itstargetnews
Trevor Noahonce again wandered the audience during his opening monologueGrammy Awardstook jabs at the stars while standing next to them, but he saved his wittiest jokes for the absent, and took an angry post from the president.
“Nicki Minaj not here,” Noah said, to huge cheers from the Crypto.com Arena audience. “He’s still in the White House with Donald Trump discussed very important issues.”
Minaj this week visited and praised the president, the culmination of a move towards MAGA that she has made in recent months.
Noah breaks into a Trump impression. “Actually Nicki, I have the biggest ass, everyone says it Nicki.”
In his sixth time hosting the show — and what he says will be his last — Noah generally plays it safe during his monologue, not involving much politics or controversy, at least during his monologue. There was no mention of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (on a night when many attendees wore“ICE OUT”button).
But Noah got more attention later in the show, after Billie Eilish won song of the year.
“Wow. That’s a Grammy every artist wants,” Noah said, “almost as much as Trump wants itGreenland. Which makes sense. I mean, becausesaid EpsteinIsland gone, he needs a new island to hang out with Bill Clinton.
After the performance in a post on Truth Social, Trump reacted.
“Noah said, WRONG about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!! I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere near, and until tonight the false and defamatory, statement, has never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media,” the post said. “Noah, a total loser, better get his facts straight, and get them straight fast. Looks like I’m going to send my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an MC”
After the crowd’s reaction to the joke during the show, Noah said, “Oh, I told you, it’s my last year. What are you going to do with it?”
At a different point in the show, Noah joked about the president’s penchant for suing TV networks when he said the Grammys aired “absolutely live” because “if we edited any show, the president would sue CBS for $16 billion,” referring to Trump’s recent history with CBS News and asettlement he got from Paramount last summer.
At first he didn’t seem to go for such material.
He said during the monologue that Lauryn Hill performed on the show for the first time since 1999.
“Do you realize how long that took?” he said. “In 1999, the president had a sex scandal, people thought computers were about to destroy the world, andDiddyarrested.”
Later in the show, Noah hung out with the biggest nominee of the night,Kendrick Lamarand just congratulated him.
“I was actually thinking about writing some jokes roasting you, but then I remembered what you can do with light-skinned guys from other countries,” said Noah, who is from South Africa, in a reference to Lamar’s beef with Canadian rapper Drake that culminated in last year’s big Grammy winner “Not Like Us.”
Later, he sat down with Bad Bunny, and asked if he could live with him in his native Puerto Rico if things got rough in the US.
“Trevor I have news for you,” Bad Bunny said. “Puerto Rico is part of America.”
The Recording Academy announced less than three weeks ago that Noah is back “one last time.”
“I believe in term limits,” Noah said during the show.
Only singer Andy Williams, who hosted the Grammys seven times in the 1970s, has ever hosted.
Noah himself is a four-time Grammy nominee, and is up this year in the best audio book recording category for “Into The Uncut Grass,” a children’s story. He lost to the Dalai Lama.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
