Game show host Howie Mandel is saying “no deal!” to the current climate of political correctness that has strangled comedy with an oppressive chokehold.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, the former host of Deal or No Deal and current host of America’s Got Talent said the days of saying “Just joking!” have come to an end in the snowflake generation.
“There used to be a safety net as far as saying, ‘Just joking!’ There’s no such thing as ‘Just joking!’ anymore,” he lamented.
Mandel came under heavy fire during season 10 of America’s Got Talent for an off the cuff bulimia joke he made in response to a contestant who would swallow whole objects and regurgitate them. “This would probably come out wrong, but you, sir, make bulimia entertaining,” he said.
The joke sparked a Twitter firestorm and forced Mandel to apologize.
“I just want to take a second to apologize,” he said in response to the controversy. “I made a comment earlier, it’s live television, I wasn’t thinking. I made light of bulimia, which is a very serious eating disorder and mental health issue. I deal with mental health all the time, and I did something stupid. I should never make light of it. I apologize to anybody that was offended. I’m not perfect, I make mistakes.”
Leading up to the season 12 wrap episode of America’s Got Talent, Mandel hopes he will not make a similar off-the-cuff mistake.
“Even with the number one show on television right now, I have a fear that I’ll say something that will get me in trouble,” he told THR while promoting his new documentary short On My Way Out: The Secret Life of Nani and Popi, about a 95-year-old man who comes out of the closet to his wife of 65 years and family.
Mandel lamented how friends of his have lost sponsorships or have had jobs taken away for offending the wrong people. His recently-produced documentary short apparently captures the spirit of this climate.
“The movie is all about stigma,” he says. “We can’t just be free. None of us can. We don’t live in a society where we can say what we’re thinking, where we can be who we are without feeling that we will not be accepted or we will be punished.”
