Jon Stewart may be a rock-ribbed liberal, but he defends comedians under fire.
“The Daily Show” host stood up for Dave Chappelle when the Cancel Culture mob came for him in 2021. More recently, Stewart defended Tony Hinchcliffe for being a roast comic who tells inappropriate, roast-friendly jokes.
Props to @JonStewart for admitting he finds @TonyHinchcliffe funny.
“I find that guy very funny. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you. I mean, bringing him to a rally and having him not do roast jokes? That’d be like bringing Beyoncé to a rally and not … ” pic.twitter.com/Y3ZFCnRtDb
— Johnny Woodard (@JohnnyWoodard) October 29, 2024
Other progressive comedians aren’t so quick to do the same. Some are downright hostile to free speech and/or their fellow comedians. We saw several examples within the last few days of just that.
Whoopi Goldberg, whose Trump Derangement Syndrome appears incurable, lashed out at fellow comics during a recent “View” rant.
The Oscar winner’s reaction to Hinchcliffe’s off-color routine at President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally turned sour in a New York Minute. Here, she explains her comedy “rules” to fellow far-Left host Sunny Hostin.
GOLDBERG: “My generation fought tooth and nail so that you would not have to hear that kind of speak again.”
HOSTIN: “This rhetoric, yeah.”
GOLDBERG: “You would not have to hear or be — (Applause) — we fought to make sure.”
HOSTIN: “Yeah. Yeah.”
GOLDBERG: “We fought and said to people, if you’re a stand-up, the only comic that can — can hit everybody really is Don Rickles. You’re the only one who gets to do that. But everybody else has to be better and smarter and funny.”
To Goldberg, only a dead insult comedian has the creative freedom to tell his jokes his way. Goldberg has had a multi-faceted career, but she got her start with a blistering one-woman show.
Now, Goldberg wants comedians to avoid certain jokes that could be seen as offensive. And she’s far from alone. Plus, she turned history on its head. Comedy trailblazers like Lenny Bruce and George Carlin risked jail time to tell any joke they pleased.
Both superstars trafficked in political satire, tweaking sacred cows to make larger points about western culture.
Goldberg got it wrong, but she’s getting good at that.
Zachary Levi Schools Whoopi, Says Hollywood is Dying https://t.co/8pmRWLj7l3
— Rick Santini (@RickSantini2) October 22, 2024
Late-night hosts also teed off on Hinchcliffe, slamming his 12-minute MSG set as a way to snipe at Trump. NBC’s Seth Meyers referred to Hinchcliffe’s jokes as “racist remarks.” No, they were jokes, Off-color? Yes. Jokes, not remarks.
Far-Left propagandist Jimmy Kimmel dubbed the rally “mean,” “hateful” and “racist,” spending zero time defending a fellow comedian under fire.
Stephen Colbert refused to defend a fellow comedian whose roast style has made him a star.
On Monday, “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert hyped the “massive repercussions” of the joke made by insult comedian Tony Hinchliffe referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” pointing to the “470,000” Puerto Rican voters living in Pennsylvania.
Perhaps no one attacked fellow comedians quite like Marc Maron. The far-Left comic, perhaps hoping his old “problematic” routines will never “resurface,” has taken a woke turn in recent years. He’s railed against woke critics and suggested their fears of cancellation were all in their head.
Now, Maron is taking on comedians who dared to interview Trump and his vice presidential pick J.D. Vance.
Think Joe Rogan, Theo Von, Andrew Schulz and Tim Dillon.
Or, as Maron calls them, fascists.
“…what is brewing in this country is an American fascist movement rooted half in grievance and half in Jesus and enabled by tech oligarchs and an inundation of propaganda from many sources,” Maron wrote.
He wants Big Tech to censor his fellow comics, apparently. Memo to Maron: It’s happening already.
“Well, it’s fully percolated and pouring into the minds of all of us. It is shameless and proud. Culturally, the combination of blatant racist fear mongering and the anti-woke movement has delivered their message for the future. A future that marginalizes almost all voices,” he added.
What do the aforementioned comics have in common? They’re all for free speech and there’s little if any evidence of them trying to “marginalize” any voice.
Tell that to Maron.
” Whether or not they are self-serving or true believers in the new fascism is unimportant. They are of the movement. Whether they see themselves as acolytes or just comics doesn’t matter. Whether they are driven by the idea that what they are fighting for is a free speech issue or whether they are truly morally bankrupt racists doesn’t matter. They are part of the public face of a fascist political movement that seeks to destroy the democratic idea,” he said.
Maron routinely interviews comedians on his popular “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast. Will any guest bring up this line of attack or defend Rogan et al?
Comedians should pick a side in the free speech wars raging all around us. Sadly, some are on the side of the censors.
