Fired Over Racist Tweet

I can't believe there are still people trying to defend blatant racism. This was not a skit, the reaching to equate this racism with anything else is just plain incorrect logic. Moreover, trying to reach back to a time when people were insensitive is ridiculous because that was then, this is now. Many movies from the 1980s have cringe-worthy comedy that make fun of ethnic and racial groups. Guess what? They won't fly today. Someone making those same jokes last year in an un-ironic manner will likely lose their job. That's why jokes about Fisher Stevens of Short Circuit in Master of None worked so well.

The Shane Gillis clip is not even a joke, they're just a racial rant that is likely funny to them, but not funny to most others, especially in today's world.

Ana the Ist said:

So I don't think it's intended as a joke....more political statement/shock art...though I'm not sure what the statement was either.

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That's what a joke is: a surprise.

I find it ironic that a show who did an entire racist skit with Eddie Murphy, falsely stereotyping white people, using white face no less, would cancel someone's contract for actions that pale in comparison.

Dp

Moral Orel said:

That's what a joke is: a surprise.

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I'm not sure I agree...but let's say I do...

That doesn't make every surprise a joke.

SummerMadness said:

The Shane Gillis clip is not even a joke, they're just a racial rant that is likely funny to them, but not funny to most others, especially in today's world.

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You called it a joke....

SummerMadness said:

I don't think there is a cutoff, but there is comedy enjoyed in the 1950s, 1970s, 1990s, etc., that would not survive today; however, in Shane's case, his joke would not survive today on a stage (his joke was in a podcast). I understand complaints about PC culture, but his joke was not meant to be thought provoking or compelling, it was simply meant to make fun of Asians, which is little different from the PC brigade going after Aziz Ansari or Dave Chappelle attacking cancel culture or the complexities for the LGBT community.

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Dave Chappelle made racist jokes....made them about whites and asians.

You can either joke about everything or you can't joke about anything.

Ana the Ist said:

You can either joke about everything or you can't joke about anything.

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Absolutely. This is the same thing that I agreed with you about in the Apologetics section. People feel so strongly about the things that offend them, they think it's a fact that no one should say those things. But none of the things that offend people are special. Racism, sexism, nudity, sex, vulgarity, etc. All the negative emotions that well up while seeing/hearing any of the things of this sort are just a conditioned response caused by those feelings being associated with that topic.

Best thing to do is realize that cognitively and compartmentalize things. A joke about a racist thing isn't the same thing as any kind of discrimination that causes actual physical or financial harm. I'm not saying emotional harm isn't real, but in terms of hearing a joke, the listener can learn to shift their perspective and not experience any harm at all.

DaisyDay said:

Yes, of course, it's different.

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Well if you ignore the universal disdain for Kathy's stunt....

And you ignore the fact that Kathy's stunt caused a federal investigation....

And you ignore the fact that one instance is a comedian doing comedy and the other is a political statement....

Then sure, I guess they're really similar in that they both lost work.

With the digital age (where everyone can be easily linked to their employer through various websites like linkedin), companies are looking to 'protect the brand'.

When I got hired by my company 13 years ago, I had to sign an employment agreement that included verbiage that basically stated that if any of my social media accounts could link me to the company in any way, I couldn't post anything that could potentially damage their reputation.

It's not uncommon these days. Not saying it's necessarily fair...but it's par for the course.

For instance, if you're an employee for PETA, and you make that publicly known on Facebook, a picture of you with your latest deer kill on a hunt on Facebook isn't going to do their brand any favors.