Norm Macdonald revealed his concerns about the #MeToo movement that has spread throughout the entertainment industry in an interview published Tuesday and readers quickly took to Twitter to follow up with their concerns about MacDonald’s concerns.
“Not necessarily. I’m happy the #MeToo movement has slowed down a little bit,” Macdonald told The Hollywood Reporter when asked if he’s hoping things “swing back toward liberalism” in reaction to Donald Trump’s presidency. “It used to be, ‘One hundred women can’t be lying.’ And then it became, ‘One woman can’t lie.’ And that became, ‘I believe all women.’ And then you’re like, ‘What?’ Like, that Chris Hardwick guy I really thought got the blunt end of the stick there.”
While responses to the interview were mixed, many were firmly anti-Macdonald in his criticism of the movement — including Cher, who tweeted: “*Opens google doc of trash men in entertainment.* *Adds Norm Macdonald’s name to the list.*”
“If you get laughs while being lazy, you get lazier,” another wrote. “You stop hearing how stupid you sound. And then a few decades pass and you’re Norm MacDonald, utterly unaware how you are perceived, convinced the silence is agreement, and wondering when everyone ‘Got so sensitive.’”
Macdonald went on to say, “the model used to be: admit wrongdoing, show complete contrition and then we give you a second chance. Now it’s admit wrongdoing and you’re finished.”
“And so the only way to survive is to deny, deny, deny,” he continued. “That’s not healthy — that there is no forgiveness. I do think that at some point it will end with a completely innocent person of prominence sticking a gun in his head and ending it. That’s my guess. I know a couple of people this has happened to.”
Macdonald said the two he was referring to are Louis C.K. and Roseanne Barr.
“And Roseanne was so broken up [after her show’s reboot was canceled] that I got Louis to call her, even though Roseanne was very hard on Louis before that,” Macdonald said. “But she was just so broken and just crying constantly. There are very few people that have gone through what they have, losing everything in a day. Of course, people will go, ‘What about the victims?’ But you know what? The victims didn’t have to go through that.”
Macdonald also discussed the topic of racism, saying he wasn’t aware of the level of bigotry in the U.S. until Sacha Baron Cohen’s Showtime series “Who Is America?” aired.
“I live in L.A., where I’m always faced with the lunacy of the left. I didn’t know that the same lunacy existed on the right,” Macdonald said. “So I never really bought into this notion that everybody is racist — because there was a black president, you know? But the Sacha Baron Cohen show has been a frightening eye-opener. I was also in a bubble, but in a different way. I guess everyone is a f–king idiot. Everyone is an ideologue. Hopefully the pendulum will slow down in the next four years.
A representative for MacDonald did not immediately respond to TheWrap‘s request for comment on the online backlash to the actor’s remarks. However, the actor issued an apology on Twitter late Tuesday afternoon, saying he did not intend to defend the “terrible mistakes” Barr and C.K. made, and that “If my words sounded like I was minimizing the pain that their victims feel to this day, I am deeply sorry.”
Roseanne and Louis have both been very good friends of mine for many years. They both made terrible mistakes and I would never defend their actions. If my words sounded like I was minimizing the pain that their victims feel to this day, I am deeply sorry.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) September 11, 2018
See some of the tweets below.
*Opens google doc of trash men in entertainment.*
*Adds Norm Macdonald's name to the list.*
https://t.co/piq4dP4vwM— Cher Martinetti (@thecherness) September 11, 2018
https://twitter.com/lukeoneil47/status/1039557517238587395
"Of course, people will go, 'What about the victims?' But you know what? The victims didn't have to go through that."
Man, good point, Norm. No one ever talks about how the victims of wrongdoing never have go through the consequences of, um, doing wrong. https://t.co/L0pQyqsS8S— James Poniewozik (@poniewozik) September 11, 2018
If you get laughs while being lazy, you get lazier. You stop hearing how stupid you sound. And then a few decades pass and you're Norm MacDonald, utterly unaware how you are perceived, convinced the silence is agreement, and wondering when everyone "Got so sensitive."
— Quinn Cummings (@quinncy) September 11, 2018
I've always been a big fan of Norm's comedy, but this is pretty embarrassing. like many of his fellow celebrities, Norm has lost touch with the world but still feels licensed to describe it https://t.co/UgUXgJUpBg
— Owen Ellickson (@onlxn) September 11, 2018
somewhere is a parallel universe norm macdonald is still talking… https://t.co/2NaRPRtQPy
— Ellen Barkin (@EllenBarkin) September 11, 2018
https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/1039582036812619777
https://twitter.com/MildlyAmused/status/1039542029804625920