Amy Schumer Blasts Article Calling Her Jokes 'Racist,' Says She Will Not Limit Herself To 'Safe Material'

Comedian Amy Schumer has defended herself against claims that her comedy is racially insensitive, saying she will not "start joking about safe material." In a series of screenshots posted on Twitter, the 34-year-old stand-up comedian said she will joke about “anything” that her audience may or may not like but they should “stick to her.”

“Put down your torches before reading this so you don’t catch on fire,” the 34-year-old actress wrote on Twitter on Sunday in a long note. “I am a comic. I am so glad more people are laughing at me and with me all of a sudden. I will joke about things you like and I will joke about things you aren’t comfortable with. And that’s ok. Stick with me and trust I am joking.”

She continued her post saying that she goes “in and out of playing an irreverent idiot,” which includes “making dumb jokes involving race.” She also added that she enjoys playing the girl who says the “dumbest thing possible” and also acknowledged that “playing with race is a thing we are not supposed to do, which is what makes it so fun for comics. You can call it a ‘blind spot for racism’ or ‘lazy’ but you are wrong. It is a joke and it is funny. I know that because people laugh at it.”

Schumer added that she is “not going to start joking about safe material. And don't ask that of me.”

Schumer's social media post appeared to be a response to an article published in the Guardian newspaper on Sunday titled, “Amy Schumer: comedy's viral queen” by Monica Heisey, who wrote that Schumer has “a large blind spot around race.” Heisey cited several of Schumer's jokes as being racist, such as, “Nothing works 100 percent of the time, except Mexicans,” and wrote that much of Schumer's comic persona is "predicated on the fact that the men she sleeps with are people of color."

Though Schumer did not cite the Guardian's story, she ended her long message as follows: “My fight is for all people to be treated equally,” she wrote. “Move on to the next person who is more deserving of your scrutiny.”