Photo by Justin Barlow/Gallo Images/Getty Images for MTV 
 
 Not since John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate have the vetting capacities of a powerful political force been cast into such doubt. When Trevor Noah was announced Monday as the next host of satirical powerhouse The Daily Show, most observers had little familiarity with the 31-year-old, South African–born comic, save perhaps for his three awkward appearances on the program with current host Jon Stewart. The New York Times piece announcing the succession threw up a few vague red flags (Comedy Central never auditioned Noah, who provided reporter Dave Itzkoff with a weirdly self-aggrandizing non sequitur comparing himself to Beyoncé). But the excitement of a fresh face bringing a unique perspective to a hallowed franchise (Noah's mother is black and his father is white, which made their union illegal in South Africa's apartheid era), combined with Stewart's full-throated support, seemed like endorsement enough. 
 
 Then people—notably BuzzFeed’s Tom Gara—started combing Noah's Twitter feed. 
 
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 There were tweets that showcased Noah's breezy anti-semitism. 
 
 Behind every successful Rap Billionaire is a double as rich Jewish man. #BeatsByDreidel — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) May 12, 2014 
 
 And lower Jew tolerance? RT @UnreaIFacts: Blue-eyed people have a higher alcohol tolerance. — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) October 22, 2012 
 
 Messi gets the ball and the real players try foul him, but Messi doesn't go down easy, just like jewish chicks. #ElClasico — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) January 25, 2012 
 
 There were tweets that put a spotlight on the polyglot Noah's fluency in fat-chick jokes. 
 
 "Oh yeah the weekend. People are gonna get drunk & think that I'm sexy!" - fat chicks everywhere. — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) October 14, 2011 
 
 So now that Adele is singing, does that mean it's over? — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) January 13, 2012 
 
 There were tweets that skipped across the landscape of Noah's imagination, where women are objects to be literally or figuratively pounded. 
 
 Originally when men proposed they went down on one knee so if the woman said no they were in the perfect uppercut position. — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) December 20, 2012 
 
 In Thailand hookers are so cheap, even cheaper than food. Tough choice between Big Mac or Quarter Poundher Deluxe. — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) January 5, 2011 
 
 And so on. 
 
 Ray J hit it first but Kanye hit it properly. — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) June 21, 2013 
 
 It's true that Twitter is a space for comics to try out material that isn't fully baked. And I have no doubt that Saint Jon Stewart has some fat skeletons in his closet—after all, he took over the Daily Show from smarmy king-of-the-bros Craig Kilborn, who strictly enforced a tiresome weekly quota of “Janet Reno looks like a man” gags. But during Stewart’s 16 years at the helm, The Daily Show has taken on a moral authority and responsibility that simply cannot condone this kind of bigoted and misogynist ... no, who am I kidding. The problem is not that Trevor Noah tells offensive jokes. It’s not even that he routinely breaks The Daily Show's covenant of speaking truth to power in favor of speaking truth to fat chicks or Thai hookers or, as the Washington Post’s Wendy Todd points out, black Americans who give their kids names that Noah disapproves of. The problem is that Noah’s jokes are so annihilatingly stupid. Are they even jokes? Are they meta-jokes, like the “My arms are so tired” airplane joke he made on his first Daily Show appearance? Or did he mean that as a joke, too?!? Trevor Noah: ontological mystery. 
 
 Maybe his hiring is a form of basic-cable performance art. Maybe Jon Stewart just wanted to blow the building up as he strolled away with his shades on. No one will ever know. But Comedy Central’s haste and lack of due diligence amid so much eminently qualified talent—your Jessica Williamses, your Aasif Mandvis, your however many other fresh-faced unknowns with unique perspectives—is a surefire way of alienating your audience. Almost as surefire as dismissing an entire swath of that audience with one thunderously idiotic tweet among many. ||||| Newly named “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah is facing backlash over old tweets in which he made controversial jokes about Jews, Israelis and women. 
 
 Almost bumped a Jewish kid crossing the road. He didn't look b4 crossing but I still would hav felt so bad in my german car! — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) September 18, 2009 
 
 South Africans know how to recycle like israel knows how to be peaceful. — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) June 2, 2010 
 
 Behind every successful Rap Billionaire is a double as rich Jewish man. #BeatsByDreidel — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) May 12, 2014 
 
 "Oh yeah the weekend. People are gonna get drunk & think that I'm sexy!" - fat chicks everywhere. — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) October 14, 2011 
 
 Noah, a relatively unknown South African comedian, was named as Jon Stewart's replacement on the Comedy Central show on Monday morning. 
 
