Margaret Cho Turns Off Comedy Audience With Jokes About Rape
Nobody thinks rape is funny, and that is especially true of rape victims. However, Margaret Cho, a victim of sexual assault herself, has made it the lead in her stand-up routine. Although Cho calls this comedy, many think it’s not funny, and because of this people, stood up and walked out of Margaret Cho’s recent show.
TMZ is reporting that Margaret Cho literally made people run from a comedy club with alleged comic rants about rape and white people. It seems that nobody thought that rape was funny, and it sure doesn’t play in New Jersey. But Cho didn’t only make people flee the comedy club, but some stuck around to actually fight. At this point, even Cho thinks she bombed, but she has an excuse, and it isn’t drugs this time.
TMZ shared a tape of Margaret Cho bombing at a New Jersey comedy club, talking about rape, white people, gays, and more topics that, when put together, just aren’t funny. In the tape, you can hear people growing “restless and angry,” especially when Garry Shandling’s death becomes another topic of the comedic rant.
Next, Margaret Cho took it to a new level and started attacking those walking out of the club, calling them over-privileged white people and racists.
“You will never get a cent of the money back that you paid,” she said.
Many fans wondered if Margaret Cho was high during the comedy-gone-wrong routine, but she took to Twitter and blamed the whole faux pas on jet lag, but she still believes that survivors should speak the truth when it comes to rape and sexual assault.
Margaret Cho Runs Off Audience During Show In N.J. https://t.co/trMO1BvN77 #LGBTNews
— Scott Werntz (@mrpinkoutloud) March 28, 2016
The New York Daily News says that hecklers got the best of Margaret Cho during her show, which featured “rape humor,” at a New Jersey comedy club.
Margaret Cho yelled to those leaving the Stress Factory in New Brunswick, New Jersey, that she doesn’t know why they even came out to the club but assured them that they won’t be getting a refund, although they were offended enough to walk out. To many, rape just seemed like an odd place to find something funny.
Although Cho admitted that jet lag made her do it, she still defended talking about rape in her act via Twitter.
“Don’t be afraid to talk about what happened to you,” she said. “Tell all. There is no shame in being a survivor. Shame the abuser. Shame the rapist.”
Margaret Cho Launches #12DaysofRage Campaign for Rape Survivors | NBC Bay Area https://t.co/RqkN99Mmiy via @nbcbayarea
— Caprice Ross Colding (@CapriceColding) November 8, 2015
Starpulse said that leading with rape was awful, but Margaret Cho following up with a largely white crowd that white people have it easy and are racists wasn’t funny for this group either. Cho had a serious comedy fail in New Jersey. That Cho jumped onto Twitter to try to provide an excuse for the fail seems to indicate that she agrees that the comedy event in New Jersey went wrong.
Although difficult topics are often the place where Margaret Cho finds most of her topics for comedy, it’s hard to imagine that the combination of rape and blaming white folks for the world’s ills would be the way to go for Cho to leave an audience in stitches.
It’s pretty safe to say that Margaret Cho will still touch on these topics in the show, but likely she will pepper them in with other things that someone finds funny.
Do you think that Margaret Cho needs to rethink her comedy routine?
[Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty Images]
