“It’s too important. So we’re going to spend five minutes talking about it.”
People seem to have forgetten that great comedians often challenge their audiences. Stand-up legends Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, and George Carlin all took heat for controversial takes on current events that made people uncomfortable. One Sunday night in October 2016, in Tampa Bay, Florida, over 200 audience members couldn’t handle comedienne Amy Schumer’s brand of confrontational comedy and walked out of the venue after she criticized Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
During her performance, Schumer fought through heckling and boos while she went on a 15-minute political rant discussing sexual assault, gun control, and professing her support for Hillary Clinton. The crowd got especially anxious when she brought a Trump supporter on stage and grilled him about why he supported an “orange, sexual-assaulting, fake-college-starting monster.” Schumer encouraged security to throw out the hecklers saying, “It’s too important. So we’re going to spend five minutes talking about it.”
Listening to anyone go on a long-form political rant can be tedious, but Schumer fans shouldn’t have been shocked. The comedienne is a staunch feminist, gun-control activist, and the cousin of New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer. Even though her performance has drummed up some bad press, Schumer isn’t fazed by the negative reaction in Tampa Bay. “I loved the crowd and my show in Tampa last night!” she told Vanity Fair. “I want to thank the 8,400 people who stayed. We had a great time! We have always depended on comedians to make us laugh and tell the truth. I am proud to continue that tradition.”
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