“There are some stories that are purely entertainment…” Comedy Central star, Trevor Noah, begins on a recent episode of the Daily Show. “But then there are some stories that I feel transcend everything and speak to larger conversations. And I honestly think the Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Pete Davidson story is turning into just that.”
Trevor Noah is very outspoken on the subject of Kanye West, Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson.
The Daily Host reflects that West is trying to win Kardashian back through increasingly belligerent public gestures and statements.
“It started off very much as tabloid, but has crept into a world that more people should pay attention to but not for the reason you may think.”
Noah says. “over time, Kanye has become more and more belligerent in how he tries to get Kim back.”
Noah acknowledges, however, that “when it started, it was, some would say ‘romantic”. Lately, he believes West’s overtures venture into murky territory.
Noah makes particular reference to West’s latest music video for “Eazy”, featuring a claymation sequence. In it, a man wearing a hood buries a version of Pete Davidson alive – potentially decapitating him. Noah observes that although West claims the video is ‘an expression of his art,’ there is a thin line between art and dangerous territory.
Noah describes art as therapy. He also acknowledges, however, that there comes a point where therapy needs to become actual therapy. He concedes that this latest music video, in particular, makes him “uncomfortable”. It’s unclear how seriously people should take the threats.
A Dangerous and Scary Environment
The feud between Kardashian and West recently moves into high gear, with West posting private screenshots from a conversation with her. In it, she tells the megastar he is “creating a dangerous and scary environment” and worries that “Someone will hurt Pete and this will all be your fault.”
West later apologises, claiming “I know sharing screen shots was jarring and came off as harassing Kim. I take accountability,” since, his public criticism of Kardashian and Davidson continues.
This is most obvious in the release of the “Easy” music clip, of which the final frame reads: “EVERYONE LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER, EXCEPT SKETE YOU KNOW WHO. JK, HE’S FINE,” with the word “SKETE,” which is West’s nickname for Davidson, scratched out.
West goes on to criticise his ex-wife’s parenting, prompting Kardashian to publicly respond,
“Divorce is difficult enough on our children and Kanye’s obsession with trying to control and manipulate our situation so negatively and publicly is only causing further pain for all.”
He continues that, “From the beginning, I have wanted nothing but a healthy and supportive co-parenting relationship because it is what is best for our children and it saddens me that Kanye continues to make it impossible every step of the way.”
Over-Reacting?
It’s this slate of events that prompts Noah to take a closer look at the public feud between Kardashian and West. He claims, “You may not feel sorry for Kim because she’s rich and famous, because of the way she dresses, because she appropriates black culture, because she tells women they’re lazy, broke the internet and then didn’t put it back together, whatever, you hate her.” He pauses before continuing,
“But what she’s going through is terrifying to watch, and it shines a spotlight on what so many women go through when they choose to leave.”
Noah recalls growing up in an abusive household at the hands of his step-father in South Africa. On several occasions, his mother went down to the police station. The officer would tell his mother she was over-reacting, or ask if she had ‘spoken back’, thus eliciting the abuse. Noah reflects that as a child he lived in “a world where women are questioned for what is happening to them as opposed to people questioning what is happening to them”.
Noah exemplifies his point by sharing a memory of the day he received a phone call from his brother; informing him that his mother had been shot in the head and leg at the hands of his step-father. Miraculously she survived. Her step-father was initially charged with attempted murder, but ultimately received only a probation punishment. It is this series of harrowing events that imbued within the Daily Show host, the urge to question what ratifies the socially accepted normalisation of tolerated harassment against women.
Terrifying to Watch
Using Kim Kardashian’s story as a case study Noah points out, “What she’s going through is terrifying to watch … What we’re seeing is one of the most powerful, one of the richest women in the world, unable to get her ex to stop texting her, to stop chasing after her, to stop harassing her.”
Noah states on several occasions throughout his monologue that he is not in fact, calling Kanye West a bad guy. Rather, he is using this story as an impassioned plea for society to think harder.
“We have to ask ourselves questions. Do we wish to stand by and watch a car crash when we thought we saw it coming? Or do we at least want to say hey, slow down, let’s all put our hazards on because there’s a storm right now.”
Kumbaya
The clap back to this powerful episode of the Daily Show was immediate. Kanye West replied with an Instagram post describing Trevor Noah, rephrasing the lyrics of Kumbaya to “k**n baya my lord,” in a twist on a slang word used to describe a Black person who rejects or undermines their own ethnicity. Trevor’s response in a now-deleted Instagram comment is as eloquent as it is lengthy:
“You’re an indelible part of my life Ye. Which is why it breaks my heart to see you like this. I don’t care if you support Trump and I don’t care if you roast Pete. I do however care when I see you on a path that’s dangerously close to peril and pain … Don’t ever forget, the biggest trick racists ever played on black people was teaching us to strip each other of our blackness whenever we disagree. Tricking us into dividing ourselves up into splinters so that we would never unite into a powerful rod.”
Policies Against Hatespeech
In response to his post, the LA Times reporting that Ye was banned from Instagram for 24 hours , and a representative from Meta claiming that he violated the Social Media Platform’s policies against hate speech. The fallout continued, as only days after West’s ban from Instagram, the, Kanye was then prohibited from performing at next month’s Grammy Awards, as his rep confirmed to People Magazine.
This news will come as a huge blow to West, who has been nominated for five Grammy Awards this year, four of which were for his 10th studio album Donda, and another for Album of the Year as a producer for Lil Nas X’s debut album Montero. The decision was made with consideration that Trevor Noah is the host of this year’s music awards, and due to the rapper’s “concerning online behavior.”
Sources close to the Daily Show Host have confirm that he had nothing to do with Kanye’s ban from the music awards, per Variety Magazine.
To check out what the fuss is about, here’s the clip for Kanye West, “Easy”:
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