Britons slam Trevor Noah’s ‘racist backlash’ claims against Sunak

London, Oct 28

Britons have slammed US talk show host and comedian Trevor Noah, who took a hilarious dig at them, saying, "racists" were offended by the UK's first Prime Minister of colour, Rishi Sunak.

In the two-minute 52-second clip from The Daily Show, titled "Unpacking the Backlash to Rishi Sunak", viewed more than a million times, Noah is seen targeting British people who he claims were unhappy with Sunak's appointment due to his Indian heritage.

Former UK Chancellor Sajid Javid slammed the clip on Twitter, saying: "Simply wrong. A narrative catered to his audience, at the cost of being completely detached from reality."

"Britain is the most successful multiracial democracy on earth and proud of this historic achievement," Javid tweeted.

In the video posted on his Twitter handle, Noah played a clip from a British radio show in which a caller explained why a non-white person should not be the Prime Minister of the UK, to which Noah replied: "This is a good point. Can you imagine white English people trying to rule countries where no one looks like them!"

In his sarcastic best, Noah further said: "This could be a good thing for you people. After 400 years, you finally get to legitimately blame a brown person for your country's problems. You're living the dream!"

"Dear America. There is no racist backlash against Sunak. The vast majority have no issue.

"He was recently the most popular politician in the UK! Racist abuse is confined to a small fringe who are amplified on Twitter, mirrored in a small fringe who think everybody in the West is racist," said Politics professor Matthew Goodwin, who took to Twitter to denounce Noah's claims.

"This is absolutely barking mad. A fantasy 'backlash' based upon nothing more than projection and wish-fulfilment," Sunday Times columnist Alex Massie tweeted.

Earlier this week, Sunak, 42, became the first British Asian Prime Minister in history and the youngest in more than 200 years.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer "welcomed" the appointment of Sunak as "the first British Asian Prime Minister", describing it as a "real milestone for our country".

"3 women PMs and now our first person of colour, old enough to have seen them all and love it... Good luck, Rishi, what a great country we live in, not sure what planet Trevor Noah inhabits or observes," a Twitter user from the UK, Muiry29, wrote.

The funnyman from South Africa recently announced that he is stepping down as the host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show in the US.

--IANS