Comedian Ari Shaffir tweeted an extremely insensitive and controversial statement the day of Kobe Bryant’s death, which said: “Kobe Bryant died 23 years too late today. He got away with rape because all the Hollywood liberals who attack comedy enjoy rooting for the Lakers more than they dislike rape. Big ups to the hero who forgot to gas up his chopper. I hate the Lakers. What a great day!” Obviously, this did not go over well with the public or his talent agency, who reportedly dropped him immediately following the tweet. Even after fellow comedians criticized him, Shaffir defended himself saying it was just comedy and he has a “niche” humor and audience.
Shaffir’s fans expected this kind of tweet from him, but he ended up hitting a cultural nerve, indicating that dark humor is widely accepted in this day and age and bringing up the debate of just how far you should push it. Decades ago, it was unthinkable for a comedian to joke about a celebrity death, but now tasteless jokes can be told quicker and easier than ever before, even if that does bring on criticism. A good point is brought up however, which is that if these jokes are so hostile and disgusting, why do these comedians have the largest platforms to give them in the first place?
Many regard Shaffir’s tweet as nothing more than “trolling”, a popular trend on social media where you purposely say disagreeable things for the blowback. He pokes at several sensitive topics all in one tweet– Kobe Bryant’s death, rape, Hollywood liberals, and the #MeToo Movement, which could clearly cause more than enough damage for someone to realize this might not be the best thing to say. To joke about it at a comedy club, where he is surrounded by his “niche” fans is one thing, but not on a worldwide platform. He most definitely will feel the wrath from his comment for quite some time, but controversies do fade and he might just happen to gain more fame from this in the long run. Overall, it is clear that in our day and age and the way our priorities lie, people just want attention.
This entire story shed a negative light on Ari Shaffir, comedians, and our society. The author analyzed why Shaffir was okay with sending a tweet like that, what made him think it would be accepted in the first place. They took it further and explained why comedians feel they are exempt from dealing with pain carefully and respectfully. They want to be some kind of outlet for people who feel the heartbreak is too much to handle, to offer them lightness in heavy situations, because why feel pain and sorrow constantly when you can smile and laugh here and there? And if this is the case, do we as a society create an established and clear boundary or do we pick and choose when we want to be offended or not? It seems that comedians should just know based off of the public’s attachment to the tragedy, and timing also plays a big role. But it does make you stop and question– are we as a society sick in the head for encouraging this? We claim we’re offended over and over again but comedians still have a huge platform and are widely successful, the industry is still booming. So we do ever really “cancel” someone? Do we forgive them after they make us laugh about something else…something less offensive?
The message of this article is that our society, and not just the younger generation, clearly just wants attention. We do it all the time on social media because we want a reaction from people, we want to feel heard and seen, even if it’s for the wrong reasons. The audience is really anyone on social media, as this issue is rooted here nowadays. Anyone who is able to view other people’s platforms and can watch the world react is a direct problem to how we handle these situations. The perception of the public is obviously anger and disappointment, from comedians as well. Shaffir’s friend Joe Rogan, creator of one of the most popular podcasts in the world, even said the tweet was “so stupid”. Shaffir will undoubtedly be criticized for this for a long time and won’t see any new work opportunities anytime soon since the world has punished him, but like mentioned before, this is sure to fade away.
Shaffir’s PR team should most likely lay low for awhile, as once you mess with a well-respected legend like Kobe Bryant, there isn’t much damage control that can be done. If anything, they should issue an apology statement, expressing that the joke went too far too soon, and allow Shaffir to tweet that directly from his Twitter account. However, like previously mentioned, I would advise Shaffir to continue to lay low. Trolling or not, he knew just how devastated the world was to learn about Kobe, and he didn’t even give them a second to process before proclaiming how great the day was. Like other celebrities who have gone further than just being labeled controversial, they have been fairly successful in starting to collect their audience again after disappearing for awhile and letting the public forgive and forget.
Medium: New York Times
Vehicle: Newspaper Article
Reporter/Writer/email: Jason Zinoman, jasonzinoman@gmail.com
Date: February 5, 2020
Headline/section/page: A Kobe Bryant Joke Goes Wrong, Revealing Comedy’s Troll Side, Comedy section
Company/Business involved: Ari Shaffir