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15th Mar 2021

Trevor Noah mocks the royal family during Grammy’s opening monologue

Wayne Farry

He wasted no time.

Trevor Noah has been praised and criticised in equal measure after taking the piss out of the royal family, the US Capitol siege and cocaine use during his opening monologue at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night.

Walking down the red carpet at the event, which was part-virtual and part-open air ceremony, the TV host took a jab at the current state of play with the royals.

“Our impressive nominees will be sitting at those tables for their awards. So right now there is more tension in that tent than at a family reunion at Buckingham Palace,” he said.

Noah then joked about the US Capitol siege earlier this year, saying that the open air awards would be the “biggest outdoor event this year… besides the storming of the Capitol”.

To cap his monologue off, Noah then had a laugh at the expense of celebrity drug habits, joking that it would be a “rare” awards ceremony at which it would be a different “white stuff” going up people’s nostrils.

“This is going to be the rare award show where the white stuff going up people’s noses is cotton swabs,” he said.

Unsurprisingly, his jokes were met with a rather mixed response, with some finding them hilarious, and others deeming them extremely disrespectful.

His reference to the US Capitol riots appeared to be the one that really angered people, with one social media user saying: “Not funny. People died there.”

Others enjoyed it though, with many praising the Today Showhost for what he said and his general hosting.