Comedian Chris Rock ripped into “cancel culture” during an interview on “The Breakfast Club” radio show, calling it “unfunny” and “boring” while making everyone scared to do anything.
Rock was on the show to discuss his debut in the horror genre with the movie “Spiral,” which is a spinoff from the “Saw” franchise. He is part of a growing segment in the entertainment industry objecting to the censorship and canceling of those who make politically incorrect statements or jokes.
After over a year in quarantine, Rock said comedy had significantly changed and not for the better. He has long been against censoring comedy and he’s speaking out on it again.
During his interview, he was asked about “cancel culture” and its impact on comedy: “What are your thoughts on the cancel culture? Like, if you say something wrong people will try to cancel you immediately. You even see Ellen dealing with it with her workplace,” DJ Envy asked Rock.
(Video Credit: Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM)
The comic said there was already a sure-fire method for comedians that didn’t involve “cancel culture.”
“It’s weird when you’re a comedian because, like when you’re a comedian, when the audience doesn’t laugh, we get the message. You don’t really have to cancel us because we get the message. They’re not laughing,” he pointed out. “Our feelings hurt. When we do something and people aren’t laughing we, like, we get it.”
Rock went on to call the cancellation of comedians “disrespectful” to the audience. The audience already knows if they aren’t funny and will cancel a comic with no outside help needed.
“I don’t understand why people feel the need to go beyond that, you know what I mean?” he remarked. “Honestly, to me, it’s a disrespect. It’s people disrespecting the audience like, ‘Oh, you think you know more than the audience?’ The audience knows more than everybody, OK. You know but hey, some things don’t need to be said. Some people need to be looked out for, I definitely understand that but not letting comedians work is, you know — what happens is everybody gets safe and when everybody gets safe and nobody tries anything, things get boring.”
The actor and comic warned that fear of getting canceled leads to many comedians not taking risks. That leads to a whole bunch of very “unfunny comedians” as well as “unfunny” shows, movies, and other forms of so-called entertainment.
“I see a lot of unfunny,” he snarked. “I see unfunny TV shows. I see unfunny award shows. I see unfunny movies because no one’s — everybody’s scared to, like, you know, make a move.”
“That’s not a place to be. You know, we should have the right to fail because failure, failure is a part of art,” he explained.
Rock finds it hard to believe “cancel culture” is actually happening in America: “But now you know you’ve got a place where people are scared to talk. That’s not, you know, especially in America you’re scared to talk,” he commented. “But you know, that’s what people want, you know, got to make adjustments.”
Twitter sounded off over Rock’s comments:
Mel Brooks be cancelled? Thinking of Blazing Saddles. Um. Maybe not but I don’t think anyone would make a movie like that anymore. Too bad, cuz that movie was an equal opportunity offender. Blazing Saddles – One of the funniest movies ever. It made fun of everybody.
— vincenzocassano (@cassano_vincen) May 20, 2021
Hes right… I was just talking about this last week. The overreaction of those easily offended who can’t appreciate a joke or laugh at anything, including themselves, has made the comedy area very stale. It’s almost sad.
— Ed Hawkins (@EHawk75) May 20, 2021
True. Comedy is in danger of becoming a shadow of what it once was. Slowflake people are killing the art
— DUBWISE (@TheEnforcer09) May 21, 2021
Cancel Culture is the product of a naive generation never taught how to think critically or consider the merits or demerits of ideas or points of view they disagree with. It’s the equivalent of a child sticking their fingers in their ears to not hear what they don’t want to hear.
— Thoughtful1 (@ThoughtfulBlk) May 21, 2021
💯 this! I have been saying this for several years now.. cancel culture is making it hard for funny comedians, shows etc.. I can always laugh at myself and I laugh at jokes and get sarcasm- these “woke” fools ruin everything they touch-
— Ali (@asdindiana) May 20, 2021
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