Comic and podcaster Marc Maron is calling out his peers who use their positions to drive what he terms “the new fascism” just a day after right-wing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made racist and sexist jokes at Donald Trump‘s Madison Square Garden rally.
Other comics also slammed Hinchcliffe who, among other things, called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.”
Tweeted Michael Ian Black, “I think America just found its next Jim Breuer!”
Maron’s statement, posted in full on his WTF With Marc Maron website and shared in part on social media, did not specifically name Hinchcliffe, but the message seems clear.
Writes Maron: “The anti-woke flank of the new fascism is being driven almost exclusively by comics, my peers. Whether or not they are self-serving or true believers in the new fascism is unimportant. They are of the movement. Whether they see themselves as acolytes or just comics doesn’t matter. Whether they are driven by the idea that what they are fighting for is a free speech issue or whether they are truly morally bankrupt racists doesn’t matter. They are part of the public face of a fascist political movement that seeks to destroy the democratic idea.”
Maron also lambasted podcasters who “have shameless, self-proclaimed white supremacists and fascists” on their shows. Hinchcliffe hosts a podcast called Kill Tony, and has served as an opening act for Joe Rogan.
“When comedians with podcasts have shameless, self-proclaimed white supremacists and fascists on their show to joke around like they are just entertainers or even just politicians, all it does is humanize and normalize fascism,” Maron writes. “When someone uses their platform for that reason they are facilitating anti-American sentiment and promoting violent autocracy.”
Hinchcliffe also made derogatory jokes about Jews, Palestinians, Blacks and Latinos. According to CNN, the Trump campaign vetted at least some of Hinchcliffe’s routine and insisted he remove an extremely offensive and misogynist epithet regarding Kamala Harris.
In response to the backlash – and, specifically, criticism from Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz – Hinchcliffe posted a clip of the late, great insult comedian Don Rickles at a rally for Ronald Reagan, seeming to draw a comparison to himself.
That didn’t sit well with comedian and actor Harry Shearer, who tweeted that Rickles “was one of a kind, and, to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, Tony Hinchcliffe is no Don Rickles.”
W. Kamau Bell tweeted, “You have got to be joking. Tony Hinchcliffe retweeted this clip as if to say he and Don Rickles are the same. I just watched Tony’s whole set. Tony only made fun of the people OUT OF the room (or the people in the room that he’s not afraid of). Rickles only made fun of people IN the room. Most of Rickles jokes are making fun of Reagan. All of Tony’s jokes about Trump are – as the kids say – glazing him.”
In another tweet, Bell wrote, “Tony Hinchcliffe’s career with Trump barely lasted a tenth of a Scaramucci.”
In a response on Hinchcliffe’s own X thread, actor Jon Cryer write, “Hi Tony. We’re aware that you’re a comedian. But when you are a featured speaker at a campaign event, what you say reflects on the campaign. If no one from the campaign informed you of that, they screwed you royally.”
