After James Gunn Ouster, Mike Cernovich Turns Toward Comedians Patton Oswalt, Michael Ian Black

“Another Cernovich hater caught with the pedophile stuff,” right-wing provocateur tweets

Michael Ian Black Patton Oswalt
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Is Mike Cernovich looking to add more scalps to his collection in the form of Patton Oswalt and Michael Ian Black?

Right-wing provocateur Cernovich, whose online amplification of offensive tweets published years ago by director James Gunn preceded Gunn’s ouster from the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie franchise on Friday, turned his attention toward comedians Oswalt and Black later on Friday, highlighting tweets by the comedians that he took issue with.

One tweet shared by Cernovich on Friday night, posted by Black in June 2011, read, “I don’t like watching ‘iCarly’ with my daughter because there is nobody on that show I want to molest.”

Cernovich responded Friday, “I’m done with ‘it’s just jokes.’ This has to stop. I won’t be lied to by fake news. This is all in the open.”

Cernovich commented on another tweet from Black in 2011 on Friday with, “Tired of the pedophile stuff, tired of the child rape. If these are truly jokes, repent to G-d.”

Among the Oswalt tweets that Cernovich highlighted on Friday was a 2013 post reading, “Let NAMBLA members f— anyone they want. Am I so crazy for wanting my kid to grow up in a safer world?”

To which Cernovich wrote: “NAMBLA is an organization trying to legalize pedophilia. Another Cernovich hater caught with the pedophile stuff.”

Gunn — who, unlike Oswalt and Black, is not a comedian who tells jokes for a living — was given the ax from the “Guardians” franchise on Friday, with Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn saying in a statement, “The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him.” The announcement came following an apology from Gunn on Thursday.

Gunn frequently tweets about his opposition to President Donald Trump, and thus drew the ire of fans of the president such as Cernovich, who began posting a series of old tweets by Gunn, many of which were subsequently deleted.

Online sleuths then dug up dozens of old tweets of the sort Gunn admitted were “offensive,” many from between 2008 and 2011.

“Expendables is so manly I f-ed the s- out of the p-ssy boy next to me,” he wrote in one.

“The best thing about being raped is when you’re done being raped and it’s like ‘whew this feels great, not being raped!’” read a tweet from February 2009.

Representatives for Oswalt and Black have not responded to TheWrap’s request for comment. However, Black addressed the topic of humor that might be deemed offensive in a series of tweets Saturday.

Responding to the query, “When is it ever funny to joke about child rape?” Black replied, “I think this is a good question. Here’s the answer: I don’t know. When is it funny to joke about Nazis, cancer, gun violence, suicide, drug abuse, cutting, car accidents, deeply held religious beliefs, sexuality, bestiality, etc. But comedians joke about all that stuff and more.”

He added, “Sometimes those jokes work, sometimes not. Comics often push the line because either we’re trying to make a larger point or, as is often the case, just trying to get a rise out of people. I have always believed nothing is off limits, but I understand why some people disagree.”

Noting that every comedian “has to wrestle with how far they want to go,” Black continued, “Some play it safe. But some go as far as they can. Those are the comedians I always admired. Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, George Carlin, etc. If they had Twitter, do you think they’d face backlash? Of course. And I know what they’d say – f— ’em if they can’t take a joke.”

Black also responded directly to Cernovich’s accusations Saturday morning, tweeting, “Wow. This is quite a comedown from James Gunn. Mike, we’ve had this conversation before. There’s a qualitative difference between a comedian making jokes – even offensive jokes (me)- and somebody being charged with rape in 2003 (you).”

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