Hannah Einbinder Says ‘You Can Say Anything’ If You Write Good Jokes
It’s the great comic divide of 2024, with Hacks star Hannah Einbinder planting her flag firmly in the “Comedians can say anything they please” ground. Despite the concerns of panicked comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Rob Schneider, Einbinder says funny people have nothing to worry about.
“You can say anything,” Einbinder told Refinery29. “You just have to be a good joke writer. And you have to be smart. You can’t just be a bigot and racist and homophobic and transphobic. Or actually, you can and you’ll have a wonderful career. ‘Cause a lot of people will come out and support that.”
In fact, anti-woke comics will probably make a freaking mint. “That’s why it’s so ironic to me when people are like, ‘You can’t say anything!’” Einbinder says. “It’s like, ‘You’re doing arenas, like, what are you talking about?’ Your career is thriving because you’re playing to a market of people who want you to say fucked up shit.”
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Einbinder finds it hard to listen to the whines of the Bill Mahers of the world when actual silencing exists for others. “You want to talk about people who, like, can’t say anything? There are people across this world whose freedom of speech is actually limited,” Einbinder says. “Some fucking guy on stage who’s like saying his wife’s a bitch? He can do that. No one’s really getting in trouble for that. I just think it’s bullshit.”
As IndieWire notes, it’s not the first time Einbinder has taken this stand. “I don’t think ‘cancel culture’ is what people think it is,” she told The Independent in 2022. “Anyone who has been ‘canceled’ is pretty much back to work, especially men. Even Bill Cosby is free.”
“There are a lot of bullies who grew up to be comedians and they are just continuing to bully people,” she said. “They have no desire to be thoughtful or make light of things, only to cause chaos or be what they believe is ‘edgy’ but is actually, in reality, hack.”
So what should audiences do with comic bullies? “They will always exist and if you don’t like them, don’t support them,” she advised. “Don’t buy their tickets.”