In this new age of cancel culture, nobody is seeing more backlash than standup comedians. Dave Chappelle and Bill Burr released their respective Netflix specials “Sticks & Stones” and “Paper Tiger” where they channeled each other’s parallel thinking about politically correct culture.
Liberals were especially offended about jokes made from both comedians about Caucasian women who feel victimized and Chappelle’s nickname for the LGBT community as “Alphabet people.”
But despite backlash, Chappelle accepted the coveted Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday night at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and defended Free Speech, but also added a hilarious caveat for the 2nd Amendment.
Standup comedian Kelly Bachman was onstage last week where she called out former producer Harvey Weinstein when he spontaneously showed up at a New York bar last week to support young actors and comedians.
When Bachman was onstage she made fun of Weinstein by calling him the “elephant” in the room and also compared him to fictional serial killer Freddy Krueger. She added, “I have been raped, surprisingly by no one in this room, but I’ve never gotten to confront those guys. So, just a general f—k you.”
As you already know, Weinstein currently faces criminal charges of predatory sexual assault, criminal sexual act, third-degree rape and rape in the first degree.
Shockingly, Bachman was booed off stage and she was actually removed from the bar altogether.
A spokesman for Weinstein said the Academy Award winner was “out with friends enjoying the music and trying to find some solace in his life that has been turned upside down. This scene was uncalled for, downright rude and an example of how due process is being squashed by the public, trying to take it away in the courtroom too.”
Every American has the right to due process but when you hear dozens of stories over three decades that establishes a pattern, it’s hard to believe anything other than the accusations available.
After all, although O.J. Simpson was found not guilty for the double homicide of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, what did most of us really believe?
We’re all entitled to our opinion and Kelly Bachman was entitled to share hers. She should be celebrated rather than booed and ostracized like she was. Although, that’s their right too, albeit, the wrong one.
Dave Chappelle feels the same way and that was indicative in his reported comments during the ceremony where he received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday night, which will air on television in January.
Chappelle is a defender of Free Speech and he reportedly said of comedians he knows to be racist, “I don’t get mad at them, don’t hate on them. Man, it’s not that serious. The First Amendment is first for a reason. Second Amendment is just in case the First one doesn’t work out.”
Can you imagine the liberals seething over the latter part of his controversial comment?
He’s probably not being serious but it’s funny nonetheless. That’s what makes Dave Chappelle the best comedian working today. He’s fearless.
The 46-year-old also told reporters on the red carpet, “Political correctness has its place. We all want to live in a polite society, we just kind of have to work on the levels of coming to an agreement of what that actually looks like. I, personally, am not afraid of other people’s freedom of expression. I don’t use it as a weapon. It just makes me feel better. And I’m sorry if I hurt anybody.”
And then he hilariously added, “Yada, yada, everything I’m supposed to say.”
That’s a subtle wink to his fans that there is no way he’s changing. He’ll be back and he will be more controversial than ever.