In a behind-the-scenes TikTok video posted by “The Daily Show,” host TrevorNoah shut down an audience member who asked him why he is beefing with KanyeWest. An alleged beef between the two took place earlier this year after Noahcondemned West for his incessant trolling of ex-wife Kim Kardashian on socialmedia. West responded by directing a racial slur at Noah on Instagram, whichled to West being temporarily banned on the platform for a day.
“Why am I beefing with Kanye? That’s an interesting way to phrase it because abeef has to go both ways,” Noah told the audience member. “Genuinely it does.In my limited understanding of the world, beef has always been something thatgenerally will happen between two hip hop artists. I’ve never beefed withKanye West. I was concerned about Kanye West.”
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West has courted controversy over the last few weeks for making racist andantisemitic comments in various interviews. West has said during pastcontroversial media blitzes that he struggles with mental illness, which hasled to people defending West this time around regarding his antisemiticcomments. Noah did not specifically address West’s latest comments, but he didquestion why the media is continuing to give West a platform when it’s knownthat he has mental health issues.
“If somebody says to me that they have a mental health issue,” Noah said, “andthey say to everyone that when they don’t take their medication they’re unableto control themselves, and then everyone ignores when that person is having anepisode and they haven’t taken the medication, and then they platform theperson and then they put them up…I sometimes think it’s a little shitty, to behonest with you.”
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“My grandfather was bipolar,” Noah continued. “I’m not saying Kanye is. I’mjust saying my grandfather was bipolar, and one thing we knew was when he washaving one of his episodes. He could act in a certain way and could do certainthings…but our job was to support him. It would be weird if I was there going,’Oh, my grandfather’s having an episode again. I’m going viral tonight!’ Ithink it’s a little bit strange.”
“I don’t have beef with a human being who has expressed openly that they’redealing with a mental health issue. I don’t have beef with that human being,”Noah said. “What I have beef with is us as society not coming together aroundthe person and going like, ‘Hey, maybe this is not the moment to put amicrophone in your face so that you just go off saying everything.’ If this iswhat you want to say when you’re on your medication, then that’s a differentstory. But because you’ve told us that, I’m not going to sit by and say that.”
Noah concluded by saying he has “never had beef” with Kanye West, adding, “I’mstill playing ‘College Dropout.’ I’m still playing the music. I still love theman that I think he is. And I understand that he’s gone through a lot, youknow, and I don’t take that for granted. But I’ve promised myself I’ll neverbe the person who just sits by and gleefully says things about people that Icare about and then also joins the group of mourners afterwards and acts likeI wasn’t part of it. Too many people like to mourn you when you’re dead andthey don’t say anything to you when you’re alive. So I don’t know where toend. But that’s it.”
The TikTok below is not the first time Noah has addressed his relationshipwith West. During an August 2022 interview on Varieties Awards CircuitPodcast, the host spoke about why he decided to make public comments aboutWest’s behavior in the first place.
“I’ve just become more comfortable speaking my mind in situations where I feellike the mob forgets that we’re dealing with human beings,” Noah said at thetime. “It’s easy to stand on the sidelines, see a train crash coming and saynothing about it. And then after the train crashes off the tracks, we say,’Oh, I saw that coming!’ Well, then why didn’t you say anything? Especially ifyou have some sort of platform, you have some sort of obligation to speak atruth. You know, see something and say some thing.”
Noah’s latest comments followed Howard Stern’s viral reaction to West’santisemitic comments. Stern compared West to Hitler and criticized West’sdefenders who say the rapper has mental health issues.
“Fuck this mental illness, self defense thing that he’s into,” Stern said.“You know, like, ‘Oh yeah, he’s just mentally ill. Don’t worry about it…’ Ifhe’s so mentally ill, why don’t they appoint a conservator over his money likethey did with the poor Britney Spears?”
Watch “The Daily Show” TikTok in the video below.
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