Cancel Culture Is Not Going Away
Another week, another comedian gets cancelled.
This time it is the turn of Alfie Brown, who got into a Twitter argument with a Jewish woman about Jeremy Corbyn, and then fell prey to a particularly vicious bout of offence archeology from the Corbynista nuts.
An old video emerged of Alfie trying to ridicule both racism and virtue signalling in a standup routine in which he uses the n-word. Not something I’d have done, and not his best work, but also not that surprising given that transgressive comedy has always been Alfie’s style.
He was later mocked for pointing out the clip was from 2015, his persecutors shrieking about how recent that date is. Yet, as bizarre as it is, we know that the pre-Brexit, pre-Trump era was different, as the culture war had not yet escalated to anything like its current pitch. For example, In 2008 Louis C.K. used the n-word repeatedly in a routine from his massively successful Chewed Up special, which was roundly praised.
Of course, many will not be thrilled by a white man using that word in any context, but is a misguided comedy routine really a good reason to viciously bully someone and attempt to destroy their livelihood?
And in case anyone thinks I’m exaggerating, or that “cancel culture doesn’t exist”, the mob have made it particularly easy for us in this case by getting Alfie’s gigs cancelled, and employing almost cartoonishly evil phrases like “bully him more”.
Another implied bullying alone wasn’t enough, suggesting “He needs to get jumped”.
(Unsurprisingly this person has “Marxist-Leninist” in their bio).
All this came in reply to Alfie’s apology, proving once again that apologies are always a tactical error when dealing with merciless ideological thugs. But they are also forgivable under the pressure of a brutal Twitter pile-on.
The offence archaeologists then dug up a routine from Alfie about Greta Thunberg, which to them was outrageous, as they sadly possess no sense of humour, but to normal people was funny.
And, in classic cancel culture fashion, they contacted the comedy venue where he was due to perform this weekend, threatening to take “peaceful but preventative action”. The club, known in the industry for also running a woke agency, immediately capitulated and cancelled Alfie from the gig.
The Twitter mob did all this while claiming that cancel culture doesn’t exist, interspersed with smug comments about ‘consequences’, and the endlessly witty notion that Alfie would end up on GB News.
The latter seems unlikely to me, as I know Alfie a bit and very much doubt he is a fan of the channel. Yet it is the GB News roster of comedians, alongside other outcast comics like Andrew Lawrence, who have been the only ones to defend him, whilst most of his colleagues kick him while he’s down.
Like another Louis C.K. joke, I’m sure Alfie is gutted to find out who his real friends are (“It’s never who you want it to be. It’s not your cool friends, and it’s not your fun friends… it’s your real friends”).
But it’s not about your personal relationship with the person being cancelled, or whether you agree with their politics. It’s about whether you believe in free expression in what – as Andrew Doyle has pointed out – is an “essentially theatrical medium“.
And it’s about whether you think people should be able to experiment and make mistakes, or whether you’re on the side of those digging up whatever alleged ‘dirt’ they can on their political opponents in order to try and stop them making a living.
This latest episode shows that people have learnt absolutely nothing, and remain as rabid as ever in their quest to destroy their perceived ideological enemies.
Depressingly, cancel culture shows no sign of being cancelled.
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“The N-word”
What word is that?
Can somebody help me out?
I believe its used as punctuation in rap songs. Also Dave Chappelle’s act.
I find it impossible to feel any sympathy for someone who grovels like that AND uses the Ukrainian flag to signal his virtue.
I wondered about that Ukrainian flag too and also his grovelling apology. My thoughts are that if what you are doing and saying are in alignment with truth and love, you can’t go wrong. The best comedians are self-deprecating, in my view but on the whole they are there to ridicule and to hold mirrors up to the audience and get them to laugh at themselves and society. He seems like a nice guy and I sympathise with his plight but honestly…never ever apologise to the woke mob, never! They aren’t capable of forgiveness or understanding. They are fanatics. And get rid of the effing flag too!
Instead of apologising, perhaps he could have said that he was ‘present but not involved’ in the act.
Rule No 1 in such matters:
Never apologize.
You cannot reason with fanatics.
Why does any use of “nigger” by a white person have to be “probably misguided”?
If all the person is doing is making reference to the word as a word, what’s the problem?
And if some one makes a joke with it that is funny and not at all demeaning of black people, what’s the problem?
If black people consider it such an awful word that no one should ever say, then they should set an example and stop using it themselves.
Funny how the n word is verboten but gammon is not.
It’s almost as if by reasoning that white people do not qualify as oppressed and are fair game for insult, they must be somehow at the top of the pile.
This is not a status I would assume for myself but how is it my fault if that is the conclusion drawn by the ‘global majority’?
White people are currently the most oppressed group, especially straight white men.
Interesting also to note the genuinely shocking comments about Jews, about Negros by Karl Marx in letters to Engels.
I await with even more interest that the woke “Marxist-Leninists” seem to be having difficulty in finding a convenient date for the toppling of the evil old fraud’s statue and tossing it into the Thames.
it is completely ridiculous that this word, other than any other word in the vernacular, causes such frenzy and disproportionate angst. Particularly as black people use it so frequently, as you say. This is not to defend its use as a slur, no more than any other racist language, but the numerous examples of people being cancelled or fired just because the word passed their lips is insane. It’s like some sort of magic spell for the woke.
Meanwhile, the very fine “To Kill A Mockingbird” which pulls no punches about the language people used in 1950’s Alabama, is playing to packed houses in the Gielgud Theatre, and has had its run extended.
A final thought on this…cancel culture is pure comedy gold. These comedians should be devising hilarious acts based on their being cancelled. We need to ridicule the woke mob not be cowed by them. They are little tinpot dictators strutting about all indignant and offended, huffy pose, furiously mining people’s social media for any clues of heresy like caffeine-saturated Gestapo gauleiters searching for Jews. You have to take the war to them, not run from it.
They all deserve each other.
I suppose the western world will now end up with all comedy as un-funny conformist stuff that pushes no boundaries.
Typical of the humourless left.
Isn’t Twitter a big part of the problem here? Something like 20% of adults are on it at all, and a tiny minority post on it. Something like 10% of users do 80% of the twittering. It amplifies the views of foul nutters to a massive extent, and because politicians use it they end up with a massively distorted view of public opinion.
Never apologise never explain!
Grovelling, toe curling apologies, empower and further the agenda of ideological thugs.
Call me lowbrow, but until I saw this I’d never heard of Alfie Brown. I’ve looked him up, and I quite like his comedy so far. I’m not an expert yet, but I think I might enjoy doing a bit more research. He strikes me as a bit of an oasis in what is an arid comedic desert.
I guess ‘global warming’ contributed to that as well.
Those god awful virtue signalling loons should have plod at their door, charging them with non crime gate incidents. Or even better incitement to violence. Something needs to be done to stop them.
It’s strange that the ‘n-word’ is not acceptable but anything and any word against Whites is ok.
There should be one and only one standard, not different standards depending upon race.