldn't so a comedy news show because of it. John Stewart was the master of it.
 

Whirlpool

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
144
So when the US win the basketball world championship, I hope Noah make a "joke" on how Africa wins not the US. Or when Usain Bolt wins, maybe this dumbass will claim the record for Africa instead of Jamaica.

The french players themselves said they want to be seen as representing France not Africa but they must misunderstand as well... you and that "comedian" are parroting the argument of the European far right "They are black so they can't be real French who are whites, they're African! ".

Well, the context of the situation you've created doesn't make any sense... That's a false equivalency.

And no, being that Trevor specifically says that he understood where the ambassador was coming from because the Alt-Right was using their African ancestry to deny them being French citizens. He goes into detail on this. And that's a bit of a strawman on your part, when I clearly explained why there's a misunderstanding.

He has no idea of the difference between making people laugh during a bad moment and making fun of a bad moment. You can be respectful and still crack a joke. Normally in a bittersweet sense. He simply isn't capable of doing that and shouldn't so a comedy news show because of it. John Stewart was the master of it.

Lmao. Will you guys please stop saying this after Jon Stewart did racist caricature impersonations of black people and told a black co-staff member to "fuck off" when he told him it was insensitive? Like hate Trevor all you want, but this isn't a consistent narrative.
 
Last edited: