Trevor Noah showed his support for Black Lives Matter protesters as riots spread across the United States in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
Speaking about Floyd, who died last week after a police officer knelt on his neck, The Daily Show presenter said in a video shared on his YouTube channel: “I don’t know what made that video more painful for people to watch: the fact that that man was having his life taken in front of our eyes, the fact that we were watching someone be murdered by someone whose job it is to protect and serve, or the fact that he seemed so calm doing it?
“Oftentimes, we’re told that police feared for their lives, it was a threat and you always feel like an a**hole when you’re like, ‘You didn’t fear for your life, how did you fear for your life?’”
He continued: “But now, more and more, we’re starting to see that it doesn’t seem like it’s a fear, it just seems like you can do it so you did it. There was a black man on the ground in handcuffs and you could take his life, so you did, almost knowing that there would be no ramifications.
Noah explained: “When the riots happened, that for me was an interesting culmination of everything. I saw so many people online saying, ‘These riots are disgusting, this is not how a society should be run, you do not loot and you do not burn.’
“Try to imagine how it must feel for black Americans when they watch themselves being looted every single day, because that’s fundamentally what’s happening in America. Police in America are looting black bodies.”
Demonstrations continued to take place in the US on Monday (1 June) night, with President Donald Trump threatening to deploy US military against protesters as the police fired tear gas outside the White House.
