Trevor Noah Hits TCA; Nat Geo Honors Cecil

Of course other than Jerry Seinfeld there likely isn39t a comedian anywhere who hasn39t offended somebody at some time often with riotous results That39s showbiz Noah is no exception as the ongoing fuss over those haunting tweets makes clear But he assured the TCA that he has grown as a person since tweeting them and hasn39t sent out similar content in years If any conclusions are to be formed from his standup performance in Santa Monica Tuesday night which many TCA members attended his humor today is more focused on racismNoah likely has nothing to worry about When it comes to comics and their material critics and audiences happily forgive and forget and wait to be offended all over again And when it comes to quotThe Daily Showquot the TCA at its annual awards ceremony frequently enjoys singling it out as the best news program on television even though it isn39t one Many years ago outgoing host Jon Stewart who showed up at the awards to accept the honor couldn39t contain himself asking the TCA quotWhat the f is wrong with you We39re not a news showquot I39m paraphrasing but that was the gist of his remarksNoah weighed in on the news vs comedy thing quotI39m still in the comedy businessquot he said quotThat39s the most important thing Jon Stewart left with me we are in the comedy business It39s Comedy Central and that39s exactly what we39re trying to do It39s our comedic view on the news as opposed to news with a comedic view You know that39s the very distinction that we have to be careful that we keep on ensuring So comedy is the main thing and I39m not worried about people taking it the wrong way if we39re delivering it in the right way You can never control how people absorb what you say All you can do is control how you tell itquotSeeking to address and move beyond questions about his infamous tweets Noah noted quotNo one confronted me two and a half years ago when the tweets went out I think as a whole funny enough Twitter changed If you look at the way Twitter has evolved if you look at the way social media has evolved it goes through phases At one time it was just a posting board and then at one point it became the room for jokes That39s what Twitter used to bequotHe later added quotNow Twitter has become a largely negative place where people go to give just horrible reviews about TV shows and things that they don39t like and they spend all day doing thatquotThat isn39t entirely true Twitter makes it possible for people to express their outrage over the horrors in the world and motivate crucial changes We saw the proof of that yesterday with the continuous and growing condemnation of Warren J Palmer the Minnesota dentist who savagely slaughtered the beloved Cecil the Lion Read CNN39s bloodcurdling account of this atrocity here One might note that it was a few moments of broadcast television amp8211 namely Jimmy Kimmel39s angry and at times tearful expression of anger and disgust on his ABC talk show Tuesday night amp8211 that sent the Twitterverse into overdrive on this subject For me my first awareness of this terrible story came via a headline blast from the increasingly invaluable Hollywood Reporter about Kimmel39s emotional reaction to itCecil39s tragic fate and the growing media firestorm about it remained top of mind throughout the day Before their threehour afternoon block of press conferences National amp160Geographic Channels sent out a press release about its special big cat programming on World Lion Day August 10 and upcoming public service announcements about the importance of protecting these animals The release contained this quote from executive vice president and general manager of Nat Geo WILD Geoff Daniels quotUnfortunately it39s news like the tragic death of beloved Cecil that reminds us that our work to save these majestic animals is far from over Big cat populations are in dramatic decline and it is our network39s responsibility to do everything we can to bring awareness to their plightquotAlso in the release was a reminder that Nat Geo WILD is supporting the National Geographic Society39s efforts to protect big cats by promoting the hashtag 5forbigcats an initiative that asks people to give 5 to help the causeLater when Daniels took the stage to introduce panels for the Nat Geo WILD programs quotVet Schoolquot and quotWild Yellowstonequot he began by commenting on the slaughter of Cecil quotI can39t start today without following back up on the headlines of the last 24 hours and that senseless killing of Cecil the lion who lived in Zimbabwequot he said quotNat Geo WILD has supported the National Geographic Society39s Big Cats Initiative since the moment we launched five years ago and it is news like this that reminds me and frankly all of us why we are here I think many of you know that big cats are in serious decline In fact there are some estimates that there are less than 32000 left in the wild So it39s our responsibility to do everything we can to bring awareness to their plightquotDaniels then asked TCA members to take a moment to tweet 5forBigCats and help bring awareness to the issue and quotactually move the dialquotquotLet39s do thisquot he said quotI39ll wait And we39ll be following it all on Twitterquot Sure enough Nat Geo PR NGCPR and Nat Geo WILD natgeowild retweeted all of the cooperative critics39 tweetsThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecom management or associated bloggers amp160

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Trevor Noah Hits TCA; Nat Geo Honors Cecil

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