Trevor Noah condemns senator Tom Cotton for calling slavery ‘a necessary evil’

‘It sounds like he’s defending slavery, and that’s not something a US senator should do – even if his name is Cotton’

Trevor Noah has criticised US senator Tom Cotton for describing slavery as a “necessary evil upon which this union was built”.

The Republican lawmaker’s widely condemned comments followed the introduction of the Saving American History Act last Thursday, legislation intended to stop a New York Times education initiative on slavery (the 1619 Project) from receiving federal funds.

Speaking on The Daily Social Distancing Show, Noah dedicated a segment to addressing Cotton’s remarks.

“Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up,” the presenter said. “So Senator Cotton thinks that this curriculum is racist? Really, this curriculum? No, you know what’s really racially divisive? Slavery.”

“Here’s the thing. People are upset because when Cotton says that slavery was a necessary evil on which the union was built, it sounds like he’s defending slavery. And that’s not something a US senator should do – even if his name is ‘Cotton’,” Noah quipped.

Cotton had previously told the Democrat-Gazette that the “entire premise” of the 1619 Project is that “America is at root, a systemically racist country to the core and irredeemable”, a premise which he “rejects”.

Noah continued: “If you dig deeper, and you take Cotton at his word, he believes that the United States could not have become the country that it is without slavery ... well, that’s the same thing the 1619 Project says. So why’s he fighting them?”

Noah then played a video segment featuring a mock advertisement for “the Tom Cotton lesson plan for slavery”, which presented a curriculum proudly devoid of any mention of race.