Photo courtesy Comedy Central.
Jon Stewart’s Daily Show replacement, Trevor Noah, has made his official debut this week.
In case you missed it, he took exactly two days to mention art collectors on the show, and to tie them with terrorists and pigs’ anuses.
Let me explain.
Trevor Noah.
Image: Daily Show.
As has been widely reported, ISIS militants have been not only destroying cultural sites like Palmyra, but also selling looted antiquities on the black market. “It’s almost like if Genghis Khan had an eBay of his enemy heads,” quipped Noah in the Tuesday segment, going on to brand ISIS “capitalist hypocrites” for cashing in on the objects they claim to abhor.
“And the most embarrassing thing for you is who you sold out to,” he adds, before showing a clip of a reporter claiming that the US is the biggest market for these pilfered antiquities.
And that’s when things get really good.
“I know for some, it’s easy to vilify the art collectors,” he says. “But you can’t blame art collectors for collecting art. That’s what art collectors do. That would be like blaming hot dogs for being full of pig anuses. They can’t help it.”
Things get less fun when he claims that along with others, American art collectors are netting ISIS $100 million a year.
And this while art galleries are reportedly losing money hand over fist! Sheesh, art collectors! Maybe if Noah keeps the heat on them, they’ll reconsider where they’re spending their money.