Trevor Noah Responds After a Cruel Joke About Aboriginal Women Resurfaces

Trevor Noah's resurfaced joke about Aboriginal women triggered debates about bringing back "old" comments, allyship between people of color, and how much apologies from comedians matter politically.

Noah, host of the Daily Show, is no stranger to confronting offensive jokes he has made in his past, and most recently he has faced backlash for a racist and sexist joke he made about Aboriginal women in a stand up show in 2013.

According to BBC, Noah says in the footage, "All women of every race can be beautiful. And I know some of you are sitting there now going, 'Oh Trevor, yeah, but I've never seen a beautiful Aborigine.'"

He goes on to say, "It's not always about looks," before pretending to play a didgeridoo in a sexual manner.

Some Australians have called to boycott Noah's upcoming tour, but since the joke was from 2013, it has stirred debates on social media about whether or not the comedian needs to be held accountable so many years after the show. Many people pointed out that Noah's response of regret was important because he is South African and comes from a country with its own long history of racist jokes against black women. Others tried to bring back old arguments that comedians don't need to apologize, and Noah disagreed.

"After visiting Australia's Bunjilaka museum and learning about aboriginal history first hand I vowed never to make a joke like that again," he continued on Twitter. "And I haven't."

This is not Noah's first apology for past offensive jokes. When the comedian was first announced as the host of the Daily Show in 2015, anti-semitic and sexist jokes from his twitter resurfaced. In a GQ interview he responded, "You show me half my jokes from even 2 years ago, 3 years ago—I hate them. Because you see, like, a young version of yourself. You're like, 'Why would you say that? You idiot!"