Trevor Noah, 38, made his stance clear about Kanye West, 44, being banned from the GRAMMY Awards. “I said counsel Kanye not cancel Kanye,” The Daily Show host — who is hosting the GRAMMY Awards in April — penned via Twitter on Sunday, March 20. The supportive stance comes hot off Trevor and Ye’s online debacle that began after Noah gave his opinion about Kanye’s on-going social media attacks aimed at ex Kim Kardashian and her new boyfriend Pete Davidson.
I said counsel Kanye not cancel Kanye.
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) March 20, 2022
“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,” Trevor said in an impassioned nine-minute monologue on his show, which aired on March 15. “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,” he sad.
Unpacking the Kim-Kanye-Pete situation and the harassment many women face when trying to leave a relationship. pic.twitter.com/qF3cfiYL9R
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) March 16, 2022
Kanye has made his stance about Kim and Pete’s romance more than clear on social media, taking it to the next level when he buried an animated version of the Saturday Night Live comedian in his “Eazy” video. The relationship marks Kim’s first publicly since filing for divorce from Ye after seven years of marriage in Feb. 2021. Last weekend, Kanye also said that he felt”antagonized” by Pete after he sent him a shirtless selfie, allegedly in bed with the SKIMS founder. Beyond Pete, the Yeezy designer has also used the social media platform to call out the Kardashian family on multiple occasions, including alleging that he was not invited to daughter Chicago‘s 4th birthday (he appeared at the soirée after a dramatic morning of posts).
Trevor was targeted by Kanye the morning after his monologue, with Ye writing edited lyrics to the song “Kumbaya my Lord” — inappropriately editing to “Koon baya,” which is a racist slur that is used to identify a black person who doesn’t like other black people. The post was a direct violation of Instagram’s hate speech, bullying and harassment policies, and lead to a 24 hour suspension preventing Ye from commenting, posting, liking, using stories or DMs.
How classy is Trevor Noah's response to #Kanye 's slur though? pic.twitter.com/GWCy1jgGqA
— Ms. Siya Miti (@SiyaMiti_the1st) March 17, 2022
Shortly after the incident between Trevor and Kanye, rapper The Game revealed that the Chicago-born rapper had been banned from the GRAMMY Awards — and alleged that it was over the Trevor Noah comment. Kanye’s rep confirmed that Ye was yanked due to “concerning online behavior” but did not clarify if it was indeed specifically tied to the comment that was made (once again, Noah is also hosting the GRAMMYs).
Prior to the tweet, Trevor responded to Ye’s racist slur with a lengthy message about the rapper’s musical influence on his own life. “There are few artists who have had more of an impact on me than you Ye. You took samples and turned them into symphonies,” the South African native wrote. “You took your pain and through the wire turned it into performance perfection. I thought differently about how I spend my money because of you, I learned to protect my child-like creativity from grown thoughts because of you, shit I still smile every time I put on my seatbelt because of you.”
“You’re an indelible part of my life Ye. Which is why it breaks my heart to see you like this,” he went on. “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.”