Only so many hours in the day

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on June 21st, 2011

After our posting on the Jo Koy incident (scroll down to “The Possible Return of Charlie McCarthyism”), we received a flurry of hate mail. A lot of snark and not a lot of illumination. When the vitriol comes in piles like that– and when we’re as busy as we are– it’s tough to dissect the various lame-o arguments and highlight the illogic, outline the hypocrisy and defend our position. And quite often the folks who attack our posting obviously haven’t read any of our many posts on similar incidents that touched on related issues of free expression. It’s a bit frustrating.

We’ve said it, and said it again. So our desire to reiterate it one more time is zero.

It’s interesting how some of our critics are trying to lump us in with the alleged homophobes. We defend free speech and free expression and we’re called names and it’s suggested/hinted/implied that we are filled with hate. Not sure how that works.

A couple of comics were coerced into apologizing for remarks made onstage. We are of the opinion that such a trend is bad for standup. We made what we believe are pretty good arguments supporting that opinion and we express a fear that such incidents might have a deleterious effect on standup in ways that we can’t really quantify or qualify. But we believe they’re real and possible.

We end with a quote from that great legal scholar and champion of free expression, Vince Vaughn, who issued what the entertainment media and others called a “non-apology” when the trailer for his movie “The Dilemma” contained an alleged homophobic line.

“Let me add my voice of support to the people outraged by the bullying and persecution of people for their differences, whatever those differences may be. Comedy and joking about our differences breaks tension and brings us together. Drawing divided lines over what we can and cannot joke about does exactly that; it divides us. Most importantly, where does it stop.”

from → News • 0 Comments - Let's discuss! • Print-Friendly • Back To Top