Trevor Noah’s awkward delivery may be leading to misinterpretation.
On Sunday night, the former “Daily Show” star hosted the 2025 Grammy Awards, and his opening monologue for the event seemed to fall flat.
Noah, who is usually breezy onstage, seemed to rush through his jokes Sunday, muddling many of his punchlines and making the monologue’s anti-Trump theme a bit unclear — especially in a joke involving undocumented immigrants and another about Colombian pop star Shakira.
Noah’s first flub came only seconds into the opener while he explained to viewers how the Grammys work.
“We’re going to be honoring the best in music as voted on by the 13,000 members of the Recording Academy and 20 million illegal immigrants,” he cracked.
Musician Doechii, seated near Noah when he told this joke, looked at him after the immigrant punchline and then very clearly rolled her eyes at him.
Doechii is no fan of Trump, so it’s unclear what was behind her reaction. However, many people on X, formerly Twitter, felt a joke about undocumented immigrants in the midst of a mass deportation effort came off as insensitive. Some were also confused why Noah, who is a South African immigrant, would tell this kind of joke.
Other X users defended Noah’s joke, interpreting it as a dig at President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that undocumented immigrants are the cause of voter fraud, which he’s been alleging since 2016.
Noah’s second bomb occurred later in his set, while he was making cracks about celebrities in attendance.
“Three-time Grammy winner Shakira is in the house, everybody! The greatest thing out of Colombia that isn’t a Class-A felony,” Noah joked.
People felt this joke relied too much on negative and unfair stereotypes about the South American country at a time when Latino immigrants are being vilified for political gain.
During his monologue, Noah also included a joke about Trump’s impending tariffs.
“Yesterday, Beyoncé announced a new tour … I will say, though, Beyoncé, there’s tariffs, we can’t afford a new tour. Maple syrup is about to be $50.”
Another joke inspired by Lady Gaga poked fun at the current political environment.
“Lady Gaga in the house! She’s going to be performing tonight, and she just announced her new album, ‘Mayhem,’ dropping next month,” Noah said. “Which is really impressive, Lady Gaga. I don’t know how you knew the theme of 2025 when you named your album.”
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He also closed out his monologue by making fun of his own anxiety about being an immigrant living in America by saying, “I’m gonna enjoy tonight because this may be my last time I get to host anything in this country.”
HuffPost has reached out to Noah for comment.