Trevor Noah launched into a bit about Michael Neu, aka the “Nigerian prince,” with a racial slur, calling him a “nigga” on his Comedy Central show. The slur got by censors, but then again, Noah uses the word all the time.
Neu, 67, of Slidell, Louisiana, was charged with 269 counts of wire fraud and money laundering for running an online scam.
He allegedly posed as a “Nigerian prince” who offered in emails to send people money, if they provided their bank account information.
The scams are most often thought to originate out of African nations, well, like Nigeria. That made Neu all the more newsworthy.
The Slidell Police Department said Neu allegedly participated in hundreds of scams and actually is part of a ring operating out of Nigeria.
“Since the dawn of the Internet, the Nigerian prince has scammed you and every grandmother in Florida,” Noah said, opening his bit.
“Well, finally, we found out who this nigga is,” he added.
Yikes! Normally that would be cause for great alarm, especially given Noah’s past racial slurs.
The day after he took over the show from Jon Stewart in 2009, he posted Tweets attacking women and Jews, causing a social media backlash.
Critics described the jokes as “tasteless, hateful — and unfunny.”
Comedy Central rushed to his defense. The network called him a “provocative” comedian who “spares no one, himself included.”
Later in his bit, Noah railed about “cultural appropriation” and took a shot at the state of Louisiana as well.
“I always thought those spam emails were misspelled because they were from Nigeria. And it seems like it was because they were from Louisiana… basically the Nigeria of the South,” he said.
“I can’t believe this guy is the Nigerian prince. White people take everything from black people, music, fashion and now they’re stealing our stealing,” he added.
“This is next level cultural appropriation,” said the black South African comedian.
Did Noah step over the line? Or does being black make it all right?
Check out the video let us know your thoughts!
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