Daniel Tosh Apologizes for Rape Joke After Tumblr Outrage
Comedian Daniel Tosh has apologized after he made a female audience member the subject of a rape joke and was later slammed for it on Tumblr.
All the out of context misquotes aside, I'd like to sincerely apologize, Tosh tweeted on Tuesday. The point I was making before I was heckled is there awful things in the world, but you still make jokes about them, he added.
The owner of Laugh Factory, where Tosh's performance took place, also apologized. Comedians sometimes tell jokes and sometimes they can be off color. I think Daniel Tosh is one of the funniest comics alive. He is one of the most caring people I know. He had no intentions of hurting anyone, Jamie Masada told E! News.
I understand where she is coming from, but Daniel Tosh did not attack this young lady. I feel bad for her and I apologize to her. If you are a member of the audience and you start dishing out something to a comic and try to be funny, you better be able to take it, he added.
The incident took place after Tosh made a comment that all rape jokes are funny. A woman shouted back at him saying that rape jokes were never funny, at which point Tosh made the following remarks that were accounted for by a friend of the woman through her own words on Tumblr.
After I called out to him, Tosh paused for a moment. Then, he says, 'Wouldn't it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her...' and I, completely stunned and finding it hard to process what was happening but knowing I needed to get out of there, immediately nudged my friend, who was also completely stunned, and we high-tailed it out of there. It was humiliating, of course, especially as the audience guffawed in response to Tosh, their eyes following us as we made our way out of there. I didn't hear the rest of what he said about me.
Even though the venue were apologetic and offered a complimentary pair of tickets, the woman explained that she felt threatened.
I should probably add that having to basically flee while Tosh was enthusing about how hilarious it would be if I was gang-raped in that small, claustrophic room was pretty viscerally terrifying and threatening all the same, even if the actual scenario was unlikely to take place. The suggestion of it is violent enough and was meant to put me in my place.
The Tumblr post was re-blogged and has had a lot of traction and mixed reactions. Tosh fans defend the comedian saying the woman should have known what she was getting herself in to when she embarrassed him on stage. While others protected her and said she hadn't been to a Tosh show before and his comments were un-called for and deeply humiliating.
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