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Awful

Not Cool: Daniel Tosh Reportedly Joked About Heckling Audience Member Getting Gang Raped

4:50 pm, July 10th | by Laura Donovan


Oh, Daniel Tosh. Looks like you didn’t read our post yesterday on why it’s never okay to joke about rape. But apparently that’s a thing these days, as the comedian reportedly responded to a yelling audience member at one of his shows by saying it would be hilarious if she were to get sexually assaulted by a pack of men.

A blogger under the Tumblr account Cookies for Breakfast just posted an entry detailing an icky encounter her friend had with the television star. On Friday night, the blogger’s female buddy went out to the Laugh Factory to see Dane Cook. Though they found him entertaining, the friend wasn’t taken by the following act, Daniel Tosh, who, according to the blogger’s friend, began “making some very generalizing, declarative statements about rape jokes always being funny, how can a rape joke not be funny, rape is hilarious, etc.” That riled up the friend, who responded to Tosh by yelling, “Actually, rape jokes are never funny!”

While I don’t condone yelling at people onstage (even though it seems to happen a lot at comedy gigs), I understand why the woman got so upset. What’s even worse is that Tosh reportedly retorted with, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, five guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her…”

Oh, it would be a riot, Mr. ‘I love to sneak up behind women and lightly touch their stomachs.’ Considering you’ve joked about your sister getting raped during stand-up, it’s easy to see why you’d have no reservations doing the same to a complete stranger. Nevertheless, you scared her away. She left the show but she felt uncomfortable even doing that:

“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, claustrophobic 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.”

And now Tosh should be put in his. Here is footage of him laughing about his sister’s rape during one of his shows:

Requests for comment from Tosh’s management were not returned.

TAGS:

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PKEQSTA4WOBYU5Z7QNSBUR2LXI MASSMURDERMEDIA

    so all of tosh’s quotes are filed under “reportedly”?…  anyway, when comedians start worrying about offending people they’re finished…  but if you expect common decency from them, bear in mind this woman went to a show by a guy who is on record, not reportedly, joking about sex with babies…

     

  • Anonymous

    So a woman took a joke too seriously and heckled a comedian who then joked about her in the same vein as the joke she took too seriously and left. That is basically what happened? And why is this a big deal?

  • http://twitter.com/LauraDonovanUA Laura Donovan

    Took a joke too seriously? Maybe you wouldn’t know what it’s like the be the subject of a gang rape joke, as you’re a man, but it’s not fun, as the girl said. I wouldn’t expect you to understand, though.

  • http://twitter.com/LauraDonovanUA Laura Donovan

    We gave him a chance to comment on it and he didn’t get back to us. Think Progress reported on it too. he didn’t deny it! She did not deserve to be the subject of a gang rape joke. You may find it funny but it’s not.

  • Anonymous

    He apologized on twitter. Even Jezebel mentioned that.

  • Anonymous

    So I’m not allowed to have an opinion because of my gender?

  • http://twitter.com/LauraDonovanUA Laura Donovan

    he didnt apologize until after we’d published our story and reached out to his team. we’re doing another story entirely on that part.

  • Anonymous

    I’m sorry Laura but the woman heckled him during his performance.  No problem with her being offended.  She should have left.  She’s free to go blog about it or whatever but now she has somehow become some kind of victim for interrupting a live performance.  Maybe there was going to be a point to all of his rape jokes but he could never get to it because some jerk started yelling at him from the audience.

  • http://twitter.com/LauraDonovanUA Laura Donovan

    I don’t like all the heckling that goes on at comedy shows. I think it’s rude to do that to performers but at the same time there don’t seem to be any boundaries at shows of this nature. It’s a tough call and I don’t want to be too hard on the guy. I’m sure he didn’t mean any harm but the joke wasn’t funny. 

  • http://twitter.com/JFeitelberg John Feitelberg

     so then the point of your story is that a comedian told a joke that you don’t find funny? looks like you’ll never be short on material.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/IT6KXCTOYMCYFRBPUPEU6WCQ6U Ted

    guys can get raped too. Prison rape happens all the time.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/IT6KXCTOYMCYFRBPUPEU6WCQ6U Ted

    Wait guys are NEVER ever made fun of when it come to rape? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0490086/ oh wait…that movie with rob schnieder that came out that was a joke about him trying not to get raped in prison. It’s a two-way street and for you to assume it’s all about sex is just plain wrong. It’s about decency and the fact is humor rarely works when the victim is being made fun of.

  • http://twitter.com/lekass Lauren

    About women being raped? No.

  • http://twitter.com/LoganDempsey1 Logan Dempsey

    Laura, you don’t get to decide what’s funny. She did deserve to be the subject of the joke since she felt brassy enough to make some of poorly-timed political statement at a comedy show; walked right into it.

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