Comedian Russell Peters took shots at cancel culture perpetrators who attacked him previously, while defending fellow comic Joe Rogan, who was subject to claims of racism over out-of-context clips.
Peters, 53, spoke of his own experience with cancel culture mobs that targeted him for making jokes about Indian names, despite him being Indian himself.
“They had people calling in telling them they’re going to boycott the CBC if they ever play me again,” the comedian told the “Triggernometry” podcast. As well, Peters said an Indian newspaper from Vancouver, Canada, said the Indian community would rally against him.
“CBC calls me in and I’m thinking I’m in trouble, they’re like, ‘We got this letter from this guy [from a] newspaper in British Columbia who says he’s going to get people to boycott the CBC,’ and I’m like f**k it’s over for me, and he goes, ‘You know how good this?! You know what that means? You’re making waves, kid!'” Peters recalled.
The host asked Peters what the complaints were over, and Peters revealed that word had spread that he was racist because it wasn’t known that he is Indian due to his Western-sounding name.
“They didn’t know I was Indian because of my name, and I was making jokes about Indian names. And then I did a joke about an all-Indian ice hockey team I said the Toronto Maple Sikhs.”
Peters later responded to the idea of reaching back in history to judge through a present lens as a tool of cancel culture.
“They want to erase the history. You cannot erase the past. You need that there so you don’t make the same mistakes twice. If you have no point of reference, you’re gonna completely f**k your s**t up again,” the comedian remarked.
Peters then defended Rogan, who was subject to a compilation of clips of him saying the N-word out of context. The timing of the bad press aligned with an attempt to get his new contract with Spotify canceled.
“That was some serious bulls**t and they tried to peg him as a racist,” Peters explained. “I know him very, very well. We’ve known each other for a long time. … I know his wife, I know his kids, I know everything.”
“I posted on my page, I go, ‘This is not the guy you’re trying to paint him out to be,'” he described. Peters said he told close friends and other comedians not to fall for the charade and that “what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to take away his Spotify money.”
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