--- title: Trevor Noah Controversy: Patton Oswalt description: Try 53 tweets about the incoming 'The Daily Show' host's controversial jokes canonical: https://time.com/3766961/patton-oswalt-trevor-noah/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-01T15:29:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:36:51.730Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Patton Oswalt Had a Lot to Say About the Trevor Noah Backlash og:description: Try 53 tweets about the incoming 'Daily Show' host's controversial jokes og:url: https://time.com/3766961/patton-oswalt-trevor-noah/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Patton Oswalt Had a Lot to Say About the Trevor Noah Backlash twitter:description: Try 53 tweets about the incoming 'Daily Show' host's controversial jokes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Patton Oswalt Had _a Lot_ to Say About the Trevor Noah Backlash  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Apr 1, 2015 3:29 PM CUT  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Apr 1, 2015 3:29 PM CUT Within 24 hours of being named Jon Stewart’s successor on _The Daily Show_, South African comedian Trevor Noah found himself in hot water [over some old tweets](http://time.com/3764913/trevor-noah-twitter-backlash/ "undefined") that critics deemed sexist, anti-Semitic and fat-shaming. “To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian,” Noah wrote in response. Enter [Patton Oswalt](https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt "undefined"), who is no stranger to criticizing what he thinks is unnecessary political correctness infiltrating comedy (for the worse). Last night Oswalt came to Noah’s defense with an elaborate, 53-part Twitter joke that took aim at trigger warnings, disclaimers and the way people talk about privilege on the Internet. The gist of his argument is basically, “So what if jokes are offensive? Deciding who or what is off-limits—or going out of your way to placate—is terrible for comedy.” But you can read [the whole thing](https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt "undefined") (excerpted below) over at his account and decide for yourself. > [](https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/583164509709205505) > [](https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/583164714412163072) > [](https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/583164917173207041) > [](https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/583165138104025088) > [](https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/583165389376393216) > [](https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/583165575746035713) > [](https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/583165861818548224) > [](https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/583165931171356672) > [](https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/583172420124610560) > [](https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/583173105931018240) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3766961/patton-oswalt-trevor-noah/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3766961/patton-oswalt-trevor-noah/"},"headline":"Patton Oswalt Had a Lot to Say About the Trevor Noah Backlash","datePublished":"2015-04-01T15:29:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:36:51.730Z","description":"Try 53 tweets about the incoming Daily Show host's controversial jokes","url":"https://time.com/3766961/patton-oswalt-trevor-noah/","keywords":["celebrities","Television","Comedy","The Daily Show","comedy central","Jon Stewart","trevor noah"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3766961/patton-oswalt-trevor-noah/","name":"Patton Oswalt Had a Lot to Say About the Trevor Noah Backlash"}}]}] ```