Comedian Rob Schneider recently spoke out against the woke standards that govern “socially acceptable” comedy after he was asked to end a set early during a June fundraiser. Schneider was performing at a fundraiser for the Hospitals of Regina Foundation in Canada when he evidently struck a nerve, causing some audience members to leave in protest while others shouted at him for controversial remarks.
However, instead of caving to the woke mob and apologizing for his triggering comedy, Schneider claimed it was an indication that he was “doing it right.” The comedian and actor defended the right to free speech, which has come under attack in recent years. “The thing about free speech is, free speech is all speech. Free speech isn’t for the nice stuff. It isn’t for the socially acceptable stuff. Free speech is the speech that challenges you,” he said.
He maintained that freedom of speech does not guarantee that everyone will be comfortable with certain comments and that he seeks to “challenge” when they might be offended. “Free speech is the not-nice stuff. Easy speech or speech that’s acceptable to everybody doesn’t need any protection. I’m there to challenge the audience,” he said.
Noting how easily people become upset by speech they disagree with, Schneider claimed this makes the current landscape of comedy all the more interesting. “People get upset about things now. And that’s OK,” he said. “I think the more challenging the comedy is and society is, the more interesting the stand-up and art is going to be.”
Building on this point, the actor emphasized that for art to be interesting it sometimes requires the artist to push the boundaries and prevent things from becoming “boring.” He continued, “When everything’s smooth, art is boring. So the ’90s could have been kind of boring, but this is a good time now, and it’s a challenging time.”
The American Tribune reported on similar comments from legendary comedian Jerry Seinfeld who sounded off on the “extreme left and p.c. crap” stating they would bring about the “end” comedy. “It used to be, you would go home at the end of the day, most people would go, “Oh, ‘Cheers’ is on. Oh, ‘M*A*S*H’ is on. Oh, ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ is on. ‘All in the Family’ is on.” You just expected, there’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight,” Seinfeld said, illustrating how entertainment used to be filled with funny content.
However, he explained how woke politics and social standards have hindered comedy as people are too concerned about making offensive statements. “Well, guess what — where is it? This is the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people,” the famous sitcom actor said.
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Seinfeld continued, explaining how comedy has to go through many layers of revision from different writers, which waters down creativity. “But when you write a script and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups — ‘Here’s our thought about this joke.’” He added, “Well, that’s the end of your comedy.”
Watch Rob Schneider slam Democrats for “forever wars and censorship” below: