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Twitter Resurfaces Patton Oswalt’s Problematic Jokes

The woke comedian is an 'ally,' but these routines could get him canceled

Patton Oswalt got a crash course in Cancel Culture, and the worst may not be over.

Oswalt, 52, shared a snapshot of himself with longtime comedy bud Dave Chappelle on social media last week. The two shared a comedy stage together recently, and the “Goldbergs” narrator happily shared a memory of the moment.

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt)

The post earned more than 62,000 “likes,” but not everyone was pleased.

The snapshot sparked an outcry from select progressives unwilling to forgive Chappelle for material they deemed “transphobic.” Chappelle repeatedly tells jokes tied to the trans community, interspersing them with his empathy for that demographic and bond with specific trans comics.

Oswalt, caught in the woke crossfire and unwilling to staunchly defend a friend, followed up the image with an apology – slash – explainer to dig himself out of the social media hole. 

It likely won’t stop the digital bleeding. Here’s why:

Some conservative Twitter users dug through his older material, much like progressives do on a regular basis to smite their ideological foes, and found some bits that clearly would get Oswalt canceled today.

WARNING: Mature language

Comedian Tim Dillon partially defended Oswalt for the latter clip, because he was performing in character and not speaking as himself.

Yet that kind of nuance is often ignored by the Cancel Culture crowd. Nuance rarely, if ever, gets embraced by those willing to shame, punish or outright cancel.

NOTE: Dillon suggests canceled comic Shane Gillis was in character, too, when he unleashed some racial slams against Asians, which led to his removal from “Saturday Night Live.” This reporter hasn’t independently confirmed that to be the case.

Other Twitters users scolded Oswalt, who once compared Antifa to the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy, for betraying a friend.

Will Oswalt’s older material spark a new woke fire? It’s unclear. He’s an avowed progressive who holds all the “right” positions, so that may offer him enough protection. Or, his embrace of Chappelle may have stripped that cultural immunity from him, and he’ll be apologizing anew sooner than later.

Fellow comic Andrew Shultz found the whole affair hilarious. Here, he mocks Oswalt for his oversized ego and much more.

“It’s a scandal only on your own Instagram page. The world isn’t picking this up … you have to delete 10 [angry] comments, and all of a sudden you’re like, ‘oh no, this is big news’ … that level of narcissism, that inability to see outside the world … that’s some weirdo Hollywood s***,” Shultz cracked.

Patton Oswalt Apologizes For Taking Photo With Dave Chappelle?! | Andrew Schulz & Akaash Singh

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