Netflix Backlash Is Just Latest Chapter in the Amy Schumer Hate Saga
Confession: I’m not the world’s hugest Amy Schumer fan. I found the jokes on her last special, Emergency Contact, to fall into the “just fine” category — solid and professional but unlikely to win her new fans. But my lukewarm response to her stand-up material is high praise compared to the vitriol that comes Schumer’s way every time she launches a new project or appears on Howard Stern.
For an example, look no further than Schumer’s new movie, Kinda Pregnant. A Netflix promotional post ignited a typical outburst of irrational anger. “So glad Netflix cancels all my favorite shows after one season to focus on making more fake movies,” tweeted one user.
“They stonewalled the production of a David Lynch series for shit like this,” spat another.
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Others broke out the ALL CAPS to yell at the streamer: “Y’all increase the prices every 6 months for THIS TRASH?! LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOO GO TO HELL”
Mind you, all of this hate came down before anyone had actually seen Schumer’s new comedy.
What’s behind all the venom? Like the rock group Creed, Schumer seems to have angered the Pop Culture Gods, becoming an icon in the mythic pantheon of Entertainers People Collectively Despise. When Microsoft’s Bard named Schumer the 8th best comedian of all time, people lost their minds as if someone was trying to obliterate the Department of Education.
Schumer may land a few rungs lower on your personal list, but be fair, she’s no hack. She won a Peabody Award, wrote a best-seller and headlined a #1 movie, for Pete’s sake. In 2016, Vox said, “There is no comedian right now as popular and as visible as Amy Schumer.” Did she fly too close to the sun, melting her comedy wings?
Here are a few theories about what went wrong…
Politics
As far back as 2016, Schumer was getting vocal about her politics. CBS News reported that about 200 people walked out of her Tampa show that year when she delivered a Trump rant.
Schumer hasn’t exactly left out the political stuff since then. Earlier this year, she stuffed her social media accounts with her opinions on Israel and Hamas, inciting blowback both online and in real life. Variety recounted an incident while filming Kinda Pregnant in which a scene was interrupted by a stranger screaming, “Fuck you, Amy Schumer! You love genocide!”
Why not find more sophisticated venues for political conversation than incendiary social posts? “I can’t help it,” she told Variety. “A lot of people can help it, but I’ve never been able to.”
Joke-Stealing Accusations
Did she or didn’t she? Comedians Kathleen Madigan, Wendy Liebman and Tammy Pescatelli took to social media in 2016 (that seems to be the pivot-point year) to allege that Schumer stole their punchlines. “What has always been amazing to me is that she purports to be a feminist and yet only steals from other female comedians,” Pescatelli tweeted and later deleted. Joe Rogan defended the similarities as “parallel thinking,” but damage to Schumer’s comedy reputation was done.
Hubris
In a since-deleted Instagram post last year, Schumer fired back at online critics by claiming, “I’m the most successful female comedian of all time.” It didn’t take long for comedy fans — and Cracked — to throw names like Lucille Ball, Julia Louis-Drefyus, Joan Rivers, Tina Fey and Carol Burnett in her face. Sure, Schumer has had plenty of comedy wins, but the GOAT talk was a little much.
I get the sense that the animosity could eventually die down if Schumer didn’t keep dousing it with online kerosene, but as she says, she can’t help it. Maybe her ultimate fate will be like that of Creed. After a decade of relative quiet, the band’s greatest hits album became an unexpected best-seller on four different Billboard charts last year. That’s the thing about fans’ over-the-top hate — after we kick you around for a while, eventually we relent and decide you’re not that bad.
