What did Trevor Noah say about Charlie Kirk? Saudi Arabia joke controversy explained amid online backlash

Trevor Noah is creating headlines after his recent comments on Charlie Kirk went viral. Apart from that, he addressed the controversies emerging from the participation of many well-known faces at the Riyadh Comedy Festival.

Kirk was shot dead last month at Utah Valley University, and a suspect named Tyler Robinson was later taken into custody. A video of Noah’s jokes started trending on Thursday, October 9, where he claimed that the situation leading to Kirk’s death was funny.

According to the New York Post, Noah said:

“The guy was shot while defending guns. Do you understand how - I’m not even writing that as a joke - as a human, you have to admit that is an incongruous funny thing that happens. You are there. You’re onstage, like, ‘Let me tell you why people should have guns.’ Wa-pow!”

Trevor Noah also claimed that he was confident that he would discover a funny thing related to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The actor added that some comedians told him to avoid speaking about Kirk in any manner, and they continued to repeat the same despite Noah's assurance that he wouldn’t crack any jokes about the late political activist.

On the other hand, netizens have started reacting to Noah’s words related to Kirk’s death on X. People were spotted criticizing the joke, with a user claiming that she never understood the reasons behind calling Trevor Noah a comedian.

“I’ve never understood why he’s called a comedian. He isn’t funny at all,” @scdesignco wrote.

Another person wrote that Noah was trying to gain something for himself by speaking about an individual’s death.

“Attempting to gain from someone’s death is a Sin. This is how we are shown the way, the light, and the truth,” @EarieBelle commented.

An individual stated that people like Noah cannot accomplish anything compared to what Charlie Kirk can do in an hour.

“These people couldn’t accomplish in a lifetime what Charlie could do in an hour. Also, they are deep down envious that they cannot live up to the standards Charlie lived by,” @365_flavor stated.

One of the responses featured a user supporting Trevor Noah, saying that people did not watch the entire video before reacting.

“Plenty of knee jerk responses from people who have clearly not watched the whole clip. Not defending his choice of material, but to be fair he is not laughing at Charlie Kirk’s assassination. He is highlighting an irony which in his perspective exists,” @wildbork said.

Trevor Noah referred to the Riyadh Comedy Festival while speaking on Charlie Kirk

As mentioned, some comedians advised Trevor Noah not to mention Charlie Kirk in his act. He addressed the same by referring to the Riyadh Comedy Festival, praising the government of Saudi Arabia for not creating issues in terms of civil liberties, as per Fox News.

Noah also said that if the festival had been organized at some other time, the US would not have stopped to “stand on as a moral authority.” The Mad Buddies star even claimed that although Jimmy Kimmel was preempted for his monologue, the latter had not joked about Kirk’s death.

Noah added that the problems that were created out of the jokes referring to Kirk’s death were “ridiculous,” adding that the comedians were just doing their job. He continued:

“To me, it’s like, ‘Someone got shot.’ It’s not great. I didn’t wish for it. But now you can’t, like, terrorize your population if they dare to say something about the thing. Do you know what I mean? This is the same country where people make jokes about Abraham Lincoln being shot.”

As of this writing, Trevor Noah has not responded to the criticism emerging out of his latest comments on Kirk’s death and the Riyadh Comedy Festival.