Trevor Noah responds to criticism over ‘racist’ World Cup joke

Trevor Noah came under fire earlier this week after he shared a picture of refugees taking the World Cup trophy to France, and joked that Africa had won the soccer tournament

The picture and joke sparked a debate on social media, with many labelling it “racist”.

French ambassador Gerard Araud weighed in on the situation through a letter.

“This, even in jest, legitimises the ideology which claims whiteness as the only definition of being French,” he said.

Trevor did not take the criticism lightly and fired back with a stinging response on The Daily Show.

“Why can’t they be both? Why is that duality only afforded to a select group of people? Why can’t they be African too? So, you can’t be French and African at the same time? Which I vehemently disagree with,” he said.

Trevor explained that he was not trying to take away from their French heritage at all.

“When I’m saying ‘African’ I’m not saying it to exclude them from their French-ness, I’m saying it to include them in my African-ness,” he added.

Watch Trevor’s spicy response here:

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