Comedy Central Calls ‘Daily Show’ Trevor Noah Tweet Backlash ‘Unfair’

Reaction to Comedy Central choosing South African comedian Trevor Noah as The Daily Show successor to Jon Stewart ran the gamut, though today saw a wave of backlash over less-than-sensitive jokes tweeted from Noah’s account over the years. Now, Comedy Central has stepped in to comment, calling the criticism “unfair.”

The network opted to stand behind Noah over the still-active tweets, which culled humor in everything from women’s weight, to Jewish stereotypes and more. In a statement released to the press, Comedy Central extolled the future of his tenure with The Daily Show after Jon Stewart, describing any insensitive jokes of the past as “push[ing] boundaries”:

Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included. To judge him or his comedy based on a handful of jokes is unfair. Trevor is a talented comedian with a bright future at Comedy Central.

Noah himself also seemingly responded to the initial round of backlash last night, saying in a since-deleted tweet that “Twitter does not have enough characters to respond to all the characters on Twitter.”

Noah has yet to make any formal Daily Show appearances since the Monday announcement, though we wouldn’t be surprised if Comedy Central looks to get ahead of any future controversy in the coming days. Might the backlash affect The Daily Show‘s future with Trevor Noah even further?