The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah was sounding off on “Earth’s biggest dick” Ron DeSantis for sending two planeloads of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Thursday night when he made a hard pivot to a different type of troll.
“While American lawmakers are arguing about what’s happening at land borders, Americans on the internet are at war about what’s happening under the sea,” the host said before presenting a summary of the racist backlash to Disney’s decision to cast a Black actress as Ariel in the upcoming live-action film version of The Little Mermaid.
“Really, people? We’re doing this again?” Noah asked. “Once again, a bunch of internet racists are upset that a fictional character is being played by a Black person. And honestly, I don’t know what the big deal is. You guys realize that Nemo was Black too, right? Yeah! The whole movie was about a fish that can’t find his dad.”
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As the audience groaned at that punchline, the host added, “Calm down! I can say that because my dad left and he was white, so who’s racist now?”
Then, after joking that the Little Mermaid fits right in with other Black celebrities like Lil Wayne, Lil Nas X and Lil’ Kim, Noah implored the haters to “stop being ridiculous, it’s imaginary.”
“You know, I hope this scandal doesn’t overshadow the rest of the movie,” he concluded. “The Little Mermaid is a beautiful story about a young woman changing her core identity to please a man. Let’s not forget about that, people.”
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