Trevor Noah and Jimmy Fallon face huge backlash for mocking Julian Assange

Users on Twitter have branded late-night talk show hosts Trevor Noah and Jimmy Fallon “disgusting” for their mockery of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. Clips have resurfaced of both show hosts making fun of Julian Assange following his arrest that occurred in 2019 in London.

Why bring up the topic of Julian Assange now?

The question of why clips on Twitter have resurfaced now is a simple one. The Russia-Ukraine War. Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter and his release of ‘The Twitter Files’, there has been a massive movement in favour of transparency when it comes to the media’s agenda and messages. Now more than ever, it seems there is somewhat of a return to large-scale scepticism surrounding political affiliation within the media. This anti-media stance means those with views that support mainstream news outlets, such as Trevor Noah and Jimmy Fallon, are now under fire.

One Twitter user replied: “Shame on @Trevornoah forever for that, and that other guy too.. Hideous. Our culture has hit rock bottom.”

Whilst another user simply tweeted: “Disappointed in Trevor Noah.”

It’s apparent that The Daily Show host has lost some support.

Noah and Fallon are not the only show hosts to make fun of Assange. Seth Meyers also cracked jokes at Assange’s expense at the time of his arrest whilst Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at Pamela Anderson for her support of Assange.

$1.8 Billion for Ukraine

Many Americans are upset with Biden’s deal to aid Ukraine. The involvement in yet another war is not one that many want, especially taxpayers. $1.8B is a staggering amount, even more so in times of economic downturn. The message that Julian Assange tried to spread for many years about the war in Afghanistan at the time is easily paralleled to the war in Ukraine now. That is why Twitter has been quick to call out the late-night talk show hosts.

Time for independence

Criticism of those who share their views and ideas with mainstream media shows that there needs to be a move to share a more varied spectrum of political opinion on late-night television. In order to avoid backlash and maintain popularity, late-night hosts need to think independently, instead of spouting the typical mainstream view.

As audiences become more politically involved, it is important that late-night show hosts share the views of their audiences.