Whitney Cummings isn’t one to back down from a joke or a fight.
The veteran comic isn’t woke. Nor does she self-censor her material. She even posted her latest comedy special, “Mouthy,” on a platform that lets artists say what they want sans censorship.
OFTV.
So she was a good match for Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast, and she shared a tidbit that came as no surprise to the liberal, but aggressively unwoke, host.
The comics talked about MeToo and current hiring practices given Gen Z’s reputation for being triggered by any number of microaggressions.
Maher said he has a mostly hands-off policy with his hiring practices, and he was happy about it.
“I am paranoid about hiring … with the way people are now, especially the younger generation … we’re a happy group and we have been for a very long time and we function really well together. People don’t wanna leave,” Maher said. “All it takes is one stupid f***ing uber-woke person who thinks they’re a social justice warrior but they just want to stir up s***.”
Cummings quickly added a personal story about just such a person.
“I got in trouble for saying, ‘Merry Christmas’ on the set of ‘Roseanne,’” Cummings said.
“That kind of s***,” Maher interjected.
Cummings served as the rebooted ABC show’s co-runner, meaning she was very high up on the power scale. Showrunners essentially call the creative shots on a given program.
Whitney Cummings, ‘Roseanne’ Brass Settle the Score
That didn’t protect her from a woke underling who complained about her seasonal tidings.
“When HR called me to say I was in trouble for saying, ‘Merry Christmas,’ They were like, ‘Hey, um, so … ‘ They thought it was ridiculous, too,” Cummings recalled. She didn’t stop there, though. “I confronted the person and I basically was like, ‘You’re dangerous to everybody in this office.’”
RELATED: CRAVE COMEDY? HERE’S WHERE TO FIND IT WITHOUT FILTERS
“That’s a good story, and I’m glad it came out that way for you, but I am not as sanguine as you are about the idea that the ridiculous don’t have fans – the other people who are ridiculous,” Maher said. “Ridiculous stuff does land sometimes … and no one ever gets in trouble for being too woke.”
Cummings eventually left the “Roseanne” reboot at the start of season two, reportedly due to a heavy workload. Could events like this have played a part in her departure?
‘Roseanne’ Executive Producer Whitney Cummings Exits Ahead Of Season 2 As ABC Comedy Series Adds New Writers https://t.co/6koDc0jaY0 pic.twitter.com/KYwLVNW7DA
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) May 18, 2018
Cummings on Free Speech: More, Please
This isn’t the first time the comedienne weighed in on woke culture – or the political party behind it. She’s not openly conservative but last year she weighed in on which ideological party wants to censor voices.
“When it comes to speech, the Left wants to silence people in a lot of ways … so I think comedians do find themselves criticizing that part of the Left.
“In their minds they’re doing it to protect people and to make the world safer. But I don’t believe that’s how the world is made safer. I just want to make people laugh. But I do find that people that probably would consider themselves more conservative these days have a better sense of humor, for sure.”
Cummings also approved of Roseanne Barr’s quest to embrace Trump voters in her rebooted TV series, even if she didn’t see eye-to-eye with the sitcom legend’s political views.
“This clash of ideas and clash of personalities makes for a deeper and more realistic show that could possibly help the people who felt so ignored, dismissed, and invisible that they felt the need to ‘shake things up.’”
The post Whitney Cummings Got Busted By HR for Saying One Simple Phrase appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.