Trevor Noah’s Daily Show defends abortion tweet amid outrage

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah’s Twitter account responds to controversy surrounding a tweet celebrating the Supreme Court’s Texas abortion ruling.

The Daily Show was heavily criticized on Monday after the Twitter account belonging to Comedy Central show hosted by Trevor Noah joked about the Supreme Court’s ruling against Texas restrictions on abortion:

Users of the social media site quickly expressed their disgust with the tweet, with Peoria Journal Star reporter Nick Vlahos, who was interviewed by the show over the Illinois town’s own Twitter kerfuffle, responding that it was “in exceptionally poor taste,” while Meghan McCain labeled the joke as “vile.” Liberal and conservative news sites alike also rebuked the show for its response.

Despite the outrage, The Daily Show refused to issue an apology, instead clarifying the tweet an hour later, writing:

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Neither the controversy nor the Supreme Court ruling were mentioned on Monday night’s episode, which was likely filmed in the afternoon. News broke Monday morning that SCOTUS voted 5-3 to strike down Texas’s abortion regulations, which would have severely limited the amount of abortion clinics in the state.

This isn’t the first time a Comedy Central late-night show’s Twitter account has sparked outrage. In 2014, The Colbert Report suffered backlash after tweeting a joke mocking Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder’s creation of a foundation meant to honor Native Americans by announcing its own “Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever” as a sign of respect to the Asian community, which also served as a reference to Rush Limbaugh’s impression of the Chinese president. Soon after, the hashtag #CancelColbert — created by a self-described hashtag activist — began to trend for an extended period of time, with notable conservatives such as Asian-American blogger Michelle Malkin soon jumping on the bandwagon. The program ended a year later after Stephen Colbert left to host CBS’ The Late Show. Noah was also criticized after he was hired to replace Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show for several past tweets some regarded as offensive.

Noah and The Daily Show cast are fresh off of performing a stand-up show at Central Park in New York City. The free event took place Sunday, June 26 as part of the city’s SummerStage series, which includes over 800 performances in neighborhood parks throughout the five boroughs.

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The Daily Show with Trevor Noah airs weeknights at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central. This week’s guests include Calvin Trillin, Laverne Cox and Chuck Klosterman. Be sure to follow Last Night On on Facebook and Twitter for updates on all of the late-night shows.