Trevor Noah Says He Was ‘Never Beefing’ With Kanye West: ‘I Was Concerned About’ Him

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The Daily Show host Trevor Noah, 38, made a clarifying remark about rapper Kanye West, 45, after the TV host called Ye out for his anti-Semitic remarks last week. When an audience member asked Trevor why he is “beefing” with the Yeezy designer, the 38-year-old responded with a speech during the Oct. 21 episode of his show. “Why am I beefing with Ye? That’s an interesting way to phrase it because a beef has to go both ways,” he said. “It does. Genuinely it does. In my limited understanding of the world, beef has always been something that generally will happen between two hip-hop artists. I’ve was never beefing with Kanye West. I was concerned about Kanye West.”

“I was never beefing with Kanye West, I was concerned about Kanye West.” Trevor on his “beef” with Ye. #BetweenTheScenes pic.twitter.com/rr0miymWXv

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) October 21, 2022

Trevor then went on to explain that if he knows someone struggles with their mental health, he will take it seriously. “If somebody says to me or to anyone that they have a mental health issue. And they say to everyone that when they don’t take their medication they’re unable to control themselves, and then everyone ignores when that person is having an episode and they haven’t taken their medication, and then they platform the person and then they put them up,” Noah said.

“I sometimes think it’s a little sh***y, to be honest with you.” He then went on to explain how his own grandfather suffered from bipolar disorder, but he also noted that he was not claiming that Kanye does too. Trevor highlighted his own experience to emphasize that he is not pleased with everyone’s response to Ye at the moment.

After saying that he still has love for Ye and that he has no beef with him, Trevor explained his real issue. “What I have beef with is us as society not coming together around the person and going like, ‘Hey, maybe this is not the moment to put a microphone in your face so that you just go off saying everything,’” he continued. “If this is what you want to say when you’re on your medication, then that’s a different story. But because you’ve told us that, I’m not going to sit by and say that.” He concluded his speech by saying he is still listening to the Grammy-winner’s music and has understanding for what the father-of-four has gone through.

The star’s commentary about Ye comes after Trevor responded to the 45-year-old’s tweets about the Jewish community. On Oct. 9, Kanye took to Twitter to write, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 [sic] On JEWISH PEOPLE [sic] The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic [sic] because black people are actually Jew also [sic]  You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.” And then Trevor responded with, “What is that? Does antisemitism make you tired? Is that why MAGA people love the MyPillow guy?” In addition, the comedian shared his sympathy for conservatives. “But I will say, man, I feel bad for American right-wingers, because they’re getting Kanye now,” he said.

Kanye and Trevor have also shared words in the past. In March the “Bound 2” singer called Trevor a racial slur and ended up having his Instagram suspended for 24 hours. It all started when Trevor initially talked about Kanye and Kim Kardashian‘s split on the show. “What’s weird about the situation is Kanye West has told us that he struggles with his mental health,” he said on his daily Comedy Central series. “So I get it, you wanna have art as therapy. But here’s what’s weird that Kanye doesn’t understand. It’s like, what we are seeing is — it makes you uncomfortable,” Trevor added. The writer and producer is set to exit his show come this December.