 Fellow comedian Roseanne Barr slammed Noah for his jokes. 
 
 @Trevornoah U should cease sexist & anti semitic 'humor' about jewish women & Israel. #comedyCentral — Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) March 31, 2015 
 
 UPDATE (3:23 p.m.): Comedy Central came to Noah's defense on Tuesday afternoon: 
 
 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 has still not issued a public statement on the controversy, though he seemed to address it in a quickly deleted tweet on Tuesday morning: “Twitter does not have enough characters to respond to all the characters on Twitter," he wrote. 
 
 UPDATE (5:55p.m.): Noah issued the following comment via Twitter: 
 
 To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian. — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) March 31, 2015 
 
 Read more about: Daily Show, Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah ||||| "The Daily Show" finally has its new host: Trevor Noah. 
 
 Noah, a South African comedian and one of the newest "Daily Show" correspondents, was mentioned Friday as the front-runner to replace Jon Stewart on the Comedy Central show. On Monday, The New York Times reported that Noah would officially take over hosting. 
 
 Since Stewart announced in February that he'd be stepping down from the show after hosting for over 15 years, a handful of possible replacements have been considered. Lists of the potential next host have included Jason Jones, Samantha Bee, Tina Fey and Jessica Williams, who said she was under-qualified for the position. 
 
 Noah is a new name to many people because he is one of the most recent additions to the Comedy Central show, having joined in December 2014. Since then, he has appeared in only three segments with Stewart, including ones about Ebola, Boko Haram and a game of chess. 
 
 “You don’t believe it for the first few hours,” Noah told The New York Times, speaking from Dubai about receiving the news. “You need a stiff drink, and then unfortunately you’re in a place where you can’t really get alcohol.” 
 
 Beyond "The Daily Show," Noah is also well-known in South Africa from hosting his own late-night talk show, a handful of radio programs and the South African Music Awards. The 31-year-old also headlined a Showtime stand-up special last year and was the first South African comedian to appear on "The Tonight Show" and "The Late Show with David Letterman." 
 
 In a Comedy Central press release Stewart said, “I’m thrilled for the show and for Trevor. He’s a tremendous comic and talent that we’ve loved working with…In fact, I may rejoin as a correspondent just to be a part of it!!!” 
 
 Stewart is expected to step down from the hosting gig sometime between July and the end of the year, according to Variety. 
 
 No-one can replace Jon Stewart. But together with the amazing team at The Daily Show, we will continue to make this the best damn news show! 
 
 — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) March 30, 2015 
 
 For more, head to The New York Times.
– Yesterday, Comedy Central announced that Trevor Noah would be taking over the Daily Show, a fresh, biracial—albeit male—face to add to the late-night pantheon. But that was yesterday. Today, there's a tempest brewing over Noah's Twitter account, in which he says things like this, as spotted by Buzzfeed's Tom Gara: @Trevornoah: "'Oh yeah the weekend. People are gonna get drunk & think that I'm sexy!" - fat chicks everywhere." @Trevornoah: "Messi gets the ball and the real players try foul him, but Messi doesn't go down easy, just like jewish chicks. # ElClasico " @Trevornoah: "So now that Adele is singing, does that mean it's over?" @Trevornoah: "In Thailand hookers are so cheap, even cheaper than food. Tough choice between Big Mac or Quarter Poundher Deluxe." @Trevornoah: "Originally when men proposed they went down on one knee so if the woman said no they were in the perfect uppercut position." Reactions ranged from those accusing Noah of misogyny and anti-Semitism to those accusing him of just being lame, notes the New York Times. Comedy Central, though, stood by him. Noah "pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included,” says a statement. "To judge him or his comedy based on a handful of jokes is unfair." Roseanne Barr, for one, tweeted that "U should cease sexist & anti semitic 'humor' about jewish women & Israel," reports Politico. Noah himself responded this morning in a quickly deleted tweet: "Twitter does not have enough characters to respond to all the characters on Twitter." In a Slate piece, Jessica Winter writes that while, sure, "Twitter is a space for comics to try out material that isn't fully baked," and Noah by no means has the monopoly on misogyny in comedy, "the problem is that Noah’s jokes are so annihilatingly stupid. Are they even jokes? Are they meta-jokes, like the “My arms are so tired” airplane joke he made on his first Daily Show appearance? Or did he mean that as a joke, too?!? Trevor Noah: ontological mystery."