Trevor Noah: I feel black. Na meen?

23 May, 2016 

Trevor Noah with his TV colleagues.
Image by: Gavin Bond

Trevor Noah might be living a great life in the US but he still experiences racial discrimination.

In an interview with Playboy, Noah spoke frankly about race in the US, saying: "If you're black in the US, even after two terms of President (Barack) Obama, you still feel black."

"This is hard to explain to white people, but the thing about race is that you can't turn it off.

"If you're black, you are constantly black and that blackness is always affecting you in some way or another.

"It's often very small things but they pile up. Cab drivers don't pick you up. It happens to me. Or you go into a corner store and get followed, or people say things about you.

"It's often not blatant, but it's entrenched."

But he said movements like Black Lives Matter had shown people the influence they can have by being proactive.

"It has been a fantastic proponent for new conversations about race, which is amazing," he said.

Noah took over from Jon Stewart as the host of The Daily Show in September.

In the interview, which spans his growing up in Soweto, his mother being shot and his thoughts on Donald Trump, Noah admitted that he had a "fanboy" crush on fellow South African and Oscar winner Charlize Theron, who he thinks is "ageing majestically".

On Trump, Noah said his run for the US presidency exposed layers of hate, xenophobia and anxiety in the US.

"Donald Trump reminds me of Richard Hatch from the first season of Survivor. He came on, caused chaos, got naked, formed a few key alliances and walked away with the prize," he said.

The TV host told Playboy that it was expensive to be famous in the US.

"You have to pay for things. You have to pay for bodyguards.

"You have to pay for a driver. You have to pay for a publicist. You have to pay for a stylist.

"I'd rather give the money to starving children," he said.