Cameron Kasky, a survivor of this year’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, defended Louis C.K. on Monday, telling TheWrap that it is not his place to say what comedians can and cannot joke about.
“It’s not my job to tell a comedian they’re being offensive. I believe comedy exists to be offensive,” Kasky told TheWrap. “I don’t particularly like that Louis C.K. went after the idea of the movement we started, but comedy is comedy and I don’t think me being offended by it should dictate whether or not it should be allowed to exist.”
In follow-up tweets shortly after speaking with TheWrap, Kasky added that his response still doesn’t make him a huge fan of Louis C.K.’s work today, and called the comedian an “ass” and a “professional jerk.”
“His TV show ‘Louis’ had several brilliantly written episodes that split my sides,” Kasky tweeted. “Seems now like he’s becoming more of a Milo-style provocateur as opposed to just a non-PC comedian.”
After the shooting at his high school in February that left 17 dead, Kasky joined fellow students David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez in creating the “March for Our Lives” movement, a student-led gun control advocacy organization. For months, the trio and other students dominated cable news airwaves, reaching their high point with a national rally in Washington D.C. in March.
On Sunday, Louis C.K. jumped back into the news after leaked audio of his performance at New York City’s Comedy Cellar took off on Twitter. In the performance, he joked about the Parkland students, gender non-conforming individuals and a host of other liberal pet issues.
“They testify in front of Congress, these kids? What are they doing?” C.K. said of the Parkland students. “Because you went to a high school where kids got shot? Why does that mean I have to listen to you?… You didn’t get shot, you pushed some fat kid in the way, and now I’ve gotta listen to you talking?”
“Louis C.K.’s leaked comedy set panders to the alt-right,” the Daily Beast declared while condemning the routine, which also received a chilly reception from other liberals on Twitter.