Masada tells Buzzfeed that he [Tosh] asked the audience what they wanted to talk about, and one viewer piped up “rape.”
“Daniel came in, and he said, ‘Well it sounds like she’s been raped by five guys’ – something like that. I didn’t really hear properly,” Masada said, adding that the female audience member who said he left in fact stayed for the duration of the set, and did not complain to management until after the show had wrapped.
According to Ashley-Michelle Arnold, a site administrator of the non-profit message board After Silence, a collective chat space for rape and abuse survivors, none of that matters.
“When your punch line comes from a horrific experience, there's nothing funny about it. Right now, defenders are spinning it that the woman wasn't really offended, as if that somehow makes it OK because she was the subject, after all. However, it doesn't work like that; humor that trivializes what is one of the most horrific experiences a human being can inflict another doesn't get a green pass simply because the intended target didn't gratify Tosh's disgusting punch line,” she said. “Comedy should be used to entertain people, and to educate them. Jokes that turn violence into a caricature do neither and, in fact, contribute to the stigma which blame survivors for being victimized and downplay how severely it can impact a life.”
Just ask George Carlin. He had an entire rape piece years before Tosh.
Regardless of your opinion, we would be willing to bet that, unlike Carlin...Tosh will not be giving a repeat performance. h/t Michael C for the FOX News report and the GC audio.
Why not click the Google +1 & the retweet buttons?
**Follow us on Twitter. Subscribe, or Return to BobsBlitz.com.
Tweet