White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg took issue Tuesday with stand-up comedians pushing the bounds of political correctness to be deliberately provocative.
Mr. Buttigieg, the Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, voiced concerns about comics going beyond the pale during an appearance on Snapchat’s “Good Luck America” series.
“Two things are true,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “One is that part of how comedy works is it challenges our conventions, it challenges our sensitivities, and that’s part of what it can contribute. Another thing that is also true is that hurtful things and hateful things often come at us in the form of humor, and we just have to learn how to handle both of those things.
“When a piece of art that is out there to challenge conventions does something that’s really harmful, then I think it’s time to turn it off,” he said. “But we get to have those debates.”
Mr. Buttigieg, the first openly gay Democratic presidential candidate, made the comments after several comedians came under fire recently for telling politically incorrect jokes. Dave Chappelle was panned by critics for his latest Netflix special mocking transgender people, Asians and rape victims, among others, and more recently “Saturday Night Live” cast member Shane Gillis was punted from the NBC program last month amid an outcry over his past use of racist and homophobic slurs.
“I will say that there comes a point where you’re just straight up hurting people, and I don’t know what goal you’re hoping to achieve,” Mr. Buttigieg said on Snapchat. “As much as there has been a lot of political correctness, there’s also this weird way in which it’s become fashionable to attack political correctness that I think has become its own weird correctness out there.
“At the end of the day, I may be at risk of sounding simplistic, I’m just coming at this from the perspective of, like, helping and hurting,” he said. “Is what we’re doing every day, whether you’re a politician or a comedian or an artist or a business person or whatever, are you doing more good than harm out there? And if you’re not, it’s time for some reflection and time for some adjustment.”
Mr. Buttigieg, 37, is among a dozen candidates participating in a Democratic primary debate Tuesday evening. Recent nationwide polling has him among the top 10.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.