Louis CKs SNL monologue on benign racism & sexual abuse: offensive?
Louis C.K. hosted the season finale of SNL‘s 40th season. Pajiba reports how the episode (as a whole) was one of the best this season. Rihanna’s musical performances received wide praise, but the opening monologue was terribly controversial. We are talking about Louis C.K., who is known for offensive humor. But this monologue came across like Louis decided to be as controversial as possible, just to see how much outrage he could generate. He riffed on the 1970s, which he sees as a time when racism and child molestation weren’t a huge deal. These were simply things that one had to endure as part of society. The point of the monologue was to offend. Offensiveness was the joke with no punchline to be found. A lot of people found Louis’ effort tasteless, especially the part about child molestation. Here are the relevant parts of the transcript, and the clip follows:
On racism: “I was born in 1967, and so I grew up in the ’70s. So I’m not racist, however, I do have mild racism. Because that was a very racist decade. People said racist things all the time, and nobody got offended … So I have mild racism. It’s benign, it’s not aggressive. It’s not even negative racism … If I’m in a gas station late at night, and a young man comes in wearing a hooded sweatshirt. If he’s white, I’ll think, ‘Oh, he’s an athlete.’ If he’s black, unless he has a big smile on his face, I become mildly racist. Then I think, ‘That’s fine! Everything’s fine. Nothing’s gonna happen. No, of course I’m fine. Why’d I even think that for a second?’ That’s because I was raised in the ’70s. Everything was different in the ’70s than it is now. Except the Middle East is exactly the same. It’s the same fights, and it’s boring now. That’s the worst part of it … after awhile when you fight, people don’t care because both of you just keep fighting. Everybody’s like, ‘Those guys are d*cks. They just fight..'”
On child molestation: “There was a child molester who lived in my hometown. And it wasn’t a big deal. It was like, ‘Yeah, that’s the house where the child molester lives. Hey kids, don’t be stupid. You’ll get molested. I know because he did something to me when I was your age. So just stay away from the child molester house.’ … Child molesters are very tenacious people. They love molesting childs. It’s crazy. It’s like their favorite thing. When you consider the risk of being a child molester — there is no worse life available to a human than being a caught child molester. And yet they still do it! Which you could only really surmise, that it must be really good.” [uncomfortable gasps and boos] “I mean, from their point of view! It must be AMAZING. For them to risk so much! …. How do you think I feel? It’s my last show, probably … I love Mounds bars. It’s my favorite thing, right? But there’s a limit. I can’t even eat a Mounds bar and do something else at the same time which I love. And yet if someone said to me, ‘If you eat another Mounds bar, you’ll go to jail and everyone would hate you,’ I would stop eating them. Because they do taste delicious, but they don’t taste as good as a young boy does … and shouldn’t. To child molesters! Not to me. Not to US, because we’re all awesome.”
[From SNL on Hulu]
Yes, he compared child molestation to love for a candy bar. What makes this monologue even more uncomfortable is a fresh Gawker article about how Louis allegedly exposes and pleasures himself in front of female comics. The story is based on long-standing rumors and sources a blind item, so it may or may not be true.
A lot of people feel that Louis crossed the line with this monologue. Others are shouting that Louis routinely pushes boundaries and shocks his audience. I do think Louis went too far, and this monologue surpasses the “political correctness” complaints surrounding the criticism of comedians. Child molestation is never hilarious, and it’s sad that Louis C.K. felt compelled to mine the subject for comedic effect. Aren’t there a million other things to crack “edgy” jokes about instead of such a painful subject?
Here are a few Twitter reactions to Louis’ monologue.
I grew up on SNL. Huge Louis C.K. fan. I know they both push the line. I get that. But that opening monologue…
— Bun B (@BunBTrillOG) May 17, 2015
That was the unfunniest, most offensive #SNL monologue I've ever seen. Racism and child molestation? Really, Louis. #SNL40Finale
— John DeMayo (@JohnnyDeMayo) May 17, 2015
Screencaps courtesy of NBC/Hulu; photos courtesy of WENN
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