South African comedian Trevor Noah is facing calls for his Australian tour to be boycotted over an offensive joke he made in 2013 calling all indigenous Australian women ugly, despite a day ago acknowledging he had done wrong.
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Noah, host of the popular US TV program Daily Show, responded after an indigenous Australian highlighted a clip of a stand-up show in 2013 where the comedian made the offensive comments, with the hashtag #boycotttrevornoahinoz.
In the footage, Noah said that "all women of every race can be beautiful," then said: "And I know some of you are sitting there now going, 'Oh Trevor, yeah, but I've never seen a beautiful Aborigine.'"
He then went on to say, "It's not always about looks," and pretended to play a didgeridoo, a traditional long wooden wind instrument, in a suggestive way.
The clip has since been removed from social media, after indigenous ex-NRL player Joe Williams said the comments were "utterly unacceptable" especially for "a man of colour".
"I am so disgusted and appalled by the comments by @Trevornoah and his attempted humour that denigrates Aboriginal women I hope Australians boycott his shows in #Brisbane #Sydney #Melbourne #Perth," author Anita Heiss said on social media.
Noah responded that Williams was right.
"After visiting Australia's Bunjilaka museum and learning about aboriginal history first hand I vowed never to make a joke like that again. And I haven't," he said on social media.
The controversy over Noah's joke has arisen at a time of heightened scrutiny of indigenous issues, amid an inquest into the death in custody of a mentally ill indigenous man.
Noah is due to tour Australia in late August.
Australian Associated Press
