Trevor Noah has been praised for delivering a classy response to Kanye West after the rapper controversially used a racial slur against him.
The All Falls Down rapper had his Instagram account suspended this week shortly after criticising Trevor in a post, which featured an offensive word against Black people.
In the now-deleted Instagram post, Kanye, 44, shared a screenshot of a Google search for Trevor, 38, with his South African heritage displayed underneath. Reciting the lyrics from the kumbaya folk song – which originates in an African-American spiritual song evoking harmony – he changed ‘kum’ with a slur.
Kanye’s post came after Trevor addressed the highly publicised fallout between Kanye and Pete Davidson, who is dating the rapper’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian, on his popular talk series The Daily Show.
Eagle-eyed fans managed to screenshot Trevor’s reported comment under Kanye’s offensive post, in which he appealed to the rapper on a heartfelt note.
‘It breaks my heart to see you like this,’ the comedian reportedly began. ‘Damn, here we go again, everybody sayin’ what’s not for him…. There are few artists who have had more of an impact on me that you Ye.’
Trevor went on to detail how he respects Kanye as an artist and even makes sure to wear his seatbelt in cars due to the rapper’s car crash in 2002.
He stated: ‘You’re an indelible part of my life Ye. Which is why it breaks my heart to see you like this. 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.
‘You have every right to fight for your family. But you have to know the difference between that and fighting your family. I’ve woken up too many times and read headlines about men who’ve killed their exes, their kids and then themselves. I never want to read that headline about you.
‘If you’re just joking about it all and I’m an idiot for caring, then so be it. But I’d rather be the idiot who spoke up and said something to you in life, than the cool guy who said nothing and then mourns for you in prison or the grave.’
Addressing the racial slur, Trevor said: ‘Oh and as for K**n… clearly some people graduate but we still stupid.
‘Don’t ever forget, the biggest trick racists ever played on Black people was teaching us to strip each other of our Blackness whenever we disagree. Tricking us into dividing ourselves up into splinters, so that we would never unite into a powerful rod.’
He ended on a light note and joked: ‘I can’t front though, K**n Baya is also funny as s**t.
‘Look after yourself my brother. Hopefully one day we’ll all be laughing at this.’
Fans praised Trevor for the way he handled the situation, with one tweeting: ‘How classy is Trevor Noah’s response to #Kanye ‘s slur though?’
One agreed: ‘That was so smooth. Took not only the high road, but he took the highest road. Ye wants a fight and he won’t find it here.’
‘It was gracious of Trevor Noah to respond in this way to an attack on his character. Men should be applauded when they are respectful and responsible in dealing with conflict. There is no need to resort to name-calling and violent rhetoric even when you are met with it,’ another weighed in.
During his recent episode of The Daily Show, Trevor suggested Kanye was harassing ex-wife Kim, telling viewers: ‘Do we wish to stand by and watch a car crash when we thought we saw it coming? Or do we at least want to say, “slow down, let’s all put our hazards on, because there’s a storm coming and s**t might go down”?’
A spokesperson for Meta, Instagram’s parent company, later confirmed to Metro.co.uk that Kanye’s recent posts violated Instagram’s policies on hate speech, harassment and bullying.
As a result, he was not able to post, send DMs, or comment for 24 hours. The spokesperson added that they will take additional steps if there are more violations.
On Thursday, Kanye’s Instagram account appeared to be wiped clean with all his previous posts now removed.
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