The victory of a multicultural French team
against Croatia in Sunday's final in Moscow has reverberated
across the globe, being celebrated in France and other places as
a triumph for diversity, while it has fanned racist abuse in
some corners.
"Africa won the World Cup," Noah, host of The Daily Show, said
in a segment on the late-night television program this week.
"I get it, they have to say it's the French team. But look at
those guys. You don't get that tan by hanging out in the south
of France, my friends."
Fifteen of the 23-man French World Cup squad have family origins
in Africa ranging from Cameroon to Congo and Mali, although only
two of them were born in Africa and moved to France when they
were still toddlers.
Noah's comment provoked angry comments in France - where
far-right politicians have long criticized the national soccer
team for having too many black players - and a rebuke from the
French ambassador to the United States, Gerard Araud.
"By calling them an African team, it seems you are denying their
Frenchness. This, even in jest, legitimizes the ideology which
claims whiteness as the only definition of being French," Araud
wrote in a letter posted on the French embassy's Twitter
account.
On Wednesday night, Noah fired back at the diplomat.
"When I'm saying 'African' I'm not saying it to exclude them
from their Frenchness, I'm saying it to include them in my
African-ness," he said, after reading the letter on the show.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama had a different take on the
French World Cup victory, saying during a tribute to South
Africa's Nelson Mandela that embracing diversity delivered
"practical benefits".
"And if you doubt that, just ask the French football team that
just won the World Cup. Because not all of those folks look like
Gauls to me. But they're French, they're French," he added.
(Reporting by Michel Rose; editing by John Irish, Richard
Balmforth)
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