On Friday, Nigeria gave Twitter a punch to the gut when it put a ban on the social media network. Yes, that’s right: No one in the entire West African country is allowed to tweet because of what Nigerian Information Minister Lai Mohammed called “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.” The ban came just one day after the platform deleted a tweet from Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari, in which he reportedly threatened secessionists. Trevor Noah dedicated a few minutes of Tuesday night’s The Daily Show to talk about the ban and what it means for the country, but there was one part of the assembled clip reel of news reports that he just couldn’t let go.
At the very beginning of the segment, The Daily Show featured a clip from CNN in which anchor Michael Holmes discussed the ban, but did so in a way that seemed… suspiciously superfluous. Here’s how Holmes introduced the story: “Nigeria is a country plagued by kidnappings, extremists, and bandits. But the government wants to crack down on a new type of criminal: Twitter users.”
Noah, for one, didn’t like this added bit of color commentary—which was in no way germane to the story. Nor is it something that you’d normally hear a reporter do when revealing news about a country. Even a country “plagued” with problems. (Aren’t we all?) In discussing this double standard, Noah had just one question for Holmes:
“Ok, as an African, allow me to say: What the f*ck? I mean, yes, that’s all true, but still: What the f*ck? You never hear a foreign news anchor talking about the United States that way. ‘America is a country plagued by school shootings, extremists, and failing infrastructure. But the government wants to raise the price of postage stamps!’”
You can watch the full segment above, beginning around the 4:50 mark.
(Via The Wrap)
