David Cross criticises comedians who make transphobic jokes: “Just move on and not hurt hundreds of thousands of people”

David Cross has called out comedians who “bitch and moan” about cancel culture.

The comedian and actor, who is known for playing Tobias Funke in Arrested Development, criticised comics who brand themselves as advocates for ‘free speech’ after making offensive jokes against marginalised groups.

Speaking on Salon Talks, Cross explained that he was confronted by a fan over a joke they found problematic in his I’m From The Future stand-up tour, which he subsequently dropped after discussing it with the individual.

“It was like a throwaway line and I was like, ‘Ok, I’ll lose it.’ It’s easy to lose. It’s not a difficult thing to do,” Cross said. “All the comics who bitch and moan about, ‘Hey, they’re trying to cancel me for this joke I made.’ Most of the time it’s a nothing joke and it doesn’t matter, and now you are positioning yourself as this bullshit voice of, ‘They’re not going to cancel me. You can’t silence me.’ For what? Your dumb joke about trans people? Who gives a shit.

“Is it that important to you? Just move on and not hurt hundreds of thousands of people.”

He added: “It’s a choice people make but…. After this conversation, again it was a longer conversation, we went back and forth, and at the end I was like, ‘Ok’. It doesn’t hurt me, it doesn’t affect me in any way to not do that line. I wish I could remember what it was but I stopped doing it.”

Comedians like Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais have been criticised in recent years over jokes that were deemed transphobic in their respective Netflix specials.

In the case of Chappelle, the backlash to his special The Closer sparked employee walkouts within Netflix. A speech addressing the criticism was subsequently released on the streaming platform, where he claimed those critical of his comments disregarded his “artistic nuance”.

Gervais previously defended making “taboo” jokes in an appearance on The One Show, stating that comedy is for “getting us over taboo subjects so they’re not scary any more”.

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