Norm Macdonald Has Pissed People Off by Not Liking #Metoo
Norm Macdonald has a new show on launching Netflix this Friday, called Norm Macdonald Has a Show, and he’s been out promoting it. The world being what it is, this means Norm said something that pissed some people off. Which is about par for the course, it’s basically impossible not to piss people off on the internet when you say anything. I’ve seen people be unironically mad at those blank cartoon panels that say something like “A completely unoffensive comic.”
So what Norm did was talk about #metoo in less than glowing terms, which you’d think would be okay now that Asia Argento is totally trying to take the entire movement down with her in her fall from extremely short-lived grace, but I guess not. Here’s what Macdonald said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:
Not necessarily. I’m happy the #MeToo movement has slowed down a little bit. It used to be, “One hundred women can’t be lying.” And then it became, “One woman can’t lie.” And that became, “I believe all women.” And then you’re like, “What?” Like, that Chris Hardwick guy I really thought got the blunt end of the stick there.
The model used to be: admit wrongdoing, show complete contrition and then we give you a second chance. Now it’s admit wrongdoing and you’re finished. And so the only way to survive is to deny, deny, deny. That’s not healthy — that there is no forgiveness. I do think that at some point it will end with a completely innocent person of prominence sticking a gun in his head and ending it. That’s my guess. I know a couple of people this has happened to.
Well, Louis [C.K.] and Roseanne [Barr] are the two people I know. And Roseanne was so broken up [after her show’s reboot was canceled] that I got Louis to call her, even though Roseanne was very hard on Louis before that. But she was just so broken and just crying constantly. There are very few people that have gone through what they have, losing everything in a day. Of course, people will go, “What about the victims?” But you know what? The victims didn’t have to go through that.
The last line in that was really dumb, and I don’t think Norm realized how it sounded. He apologized for it on Twitter.
Roseanne and Louis have both been very good friends of mine for many years. They both made terrible mistakes and I would never defend their actions. If my words sounded like I was minimizing the pain that their victims feel to this day, I am deeply sorry.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) September 11, 2018
On the whole, aside from that, Norm wasn’t wrong. It is weird to be in a place where the prevailing sentiment is “if you’re really sorry, you’ll understand that anyone who does anything bad has to go away forever and no one can ever be redeemed.” Look at James Gunn. James Gunn did absolutely nothing wrong, apologized for what he did (which was not wrong in any way) years beforehand and still got fired. Disney was willing to absolutely destroy one of their biggest film franchises to appease a few angry subhuman alt-right morons on Twitter.
And as if to prove the point Norm was making, Variety reported he was dis-invited from The Tonight Show over his comments, after he apologized for them. Now, Norm Macdonald didn’t whip his dick out in front of anyone or call a black woman a monkey, he just expressed an unpopular opinion about how people deserve forgiveness.
“Out of sensitivity to our audience and in light of Norm Macdonald’s comments in the press today, ‘The Tonight Show’ has decided to cancel his appearance on Tuesday’s telecast,” NBC said in a statement. “Tonight Show’s” decision to drop Macdonald came even after he apologized for his comments later in the day.
That’s a bitch move. Norm is one of the funniest people on the planet and you axe him because he sad something a little controversial in discussing his feelings about his friends? Not cool, grow a spine.
