Controversial Comic Cancelled for Outrageous Renee Good Joke
Ben Bankas routinely pushes boundaries of stand-up comedy and bad taste

Stephen Colbert just compared ICE agents to Nazi foot soldiers, but he suggested the former were actually worse.
Colbert claims ICE are worse than Nazis. Do not compare ICE or Border Patrol agents to the Nazis. That’s an unfair comparison. The Nazis were willing to show their faces.” pic.twitter.com/ikK10HoeOC
— Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) January 29, 2026
It wasn’t a joke-joke, and the timing couldn’t be worse as ICE agents face a wave of violence for simply upholding the law. Colbert suffered no professional consequences. And he’ll still show up to work next week as if nothing happened.
Tell that to Ben Bankas.
The raw comedian, who pushes the boundaries of humor and taste with every appearance, just got bounced from a planned gig for telling the wrong joke.
Sounds like 2020 all over again, no?
The joke in question involved Renee Good, the radical activist who was killed earlier this month after refusing to follow orders and driving her Honda Pilot into an ICE agent. He fired in self-defense, killing the single mother, but still reportedly suffering from internal injuries.
Bankas’ joke was, by all accounts, dark and cruel.
“Her last name was Good. That’s what I said after they shot her in the face.” Banks cracked. He also called her a “retard” and said she should have been shot earlier in a confrontation she initiated.
That coaxed the owner of the Laugh Camp Comedy Club in St. Paul, Minn. to cancel Bankas’ six sold-out shows. Bill Collins said “safety” concerns forced his hand.
“I’m not sure any amount of security or preplanning would mitigate the liability I’d face if something happened.”
The safety concerns would likely involve far-Left radicals taking on the club, possibly with force, for daring to host Bankas. It’s how the modern Left operates. They deploy the “Heckler’s Veto” to silence speech they don’t like.
And, so very often, it works.
Bankas shared an ugly truth with the media regarding his cancellation. These attempts to silence voices flow in one direction.
“Any subject matter that talks about something taboo, you’re going to get people who are upset about it, and I take that as a consequence. But my issue is, it’s only when one side of the conversation is upset that we think about canceling a show.”
He’s right.
The Colberts and Kimmels of the world can share the ugliest jokes without consequence. They do so with the full support of the Legacy Media. As well they should. Let the public, and the marketplace decide if a comedian can share the jokes they want to tell.
By that standard, Bankas’ tour schedule is full of sold-out shows.
And, of course, groups like the ACLU will stand down and refuse to back Bankas. The group, once a fierce protector of free speech, is more of a far-Left activist group.
Need proof? How often did the ACLU stand up for speech during the peak of the woke era? Did they defend “canceled” stars like Gina Carano or Roseanne Barr?
That’s rhetorical.
The Kimmels of the world, who claim to defend a comic’s right to say what’s on his mind, will also lay low – if past once again is prologue.