Wow, everyone. Did you hear about that terrible thing that happened to Daniel Tosh the other day? It’s…wow. I can’t even begin to describe how awful it was. Maybe you’d better see for yourself. Here’s the original link, but I’m going to repost it here for posterity’s sake. I can’t believe the callousness of this woman:
“This is something that happened to a friend of mine in her own words.
“So, on Friday night my friend and I were at her house and wanted to get out and do something for the evening. We brainstormed ideas and she brought up the idea of seeing a show at the Laugh Factory. I’d never been, I thought it sounded fun, so we went. We saw that Dane Cook, along some other names we didn’t recognize we’re playing, and while we both agree that Cook’s style is not really our taste we were opened-minded about what the others had to offer. And we figured even good ol’ Dane can be funny sometimes, even if it’s not really our thing. Anyhoo, his act was actually fine, but then when his was done, some other guy I didn’t recognize took the stage. Of course, I would find out later this was Daniel Tosh, but at the time I thought he was just some yahoo who somehow got a gig going on after Cook. I honestly thought he was an amateur because he didn’t seem that comfortable on stage and seemed to have a really awkward presence.
So Tosh then starts making some very generalizing, declarative statements about rape jokes always being funny, how can a rape joke not be funny, rape is hilarious, etc. I don’t know why he was so repetitive about it but I felt provoked because I, for one, DON’T find them funny and never have. So I didnt appreciate Daniel Tosh (or anyone!) telling me I should find them funny. So I yelled out, “Actually, rape jokes are never funny!”
I did it because, even though being “disruptive” is against my nature, I felt that sitting there and saying nothing, or leaving quietly, would have been against my values as a person and as a woman. I don’t sit there while someone tells me how I should feel about something as profound and damaging as rape.
After I called out to him, Tosh paused for a moment. Then, he says, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her…” and I, completely stunned and finding it hard to process what was happening but knowing i needed to get out of there, immediately nudged my friend, who was also completely stunned, and we high-tailed it out of there. It was humiliating, of course, especially as the audience guffawed in response to Tosh, their eyes following us as we made our way out of there. I didn’t hear the rest of what he said about me.
Now in the lobby, I spoke with the girl at the will-call desk, and demanded to see the manager. The manager on duty quickly came out to speak with me, and she was profusely apologetic, and seemed genuinely sorry about what had happened, but of course we received no refund for our tickets, but instead a comped pair of tickets, although she admitted she understood if we never wanted to come back. I can imagine the Laugh Factory doesn’t really have a policy in place for what happens when a woman has to leave in a hurry because the person onstage is hurling violent words about sexual violence at her. Although maybe I’m not the first girl to have that happen to her.
I should probably add that having to basically flee while Tosh was enthusing about how hilarious it would be if I was gang-raped in that small, claustrophic room was pretty viscerally terrifying and threatening all the same, even if the actual scenario was unlikely to take place. The suggestion of it is violent enough and was meant to put me in my place.”
Please reblog and spread the word.”
Wow. Wow. Can you believe the gall of this? Can you believe that this horrible woman heckled a comedian?!
No, please don’t turn away. Don’t go to a different screen. I know that what I’m about to say is very controversial and taboo, and I’ll probably get so much heckling of my own for this, but I need to stand up not only for Daniel Tosh, but for all of the poor, defenseless comedians out there who have to suffer the threat and degradation of audience members publicly disagreeing with them.
After all, this man is an artist, with the never-before-seen talent of posting YouTube videos, standing next to said videos, and making sarcastic comments about them. I don’t know where this woman got the nerve to criticize an artist of such depth and breadth.
I also don’t appreciate this uppity lady thinking she could just walk into a comedy club and expect to have a good time without being triggered by a rape joke. Why doesn’t she understand that rape is always funny? After all, Tosh said so, and he speaks the cold, hard truths that few brave souls will say.
Worst of all, she has the nerve to trample on Daniel Tosh’s First Amendment rights. He’s expressing his thoughts, after all, and her trying to shout him down is limiting his right to free speech. One could argue that she is simply expressing her thoughts and using her right to free speech, but that’s not true. There’s a difference between free speech and heckling.
And what she did was far beyond heckling. She viciously attacked him, ripping him apart like she was a crazed banshee who liked to crush men’s balls with her teeth. Look at the words she used, that even she ADMITTED to using:
“Actually, rape jokes are never funny!”
I…I’m sorry. I’m getting a little emotional here, because what she said was such an unprecedented verbal onslaught, so vile and personal, that I almost can’t go on. You know what, I’ll say it. I feel just plain unsafe after reading what she said.
Because I’m looking at this from a writer’s perspective. Someday I hope to be published, perhaps as well-known as Daniel Tosh, and I want to be able to express my opinion and have people give me money for expressing my opinion. But now, I don’t know if I can achieve that dream anymore.
I don’t want to try to be a professional writer or artist in a world where a person can vocally and publicly tell me that s/he doesn’t find something funny that I find funny. It’s too much to handle.
Please, everyone. I’m begging you from the bottom of my heart. Won’t someone please think of the comedians?!
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I don’t find Tosh O. funny anyway but this is a good reason to avoid his show. Some subjects just aren’t funny in any context and his response was threatening. Shameful.
Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re being facetious. Hahaha. Also, I can’t really tell what your stance on the issue is… are you on the woman’s side and mocking those that are bashing her? Or are you bashing her in a totally outrageous way to show that she and other people are overreacting? Or do you really think Tosh is some sort of magnificent artist? So confused. Then again, I don’t do well with satire/sarcasm. Forgive me.
I’m making fun of Tosh and his defenders, but thanks for asking – I’m glad for the chance to clarify.
It would be hard for me to articulate my rage. Instead all that I’m going to say is that I hope that even in my most chauvenistic I would not have said anything like this.
OMFG, that’s awful. Um, what Tosh did, not what the woman did. Like, really, really awful. I’ve never heard of the guy before and I’m sure as hell don’t want to now.
I am a Grad student working on a thesis about MST (Military sexual Trauma) and believe it or not the whole ,” Can’t you take a joke?” thing is one of the biggest issues with sexual harassment/trauma. In other words people think that sexual harassment (and I would classify Tosh’s words as such) is not really a big deal. This is not just a military issue (as we feminists/ women are well aware) but an epidemic in American culture.
No, sexual harassment/rape is NOT funny, and those who think it is are in serious need of an ass-kicking – oops, I mean some psychological help.
I read this when you first posted it and thought it was excellent and just needed to revisit it to leave this comment. For some reason an article about this was trending on Facebook tonight so I read it and made the mistake of reading some of the comments people had left. They were absolutely disgusting and now I actually feel physically sick. I felt the need to come here, to thank you for writing intelligent, thoughtful views on humour and issues like feminism and rape, and for reminding me that there are decent people in the world.
Oh comment section, thou are a miserable place. Don’t worry, decent people still exist, though it’s hard to remember.