By Mike Redmond | News | October 29, 2024 |
This past weekend saw comics gleefully normalizing the MAGA movement, and Marc Maron is sick of it.
First out of the gate was Joe Rogan’s interview with Trump, which was mostly three low-energy hours of the usual rambling, but this time with very little pushback from Rogan. In fairness, Rogan did have a few moments when he basically asked Trump, “What the hell are you even saying?” but it was mainly an open venue for Trump to spew nonsense as Rogan praised him for saying “wild sh*t” and entertained conspiracy theories.
Like all things Trump, that event got instantly buried thanks to the next bit of crazy rocketing down the pipe: A way too on-the-nose moment of history repeating itself as MAGA took over Madison Square Garden for a hate rally where “comedian” Tony Hinchcliffe made comments about Puerto Ricans that were so damaging that Trump’s campaign actually tried to distance itself from him. Naturally, that weasel move was immediately blown out of the water when The Bulwark reported that Trump’s team did vet Hinchcliffe’s routine and stopped him from calling Kamala Harris a “c*nt.”
Not for nothing, it was also revealed that Rogan had been pushing Trump to hire Hinchcliffe to write “bangers” for his campaign since August. Well, Marc Maron has seen enough.
In a blistering statement on the WTF podcast site, Maron called out the ongoing trend of comedians cozying up to the Right out of craven self-interest:
The anti-woke flank of the new fascism is being driven almost exclusively by comics, my peers. Whether or not they are self-serving or true believers in the new fascism is unimportant. They are of the movement. Whether they see themselves as acolytes or just comics doesn’t matter. Whether they are driven by the idea that what they are fighting for is a free speech issue or whether they are truly morally bankrupt racists doesn’t matter. They are part of the public face of a fascist political movement that seeks to destroy the democratic idea.When comedians with podcasts have shameless, self-proclaimed white supremacists and fascists on their show to joke around like they are just entertainers or even just politicians, all it does is humanize and normalize fascism. When someone uses their platform for that reason they are facilitating anti-American sentiment and promoting violent autocracy.
It may be all self-serving. Greedy influencers and comics and public personalities and certainly tech companies want to align themselves with an unapologetic right wing movement that has no concerns for regulation or law or justice or decency or democracy to increase their earnings and put them in the seat of power.
Fascism is good for business if you toe the line.
Oh, didn’t realize we were calling out Jeff Bezos, too.
Maron’s statement is a barn-burner that calls out the all-too-predictable pipeline of comedians becoming right-wing mouthpieces because they got some pushback and weren’t fellated as champions of free speech or whatever over-inflated talking point started kicking around in the 2010s. Hell, even Jerry Seinfeld has given up that ghost and stopped railing against over-sensitive college kids.
The MAGA rally also resurfaced a clip from Anthony Jeselnik (below) who explains how real “offensive” comedy works, and that there’s a delicate dance that goes beyond just shock value. The audience and everyone has to feel like they “got away with it,” and that very obviously did not happen with Hinchcliffe as he may have turned an entire demographic against Trump. The dude activated Marc Anthony and Ricky Martin who are now aiming their hordes of fans at Kamala Harris.
Great job, clowny!