Whitney Cummings is challenged for her support of embattled Joe Rogan after saying 'comedians did not sign up to be your hero'
- Actress/comic, 39, defended Rogan, 54, amid his ongoing career crisis over his past use of racial slurs and platforming of COVID-19 misinformation
- She said that a comedian's job is 'to be irreverent and dangerous' and 'to question authority'
- Her remarks sparked a number of retorts on social media, some pointing out Rogan's controversial talk of the pandemic
- Others remarked that the politics of the industry was behind Cummings' defense of Rogan
Whitney Cummings faced criticism over her remarks in support of Joe Rogan - amid the podcaster's ongoing career crisis over his past use of racial slurs and platforming of COVID-19 misinformation - after she defended Rogan in a pair of tweets over the weekend.
The 39-year-old actress/comic on Saturday took to Twitter, writing, 'Don’t look to why so many people trust joe Rogan, look to why so few people trust the mainstream media.'
On Sunday, the Washington, D.C. native urged followers to focus on politicians instead of entertainers when assessing morality.
The latest: Whitney Cummings, 39, faced criticism over her remarks in support of Joe Rogan, 54 - amid the podcaster's ongoing career crisis over his past use of racial slurs and platforming of COVID-19 misinformation - after she defended Rogan in a pair of tweets over the weekend
'Comedians did not sign up to be your hero,' Cummings said. 'It’s our job to be irreverent and dangerous, to question authority and take you through a spooky mental haunted house so you can arrive at your own conclusions. Stay focused on the people we pay taxes to to be moral leaders.'
A number of people took exception of Cummings' remarks, including podcaster Marc Maron, who suggested, 'Maybe add "to be funny" to the list' of a comedian's duties.
Writer Jeff Yang shared a link to a 2012 story criticizing Cummings' show 2 Broke Girls for its portrayal of Asian-Americans.
'I remember when you created a show that was irreverent and dangerous,' he said, 'that questioned authority and took me through a spooky mental haunted house.'
Cummings defended Rogan in a pair of tweets over the weekend, garnering numerous responses
Podcaster Marc Maron suggested, 'Maybe add "to be funny" to the list' of a comedian's duties
Comedian Pallavi Gunalan commented on the situation, 'Comedians will be like "it’s our job to say things that make people uncomfortable" and then can’t even tell their racist friend to shut the f*** up ... "he’s a good guy, he helped my career" wow so surprising you wouldn’t want to say anything bad about him then.'
Writer-comedian Mike Drucker said of the politics of the industry, 'It feels like the primary rule of being an edgelord comedian is that no joke or subject is ever off limits unless you're making fun of another edgelord comedian, in which case it's the f**ing apocalypse.'
He added: 'Comedians will tweet s*** like, "The role of the comedian is to bring light into the darkness of all the terrors, tragedies, and fears we all share" and then you see them on stage and they’re like, "Married a** smells different than single a**!"'
Writer Jeff Yang shared a link to a 2012 story criticizing Cummings' show 2 Broke Girls for its portrayal of Asian-Americans
Some people pointed out the politics of the industry playing into Cummings' remarks
Writer Eric Boehlert quoted Cummings' tweet and pointed out that Rogan has stepped out of the comedy genre with his controversial discourse on COVID-19.
'He told his 11M listeners "it’s more dangerous to be vaccinated than it is to get Covid" ... but sure haha, he’s just a comedian asking questions,' Boehlert said. 'It’s funny to spread lies during public health crisis that’s killed nearly 1M Americans, right??'
Attorney Andrew Weinstein echoed a similar sentiment, saying of Rogan: 'Peddling racism and disinformation to 11 million listeners might not be the best way for people to arrive at their own conclusions.'
Some pointed out that Rogan has stepped out of the comedy genre with his controversial discourse on COVID-19
Rogan - who was inked to a $100 million deal last year by Spotify - has been at the center of controversy in recent weeks after a number of artists, beginning with Neil Young, pulled their material from the streaming platform in protest of his material over the pandemic and vaccines. (The service has removed an estimated 113 episodes of Rogan's show and is now adding a disclaimer prior to podcasts that include talk about COVID-19.)
Rogan faced more controversy after a montage of clips of him using the N-word surfaced online, leading him to respond in an Instagram post that the footage was 'taken out of context' and that it's not his 'word to use.'
He added: 'I am well aware of that now, but for years I used it in that manner ... I never used it to be racist because I’m not racist.'
