Comedian and host Trevor Noah defended Kanye West against detractors this week and explained why he criticized the decision to ban the rapper from performing at the Grammys earlier this year when the comedian hosted.
According to Fox News, Noah had a run-in with West before the April Grammy Awards when the rapper threw a racial slur at him on social media after the host in a "Daily Show" segment accused him of "harassing" his ex Kim Kardashian.
"Human beings are a paradox," the "Daily Show" host said on the "Awards Circuit" podcast on Thursday. "We can love people who we hate, we can hate people who we love. Human beings as a whole are a complicated paradox. And so, I don't like to live in a world where we constantly discard human beings like pieces of trash."
Before the April Grammy Awards, Noah had a run-in with West when the rapper called him a racial slur on social media after the host of the "Daily Show" accused him of "harassing" his ex-girlfriend Kim Kardashian.
West was prohibited from performing at the Grammys as a result of his Instagram post, but the Grammys' host and comedian, Kevin Hart, claimed in a tweet in March that he had no involvement in the decision and that he had asked the Recording Academy to "counsel Kanye not cancel Kanye."
"I've just become more comfortable speaking my mind in situations where I feel like the mob forgets that we're dealing with human beings," Noah said on the podcast. "It's easy to stand on the sidelines, see a train crash coming and say nothing about it. And then after the train crashes off the tracks, we say, 'Oh, I saw that coming!' Well, then why didn't you say anything? Especially if you have some sort of platform, you have some sort of obligation to speak the truth. You know, see something and say something."
He claimed that the rapper left a "indelible impression" on him and that his music had supported him during various stages of his life. "I think we have gotten very comfortable discarding human beings, immediately tossing them away and making them irredeemable characters," he said. "When in fact, I think all of us should be afforded the opportunity to redeem ourselves. All of us should have an opportunity at redemption."
After West and Kardashian broke up, West received harsh criticism for his rhetoric against Kardashian and her ex-boyfriend Pete Davidson. His most recent controversial statement appeared in a since-deleted Instagram post in which he jokingly declared that Davidson was "dead at age 28" after the "Saturday Night Live" alum split up with Kardashian through a fake New York Times front page.
In a music video from earlier this year, West rapped about beating "Pete Davidson's a--," in addition to other comments that appear to suggest violence toward Davidson. In the video, an animated Davidson is abducted and murdered by an animated West.
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