Trevor Noah denies he said ‘entire UK is racist’ amid Rishi Sunak row

The comedian Trevor Noah has said he did not claim "the entire UK is racist" after a row over his skit about Rishi Sunak's appointment as the UK prime minister.

Noah said on the US news programme The Daily Show earlier this week that there had been a "backlash" over Sunak, comments that were widely criticised in the UK. The former chancellor Sajid Javid said Noah had been "simply wrong".

The comedian, however, has now defended his segment, saying he was reacting to racists: "That's why I said 'some people'."

Sunak, who was born in Hampshire to Indian parents, became the UK's first British-Asian prime minister on Tuesday, and the first Hindu to assume the role.

In the original comments on the US programme, Noah - who is South African and grew up during apartheid - said: "You hear a lot of the people saying: 'Oh, they're taking over, now the Indians are going to take over Great Britain and what's next?'

"And I always find myself going:" 'So what? What are you afraid of? I think it's because the quiet part that a lot of people don't realise what they're saying is: 'We don't want these people who were previously oppressed to get into power because then they may do to us what we did to them.'"

During his skit, Noah played a clip from LBC radio broadcast during the Conservative leadership race a week ago, when a caller falsely claimed Sunak was "not even British".