The line between fair and foul is often unclear in comedy, and future Daily Show host Trevor Noah is in the midst of public backlash for toeing that line years ago in a bunch of unearthed tweets. While many have criticized him for making remarks seen as anti-semitic and misogynistic (as well as plain unfunny), Noah's comedy brethren have been quick to defend him. Fellow Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi said the entire controversy is "much ado about nothing." But no one have done so as adamantly as Patton Oswalt.
Oswalt went on a lengthy Twitter rant last night, defending Noah and making fun of political correctness. His series of 53 tweets were extra careful not to offend those who are lactose intolerant, have been called a "butter face," or anyone else who may have been hurt by his seemingly innocuous joke that sparked the rant.
Here are a selection of the best tweets, but you should check out his timeline and read them all:
(1/53) Q: Why did the man* throw* butter* out of the window*? A: He wanted to see* butter fly*!
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(2/53) "Man" in my previous Tweet should not be construed as privileged, misogynist or anti-trans.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(8/53) And the choice of "butter" as the object being thrown was in NO WAY an insult to those with a strict lacto-vegan diet or
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(9/53) ANYONE who may be lactose intolerant, might KNOW someone who is lactose-intolerant (or knows someone who is ka to-vegan) or
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(10/53) may meet someone of those two persuasions anytime in the future. Also, "butter" does not mean the joke-teller is unaware of
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(11/53) or insensitive to the abuses in our current factory-farming dairy industry, including neglect of animals or additions of
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(12/53) hormones, pesticides or other contaminants. Also, PLEASE accept this pre-emptive apology if the word "butter" was a trigger
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(13/53) for any time in the past the joke recipient may have been called a "butter face" or knows someone who was insulted in such a
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(14/53) fashion. Aesthetic shaming is real and bullying hurts us all.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(20/53) Nor should the act of THROWING AWAY food, which can be read as a violent, corporate-centric status maneuver.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(27/53) Parts 28 through 36 will simply be the word "problematic" for your use in any other interpretation of the pronoun "he"
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(39/53) And the fact that Twitter does NOT offer a Braille version of its website is part of a larger problem
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(52/53) Welcome to comedy in 2015, @Trevornoah!
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015
(53/53) Also, the "come" part of "welcome" shouldn't be construed in a "faggy" way.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 1, 2015