Michael Che made headlines earlier in the week after comparing, in an Instagram post, women being catcalled to him being recognized as a celebrity in public. Che understandably received some backlash and offered a sarcastic apology Wednesday.
In a HuffPost Live interview Friday, comedian and fellow "Daily Show" colleague Aasif Mandvi backed Che, saying that sometimes being edgy goes a little far and Che meant no harm.
"I know Michael, he's a good guy," Mandvi told host Marc Lamont Hill. "I think he's probably just pushing the envelope of comedy."
Mandvi is set to return to the "Daily Show" soon, while Che just left his post there to become a co-anchor on "Weekend Update."
"When you're a standup comic, you get up and you try stuff, and you're always kind of seeing how far you can push things. And I think he did say something where he said, 'I was making fun of things that ... other people might consider sacred in some way,' or words to that effect, which then gave me an insight into what he was, I think, attempting to do, which was be a comic and talk about things in a way maybe the culture at large is uncomfortable with," Mandvi continued. "You do want to talk about things people are uncomfortable talking about, or it's too sacred or religion or whatever, and you want to push that envelope, so maybe he was doing that and his audience gave him the response that he got."
Watch the rest of the clip above, and catch the full HuffPost Live conversation here.
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