A while back, I made some jokes about Gina Carano on my social media. She's most notable for A. Being on the Disney+ “Star Wars“ show “The Mandalorian,“ and B. For being fired from the show for saying some pretty offensive things.
I made a few jokes about that, and I upset someone. A great deal. I tried to talk with them and have a conversation about their feelings, but this person chose not to. They immediately jumped on the whole “Cancel/Unfollow” bandwagon, ironically enough, over what had been a cancel culture joke.
I had said something to the effect that Gina Carano should be canceled.
She should cancel all her plans and date me.
First off, if someone thinks a joke of mine is problematic, I genuinely want them to say so. I am not perfect. I do make mistakes. I can learn. And since appearing on a certain national television show, I have had a lot of of people filtering through the things I say, so the chance of someone identifying those mistakes is higher than I've been used to in years past. In this case, at first I thought this person was just being incredibly meta in their jumping to cancel me over a cancel culture joke.
They were not. They were serious. They were angry that I would want to date someone who was transphobic.
Second, I didn't know Gina Carano was transphobic.
I just thought she was anti-vax.
If you know me, you know I do abhor that mentality. But I was willing to put that aside to make fun of the situation. Knowing what I know know, does it change my opinion of Gina Carano? Yes. Clearly she is a very lost person, and it's incredibly disappointing to hear.
Does this change the joke? No.
It's a joke, and not even a great one.
In saying I’d like to date her, I'm not defending her opinions.
I'm being shallow.
I make a lot of duds. That’s part of the process. Welcome to stand-up comedy. In this case, I am making light of a serious scenario. Disney announced that Gina Carano would be removed from the show. There was push-back from all angles. People asked, “Is Disney going to rehire her? Is Disney going to showcase that their cast and crew are all vaccinated on the set of ’The Mandalorian?’ Will Disney hire a trans person in a major role on that show?”
All of this is out of my hands, and regardless of how Disney answers those questions, I don't think it solves the issue of Gina Carano being the way she is.
But the context of the joke is just that, hey, I want a date. The joke, at its root, is that I'm letting her appearance shine through, regardless of her unscientific and unkind opinions. She is a really attractive woman, and we have a culture of people following other people on social media based on their appearance, so in my joke, I'm mocking that fact. I’m poking at the anyone, including myself, who would say, “Opinions be damned. She is a hot woman!”
Do I actually believe this? Do I really have the mentality that good looks have higher value than someone’s opinions?
I get the problematic nature of making jokes, and that some people try to get away with saying bigoted things by burying them in a tasteless joke, then claim they were only joking. But I'm not a politician or house representative. I'm a comedian. In this case, I don't feel I abused the nature of a joke to hide any offensive subtext.
The only thing I'm advocating is that Gina Carano is hot.
Look at it this way. A date with Gina would give me a chance to sit down and talk to her, and maybe have a discussion about the issues. You know, the exact thing the person who exclaimed "Unfollow! I'm done with you!" would not do.
Apparently, one of the major issues the offended person had with my joke was the idea that I'd date someone not fully knowing all of their opinions. Well, I got news for you. A lot of people date without knowing the other party’s thoughts on every subject.
That's what dates are for.
You don't know everything about a person before getting to know a person. That’s more-or-less mathematical. Who knows? I may have been out with someone who thinks the Earth is flat and the moon landing didn't happen. They may have had those opinions and never shared them with me.
‘Cause when you've just had several Dollaritas, and are making out in an Applebee's parking lot, those things don't always come up.
“Oliver’s World” run every other week in the Argus-Courier. You can find out more about Oliver on his Facebook page or at OliverGraves.com.
The Link LonkMay 27, 2021 at 09:30PM
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Oliver’s World: ‘Shallow’ cancel culture joke gets comic canceled - Petaluma Argus Courier
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