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Rishi Sunak “doesn’t think Britain is a racist country,” Downing Street said after Trevor Noah’s controversial claim that there was a racist reaction against him to become prime minister.
In a video on Twitter from his American satirical news program The Daily Show, host and comedian Noah claimed there were people saying that “Now the Indians are going to take over Britain.”
It led to accusations from the UK that he fabricated a racist reaction against Sunak’s appointment.
Commenting on Noah’s comments, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: “I did not ask the Prime Minister about that. But you heard the words in the House [of Commons] on the Prime Minister on Wednesday and you have also seen words from other world leaders and reactions to his appointment as Prime Minister.’
When asked whether Mr Sunak believes Britain is a racist country, the spokeswoman added: ‘No, he doesn’t.’
Former Chancellor and Health Minister Mr Javid also responded to Noah’s claims, re-sharing the clip, writing: ‘Just wrong. A story aimed at its 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.”
Mr Sunak is also the UK’s first ever Hindu Prime Minister. His grandparents migrated to the UK in the 1960s and they are all from India except for his maternal grandmother, who was born in Africa, making him of British Asian descent.
Born in South Africa, Noah said that ‘seeing the backlash’ over Mr Sunak’s promotion was ‘one of the most telling things about how people see the role they or their people have played in history’.
Trevor Noah, 38, sparked anger among his British fans on Twitter after uploading a segment from his program The Daily Show entitled: ‘Unpacking the Backlash to Rishi Sunak’
The former Chancellor and Health Minister, Mr Javid, responded to the allegations and re-shared the clip, writing: ‘Just wrong. A story aimed at its audience, at the cost of being completely detached from reality
British political commentators, including Piers Morgan, were less than impressed by Trevor Noah’s comments
When asked if Rishi Sunak thought Britain was a racist country, a Downing Street spokeswoman said ‘no, he doesn’t’
In a ‘Between the Scenes’ segment – his interactions with the public during the commercial breaks – he then launched a mission about postcolonial power structures and the oppression of black people and women in positions of power.
It comes after it was revealed last month that Noah will be leaving The Daily Show after ratings plummeted to 75% following his takeover of American presenter Jon Stewart in 2013.
Analysts attribute this partly to the shift to online streaming, but also to the program’s perceived “political bias” and its tendency to propagate an “awake” ideology.
In his monologue about Mr. Sunak, Noah said, “You hear a lot of people say, ‘Oh, they’re taking over, Indians are going to take over Britain, and now what?’ and I always found myself thinking, ‘And?… What are you afraid of?’
‘You see people in the UK, you see people like Tucker Carlson [an American Fox News host] all the time saying, “You know what they’re trying to do… they won’t stop until black people and women are in positions of power”… So what?”
He added: ‘Why are you so scared? I think it’s because the quiet part that a lot of people don’t realize is that they say, ‘We don’t want these people who were previously oppressed come to power, because then they can do to us what we did to them. ”’
His analysis was criticized by British political commentators, who accused Noah of “projecting” America’s racial problem onto Britain.
Piers Morgan furious on Twitter: “There has been no such backlash against Sunak, you race-bait twerps. Why do the American media continue to falsely portray Britain as a racist country?’
GB News Political commentator Tom Harwood added: ‘What reaction? Where? You make things up.’
Meanwhile, Talk TV’s Mike Graham was more blunt, writing, “You wonder if Americans are the fattest people on the planet.”
Viewers of the show were also unimpressed, as one tweeted: ‘There has been virtually no reaction to the nomination of an Indian man as prime minister in Britain (apart from the fact that the process was an undemocratic joke). But his race has not been mentioned negatively by anyone.
“American TV and the American public are projecting an awful lot.”
Another fan wrote: ‘I love @Trevornoah, but this is absolutely not true.
“Across the broad spectrum of British society, people are genuinely proud that someone of South Asian descent is Prime Minister.”
MailOnline has reached out to Noah’s representatives for comment.
In the video, Noah added that people don’t have to worry about someone ‘taking over’ and repeating colonial horrors, adding: ‘Go to all these colonies around the world, go to all the places where the British ruled, go to South Africa or wherever it is… unless people are delusional, people don’t turn on anyone.
In a three-minute clip, which has more than 950,000 views on Twitter, Noah claimed there were “people saying Indians are going to take over Britain” in response to Mr Sunak’s rise to the top post of prime minister.
“It’s not like Barack Obama became president and said, ‘Okay, where are the whites? Time to show them what’s going on!” Didn’t happen.
“People are complaining and saying, ‘I can’t believe Rishi Sunak is… you’ve got that Indian man who…’ yo, King Charles is still the king of Jamaica… think about that. second.
‘What do you think will happen? You’re just giving yourself away… it’s amazing when people say the quiet part out loud.”
He added: “People have to ask themselves that question…why are you afraid of power shifting to a different gender or race?”
Other Twitter users labeled Noah ‘out of touch’ with the realities of British politics, while another wrote: ‘Could it be that @Trevornoah is projecting the US into a place where the US isn’t again?…
“While a few small pockets have made racist remarks, this is definitely not the case in the UK. May I suggest you talk to some Brits?’
Noah’s segment was likely inspired by a call from a listener to LBC Radio last week, who suggested that Sunak “don’t like England” and “isn’t even British according to most people.” But after a Noah fan shared a clip of the conversation under the comedian’s video, Twitter users claimed it didn’t reflect the views of a large number of people.
Noah’s segment was inspired by a call from a listener to LBC Radio last week, who suggested that Sunak “don’t like England” and “isn’t even British according to most people.”
The caller claimed to be a member of the Conservative Party when he called into host Sangita Myska’s show.
Speaking on Sunday, before Sunak won the race to become prime minister, the caller said, “Rishi is not going to win. Rishi isn’t even British, according to most people. He has American allegiance, his family is American. They are Indian business people. He will undoubtedly live in America. He doesn’t like England the way Boris does.’
When Ms Myska insisted that Mr Sunak was born in Southampton, which made him British, he added: ‘A lot of people are, half of al Qaeda are British citizens. I’m just saying that having a British passport doesn’t mean you’re a true English patriot who loves England.’
But after a Noah fan shared a clip of the call in response to the comedian’s video, Twitter users claimed it didn’t represent the views of a large number of people.
One of them wrote: ‘You realize that a few isolated cases don’t cause widespread opposition, don’t you? If you search hard enough, you will find someone who adheres to every conceivable vision.’
Another said: ‘In a population of 68 million, it’s easy to find these examples. The reality is that the vast majority of Brits don’t feel that way.’
It comes after an earlier segment on Noah’s show from comedian Ronny Chieng this week also received criticism from British Indian/Asian viewers.
In a 45-second skit discussing Sunak, Chieng stated that “Indians are not Asians,” adding, “If this man is Asian, how come I didn’t feel anything when he became prime minister?”
He added: ‘I like how Indians try to have it two ways like being Indian AND Asian, pick a job, okay?’
Sunder Katwala, director of the British immigration organization British Future, wrote in a comment online: ‘This is just rude and stupid. Of course he identifies as British Asian and British Indian, and that’s how he is seen by British Indians, British Asians and other British people. If America uses terms differently, that’s fine for America.’