Comedian Katt Williams joined the likes of Seth Rogen and other woke comedians dismissing the outcry against cancel culture, arguing that it doesn’t exist and that comedians should get out of the craft if they’re afraid.
Speaking on “The Joe Budden Podcast” to promote his upcoming film, “The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2,” Williams said that comedians should look at this newfound age of heightened sensitivity as an opportunity to elevate their work.
“If you ask all of the people who didn’t make it to the NBA, if you asked them if we just lowered the goal down another foot, they would all tell you they’d make it. Nobody likes the out of bounds, but the out of bounds has got to be there,” he said, as reported by Fox News. “Some of these things are for the benefit of everything. Nobody likes the speed limit, but it’s necessary. Nobody likes the shoulder of the road, but it’s there for a reason.”
“My point is, [people] weren’t all that extremely funny back when they could say whatever they wanted to say. At the end of the day, there’s no cancel culture. Cancellation doesn’t have its own culture,” he added.
Neglecting the fact that world-class comedians like Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Burr, Ricky Gervais, and Dave Chappelle have all trashed cancel culture in one way or another, Williams even said that comedians who are terrified of being canceled will not actually be missed when they are gone.”I don’t know what people got canceled that we wish we had back. Who are they? It’s done for the reasons it’s done for and it helped who it helped,” Williams said.
“If all that’s going to happen is that we have to be more sensitive in the way that we talk, isn’t that what we want anyway? I’m saying, your job as a comedian is to please the most amount of people with your art. So if you wanna offend somebody, nobody took those words away from you… But don’t call somebody this word when you know it affects all of these people.”
Katt Williams parting words of advice: leave comedy if you’re afraid.
“If these are the confines that keep you from doing the craft God put you to, then it probably ain’t for you,” Williams concluded. “Growth is part of being an adult.”
Williams’ tacit defense of cancel culture follows that of actor Seth Rogen, who recently said that comedians should stop complaining and own up if their jokes age poorly.
“There are certain jokes that for sure have not aged well, but I think that’s the nature of comedy,” Rogen said during an appearance on “Good Morning Britain.” “I think conceptually those movies are sound and I think there’s a reason they’ve lasted as far as people still watching and enjoying them today. Jokes are not things that necessarily are built to last.”
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