Keep My Name Out Of Your Joke
The ethics of using someone else for your comedy premise
I’m almost loathe to write about this, because we now live in a time in which it takes only moments after an event happens for every possible angle and hot take conceivable to be expressed and explored through the hive mind of social media. Assuming you’re reading this sometime close to the end of March or beginning of April in 2022, I probably don’t even have to tell you what event I’m speaking about.
If you’re reading this some other time, or are blissfully unaware to a degree I envy, actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars awards ceremony on Sunday, March 27th. There was a moment in time when I was blissfully unaware the Oscars were even happening, because I have zero interest in them. I’m not merely apathetic, I actively think they are stupid and pointless and should be avoided to the betterment of all. Who the fuck cares who this weird “Academy” is, and their vague criteria, and once you’re beyond a certain level of generally accepted appreciation, what’s the benefit of labeling one artistic creation as being some slight and arbitrary increment of quality over others?
Oscars aside, the personal lives of celebrities is another realm that I actively try to keep a distance from. The Streisand Effect, though, is a very…
