On Tuesday’s episode of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah makes fun of Republicans for their brash and dismissive views about Virginia’s governor reinstating ex-convict’s voting rights. In the mix of his jabs at Republicans, Noah managed to pull in Beyonce’s ever-present visual album ‘Lemonade’ to drive his point home.
Last Friday, Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe restored the voting rights of more than 200,000 ex-cons. According to Atlanta Black Star, this move will affect the state’s Black citizens more than other groups because 1 in 4 African-Americans in the state were banned from voting because of their prior convictions.
After the announcement, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz and Fox News were eager to criticize.
However, Noah gave the perfect rebuttal to their criticism. He said:
“You can argue that voting restrictions on felons have their place,” Noah told his audience. “When you commit a crime, you do give up certain right for a period of time. Much like when you order sushi from a strip club, for a certain period of time you give up your right to solid poop.”
Then the host goes on to link the newly released Beyoncé visual album “Lemonade” for good measure.
“It doesn’t make sense to keep punishing people after it’s over,” he added. “Even Jay Z was forgiven by Track 11.”
In the nearly seven-minute long segment, the host reveals that Black people have historically had their voting rights taken away in the South because of unfair laws. In the segment, he points out that antebellum Mississippi would take away voting rights if a person stole — but not if a person murdered someone. The state justified that by saying that Black people could not commit as robust a crime like murder.
Noah also points out that the new law would allow ex-cons to serve on juries, run for office, and of course vote.