Trevor Noah trolls Oscars audience with 'great Xhosa phrase'
Noah introduced Best Picture nominee Black Panther with a teasing reference about growing up in Wakanda
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.This year’s Oscars had a joke that most audience members will have missed.
The Daily Show host Trevor Noah introduced Best Picture nominee Black Panther with a teasing reference about growing up in Wakanda and seeing “T’Challa flying over our village”.
Noah, who is South African, then shared what he called “a great Xhosa phrase”: “Abelungu abazi’ uba ndiyaxoka”.
In his words, the phrase meant: “In times like these, we are stronger when we fight together than when we try to fight apart.”
However, anyone who speaks Xhosa, which is one of the official languages of South Africa and is the official language of Zimbabwe, would know it actually translates to: “White people don’t know I’m lying.”
Winners at this year’s ceremony included Olivia Colman for The Favourite, Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody, Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk and Mahershala Ali whose film Green Book won Best Picture. Alfonso Cuarón took home Best Director for his Netflix drama Roma.
You can find a full list of winners here.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments