Trevor Noah's Offensive "Joke"

Trevor Noah:

Your "joke" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COD9hcTpGWQ) that “Africa won the world cup” because a preponderance of the French players were of African ancestry, was in bad taste and explicitly offensive to French national pride and sense of self. It’s a joke that implies, incorrectly though, that biological ancestry per se makes for citizenship in the 21^st century. Your “joke” also can be rightly interpreted as mocking African nations for their failure, so far, to win the World Cup. 

The French Ambassador was justifiably offended, and his written reaction to your distasteful "joke" was cogent and, by and large, reflective of the meaning of citizenship in the 21st century. Just to get you to realize the wrong-headed nature of your joke, what if a South African national soccer team that consisted predominantly of South African citizens of English ancestry were to win the World Cup, would that suffice as a basis for someone in your position to “joke” that that England won that world cup? 

I urge you to read up on the meaning of citizenship in the world of the 21^st century. Here is one more food for thought for you. Given that Barack Obama’s father was a Kenyan but Barack Obama himself was born and raised (that is, acculturated) in the United States, would that serve as a basis for you or someone in your position to crack a “joke” that Obama’s presidency of the United States from 2008 to 2016 was “an African presidency?” 

The fact that the French team that won the 2018 soccer world cup reflected French citizenship diversity is a fact that deserves our applause, not our derision in the guise of a joke. It hardly needs to be pointed out that the success of that French multi-racial soccer team does not imply that France does not have its own share of race relations challenges/difficulties, just as a hypothetical world cup success of a South African multi-racial soccer team would not suggest that South Africa does not have its share of race relations deficits.

Finally, across cultures and national boundaries, it’s an accepted social norm, at micro and macro levels, to accord credit to whom credit is due. Even God expects us to acknowledge and be thankful for God’s blessings upon us!

Your offensive “joke” implicitly denied due credit to the nation of France for its hard-won achievement of the Golden trophy for the Men’s Soccer World Cup of 2018. It took a herculean journey to attain that victory after a worldwide competition. It was highly insensitive of you to attempt to belittle that hard-won victory, as you did in the name of a “joke.” You owe that nation an apology, not a naïve socio-historical circumnavigating diatribe.