Stewart and Rock attend Comedy Central's Night of Too Many Stars at the Beacon Theatre on Feb. 28, 2015 in New York City.
Chris Rock recently spoke out against outrage culture and defended Trevor Noah’s hiring for The Daily Show, calling him “the right guy” for the job.
In a recent interview with the comedian and filmmaker, Rock addressed his former mentor Bill Cosby (“I’m not gonna defend him and I’m not [going to] go Judd [Apatow] on him.”), the difficulties of working in a “white industry” like Hollywood, and how most of his favorite filmmakers are white (Woody Allen, Richard Linklater and Wes Anderson).
He also took a moment to talk about Trevor Noah, who will be the new host of The Daily Show when Jon Stewart leaves the show in August. Shortly after Comedy Central made the announcement, Noah, a relatively unknown comedian, came under fire for some jokes on his Twitter account, which some people found offensive or just not funny. Rock defended the choice of Noah as the new host, but acknowledged that his inexperience in television put him at a disadvantage:
Rock is uncharacteristically hesitant: “I … I … I think they hired the right guy, but it’s always nice to have done other TV stuff on your way in for an easier transition. But guys today are, like, just thrown into the fire. I don’t even know what the fucking joke was,” he says, referring to the criticism Noah got for several tweeted jokes.
There was a joke about knocking Jewish kids down in a German car, I tell him.
Rock looks a little taken aback, but he soon rallies to the young comedian’s defence. “OK, um, BAD. Um, but you know, every Michael Jackson joke is about fucking kids. Where’s the outrage? It’s so selective. People let things go by all the time.”
Rock himself has been criticized in the past for how he talks about women in his stand-up, to which he defends himself as an equal opportunity offender:
“I talk about women the way I talk about men,” he says, and it is true he does stylise men in his standup as sex-obsessed dopes. “Everyone’s fair game and no one gets a pass. I talk about black people the way I talk about white people.”
Source: The Guardian
