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https://gen.medium.com/finally-a-comedian-actually-got-cancelled-680dae8160a8>
"Friends: In the past year, I have used this space, often, to opine on “cancel
culture.” You’ve heard me say that it’s not real; that it’s a distraction from
more serious issues; that “cancellation” is just a word that selfish people use
to decry disagreement, or criticism, or any attempt to hold them accountable
for hurtful behavior. You’ve heard me say this, particularly, about stand-up
comedians, who are for some reason all convinced that their own personal rape
jokes and gay jokes are the banner under which Free Speech must stand or fall.
You’ve heard it, and now I have to stop saying it, because here, now, in the
year 2022, Will Smith smacked Chris Rock across the face for telling a mean
joke about his wife. Now, everything has changed.
The slap has been endlessly covered, and odds are you already know most of the
relevant context: It happened at the Oscars, obviously. Chris Rock made fun of
Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, calling her “GI Jane 2.” Jada Pinkett Smith
has alopecia — she’s bald; she did not lose her hair on purpose — which made
the joke needlessly cruel.
Was it the meanest joke that’s ever been told at the Oscars? No, and Will Smith
standing up to slap the salt out of Chris Rock was not the cruelest thing ever
done by an audience member. For that, you can look to this footage of basically
every actor or director you respect giving a standing ovation to child rapist
Roman Polanski.
With that necessary perspective restored, we can admit the obvious: A comedian
making a mean-spirited joke about a woman’s body (which happens all the time),
only to get welcomed to earth by America’s most unthreatening movie star mere
moments later (which basically never happens), is actually extremely funny.
Unlike, say, the GI Jane joke, which sucked."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
