When Trevor Noah faced off with a rising star among Republicans for her vitriolic, right-wing rants, the discussion was hailed by some as the coming of age moment for the host with such big shoes to fill after Jon Stewart's exit.
Noah's reception since taking over the reins of The Daily Show has been lukewarm. Conversations on the satirical news talk show have been safe, rarely straying into territories Stewart tackled with ease. At least, that was until he invited ardent Trump supporter and right-wing commentator Tomi Lahren on the show to discuss some of her more controversial views, including her staunchly anti-Black Lives Matter stance.
The pugnacious South Dakota native has built a huge online following with viral rants about feminism, liberal “crap”, the election and “victim mentality”. Her videos have seen her accused of racism and sexism by some on the left and lauded by many on the right.
One particular soundbite from Lahren on The Daily Show became one of the most discussed moments of her exchange with Noah. The 24-year-old was asked why, if she isn’t racist, she has to constantly defend herself against accusations of racism. “To me, true diversity is diversity of thought, not diversity of colour,” she replied. “I don’t see colour.” Noah’s comic comeback was quick: “You don’t see colour? So, what do you do at traffic lights?”
Other parts of his response were more searching. “You are the same person who argued on your show that just because Trump has supporters from the KKK doesn't mean he's in the KKK. What if somebody said, 'I felt emboldened by Tomi Lahren so I went out and shot black people'? Are you now responsible?”
Not everyone agreed Lahren should have been handed such a prominent platform to air her views, but others conceded she already has a huge stage thanks to her very engaged 3.6 million followers on Facebook. Inviting her on the show allowed Noah to point out holes in her arguments to a conservative audience he would otherwise have never engaged, they argued.
But after eloquently dismantling her claims, Noah then appeared to be making peace. In a gesture that has disappointed many, Lahren shared an image of a cupcake she claimed Noah had sent her after the show. Anger was exacerbated when Noah was seen with Lahren in what some suggested was a "date". The accusations of “sell-out” levelled at him came quick and fast, even after reports from TMZ suggested the cupcakes were sent on behalf of the show, not Noah personally.
But Noah insisted it would have been difficult for someone so right-wing to step into his space and praised Lahren for being “gracious” even when presenting views he staunchly disagreed with. He criticised the aggression from people who claimed to be pro-gender equality and progressive but then branded Lahren a “b***h” or “c**t” for expressing a point of view they found offensive.
“One, I do not believe that we are in a situation where we’re providing exposure for a person that has hundreds of millions of views on their videos,” Noah told The Breakfast Show on Wednesday.
“You’re not ‘providing a platform’ for this person. What you’re doing is you’re trying to get into their space and talk to them as a person, but more importantly, you’re trying to talk to the people that would never hear you in the first place.”
