DL Hughley Responds To Trevor Noah’s 'Integration' Comments: "One Of The Stupidest Things"

Trevor Noah is facing backlash from DL Hughley and multiple outlets after some found his comments on American integration, controversial. Noah's opinion came from his What Now? podcast, during a conversation with Princeton sociologist and African American studies professor, Ruha Benjamin. 

On the podcast, Noah would ask if integration was the right solution on the other side of Civil Rights? Bejamin would answer, no to Noah's question, explaining that while integration seemed like the more progressive option, at the time, we should've questioned the culture we were being integrated into.

The brief clip from Noah began circulating online, causing a variety of opinions. DL Hughley would respond to Noah's most recent comments on the topic, calling the question one of the stupidest things he's ever heard. Hughley was interviewed by TMZ on the matter and he would then go on to jokingly say between Noah and Elon Musk, he's heard enough from South Africans this year.

Hughley would then go onto explain his positioning as to why he feels what Noah said was inaccurate. According to Hughley, when it comes to integration, HBCUs are a direct result of what black people couldn't have. 

The hosts of TMZ Live would confirm with Hughley the true purpose of integration, which was because black school were and still are grossly underfunded. Hughley would explain although that was the supposed purpose of integration, as soon as it was implemented, white flight followed. 

In the end, Hughley would say he doesn't believe most white people agree with the motives of white supremacists and white nationalists, but he does think they agree with their goals, which is to keep white people in charge. "I think they don't agree with their motives, they might not agree with their terminology or their verbiage, but they most certainly agree that white people should be in charge"

Hughley would re-post the TMZ interview on his own Instagram with a caption that read:

"Let's keep it a buck...have our schools ever really been integrated? As soon as we moved in, they moved out! You will always have athletes and gifted students that will be the exception, but for the most part, you'd be hard pressed to find a predominantly black school in a great area that has better funding than a predominantly white school in a mediocre area"

Now, interestingly enough, Trevor Noah would respond to Hughley's post via Instagram, writing his own comment, explaining his point of view while inviting Hughley on his podcast to talk further. Noah wrote: 

"That's exactly what we said on the full episode of the podcast, DL. Not the clips that people chop up, the full episode. We discussed how the backlash to integration was the decimation of black teachers, the funding of black schools and maybe most importantly, the vilification of the black student. Statistically black teachers were and still are way less likely than their white counterparts to label black children as problematic, disrespectful or even dangerous. They have also been shown to see more potential in a black student. Either way, I think these conversations are worth having and if you ever keen, I'd love to have you on the podcast so we could discuss this and anything else you feel like"

Several social media users would agree, stating as Noah's clip began making moves online, the full context would be misinterpreted. One social media user would write: "I think they misunderstood what Trevor was saying..." 

Another social media user would agree and write: "I think he's got a very nuanced view having grown up in South Africa...which literally got out of apartheid in 94"

While one more user would challenge the previous comment by writing: "Those are two separate experiences. He's not qualified to have that conversation no more than Black Americans having apartheid conversation. That's the point"