Jon Stewart Defends His 'Daily Show' Successor Trevor Noah Amid Twitter Scandal

Jon Stewart is imploring viewers of The Daily Show to give his successor Trevor Noah another chance.

The South African comedian came under fire this past week after several of his tweets were unearthed from previous years that many found to be offensive to women and Jewish people.

On Monday's Daily Show, Stewart asked his audience to look past that. "I know there was a large kerfuffle on Twitter. But can say this, I think, without hesitation: Trevor Noah will earn your trust and respect. Or Not," he said of his successor.

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Not passing up an opportunity to make a joke, Stewart added, "Just as I earned your trust and respect. Or did not. Or, sometimes I earned it, and then lost it, and then kind of got it back. But then it was like 'F**k that guy' and then it was like, 'That rally was so stupid, I hate him.'"

Offering up even more damage control for Noah, the host continued, "The only thing I would say is, I do hope, you give [Noah] an opportunity to earn that trust and respect, because my experience with him is that he is an incredibly thoughtful and considerate and funny and smart individual. And, man, I think you give him that time and it’s going to be well worth it. I’m excited for where he’s going to take this thing."

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Earlier this week, Comedy Central also defended Noah as the right person to replace Stewart at the anchor desk. "Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included," the cable network said in a statement. "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 then responded to the Twitter debacle. "Twitter does not have enough characters to respond to all the characters on Twitter,” he tweeted and then quickly removed. He later asked the public not to judge him for "a handful of jokes that didn't land."

Do you think Trevor Noah still deserves a chance as the host of The Daily Show?

New 'Daily Show' Host Trevor Noah Gets Big Backlash Already

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