During an appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, comedian Bill Burr said cancel culture is over. Maher disagreed.
The conversation revolved around comedian Louis C.K., who was blacklisted in 2017 after being accused of masturbating in front of female comics. C.K. eventually admitted to it, and his professional life was immediately erased. A film only days away from being released lost its distributor. Additionally, C.K. lost his representation, a number of TV shows, and concert appearances.
Today, seven years later, C.K. is still forced to work outside a Hollywood system that wants no part of him. He can only self produce and distribute his work online.
“I mean, don’t get me started on [Louis C.K.]. Isn’t it time everyone just went: ‘OK, It wasn’t a cool thing to do, but it’s been long enough and welcome back,’” Maher said. “Enough! I mean, for Christ’s sake, it’s not the end of the world. People have done so much worse things and gotten less. There’s no rhyme or reason to the #MeToo-type punishments.”
“They took $50 million, I think they punished him,” Burr responded. That $50 million is how much C.K. said he lost after all his deals vanished in 2017.
Burr continued: “[#MeToo] started off with something everyone could agree on, and then quickly it just spun out of control.” Burr explained that “cancel culture got to the point of where it was, ‘I don’t like some of the topics in your stand-up act,’ right? That’s when it got weird.”
“Cancel culture—it’s over. No one cares anymore.”
Maher disagreed: “That’s so not true. Either one of us could get canceled in the next two minutes.”
This is all deliberate. #MeToo deliberately offers no rhyme or reason as a way to keep people off guard, stressed, and silent. Mike Tyson is a convicted rapist, and today, he’s treated like a lovable Hollywood mascot. I’m not arguing that Tyson should be blacklisted. He served his time. He paid his dues. But why is Tyson allowed back in the fold and not Louis C.K? The answer is simple: Without rules, everyone remains terrorized.
I will say this, though…
Part of what’s keeping C.K. on the blacklist is that what he did was pretty disgusting, and people look at him differently now. As evil as rape is, Tyson has avoided being defined by that crime. That’s what saved him. The rape conviction is part of his identity, but so are his boxing achievements and his effective post-prison personality makeover as a sweet-natured, self-effacing guy.
Louis C.K. has not been able to overcome being defined by his sick behavior. Maher is correct that people (like Tyson) have done far worse, but—fair or not—that behavior is C.K.’s whole identity now, and until that changes it’s hard to see him returning to the mainstream.
Image is everything. Image isn’t real, but it is everything, and until Louis C.K. can change his, it’s that destroyed and icky image keeping him from a comeback more than anything else. However…
Hollywood did help Mike Tyson change his image (The Hangover), an opportunity not yet given to C.K.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
