by By Carly Wallace
In recent events, Amy Schumer, host of this year’s Oscars, had a gig at the Las Vegas Mirage Theater in which she opened up about jokes that didn’t make the Oscars cut. For those of you who don’t know who Amy Schumer is, she is an amazing American stand-up comedian and actress and very well-liked to say the least.
Amy obviously opened up about her reaction to “the slap” and how that made her feel, being the host at that time, which directed her perfectly into the joke her lawyer told her not to say which was about the tragic Rust shooting.
Which was: “’Don’t Look Up’ is the name of the movie? More like don’t look down the barrel of Alec Baldwin’s shotgun.” And the preceded the “joke” with, “I wasn’t allowed to say any of that [at the Oscars], but you can just come up and [slap] someone!”
Alec Baldwin’s incident is no joke to talk about. While on set of filming Rush, director Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed by Alec Baldwin on accident, as he was told the gun was safe and unloaded. More info on the story her: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/us/alec-baldwin-shooting-rust-movie.html
While hearing about this poor joke that Amy Schumer made and how she is now swallowing her words, I thought about the properties of networked publics.
- Persistence: What she said is sticking around because of the drama surrounding her decision to say a joke that is far from being funny. Just because she was telling a joke that she didn’t actually say at the Oscars, it’s still not something to joke about ever. Her name is now in a bad light because of the persistence social media has on this incident.
- Replicability: There are many articles about this event and her quote is posted many different times on many different platforms. Because replicability is available to users using social media, her words are everywhere and cannot be taken back.
- Scalability: Amy meant for those “untold Oscar jokes” to be told at her stand-up show in Las Vegas and didn’t expect her words to scale to a whole new dimension of viral.
Obviously being a well-known celebrity, she already should know that what she says is going to be discussed regardless of the quality of the joke. However, the power social media has over your actions is very strong. Even though this happened a few days ago, there are still articles being published about the event. She should have known better than to precede saying a joke that her lawyer told her not to say. She deserves the backlash she is facing, being a celebrity as well as having the common sense to not joke about a fatal incident is the perfect meal for social media to eat up.
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I’m so glad somebody wrote about this topic and how replicability has impacted this situation. I initially heard about Schumer’s tasteless joke from a friend, another example of how quotes can be replicated and further spread. The nature of the Alec Baldwin incident is not something we as a society have moved past, and the family and friends of Halyna Hutchins definitely have not. I would have appreciated a tribute to Hutchins being incorporated into the Oscars, but with this “comedic” comment, Schumer (whose reputation is already at stake from prior controversial jokes) did not do her reputation any favors. —Jaden Gill
I’m so glad somebody wrote about this topic and how replicability has impacted this situation. I initially heard about Schumer’s tasteless joke from a friend, another example of how quotes can be replicated and further spread. The nature of the Alec Baldwin incident is not something we as a society have moved past, and the family and friends of Halyna Hutchins definitely have not. I would have appreciated a tribute to Hutchins being incorporated into the Oscars, but with this “comedic” comment, Schumer (whose reputation is already at stake from prior controversial jokes) did not do her reputation any favors.
I feel like Amy Schumer always ends up in situations like this one, her boundaries are non-existent. I actually had not heard of the Alec Baldwin joke until reading your blog post but it is very distasteful and disheartening to hear. The breaking news aspect of this tragic accident may be over, but the grief that Alec Baldwin, the cast and especially the family members of the director will never end. I really like how you brought in the class ideals of the networked publics to deeper understand this situation. When thinking about Scalability, Schumer may not have expected her joke to be heard by as many people which is understandable. However, that is definitely not an excuse to joke on such a sensitive topic. Great post!