Liberal Sarah Silverman slams progressives who don't offer victims of cancel culture a 'path to redemption' and says digging up past mistakes is a road to the 'dark side'
Sarah Silverman has criticized progressives who adhere to cancel culture, saying that a failure to forgive people for their mistakes can drive them to the 'dark side.'
The comedian - who is progressive herself - warned in a new episode of The Sarah Silverman Podcast that 'people go towards love' and in the case of her friend Christian Picciolini, that love came from a neo-Nazi group that led him astray.
'In this cancel culture, and we all know what I'm talking about, whether you think there is one or there isn't one or where you stand on it, and there's a lot of gray matter there,' Silverman – whose The Sarah Silverman Program was canceled after she wore black face - said.
She continued: 'But without a path to redemption, when you take someone, you found a tweet they wrote seven years ago or a thing that they said, and you expose it and you say, this person should be no more, banish them forever …'
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The comedian warned in a new episode of The Sarah Silverman Podcast that cancel culture could send people to the 'dark side'
Dipping my toe into a take on cancel culture in episode 2.#SarahSilvermanPodcast eps 1-5
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) October 24, 2020
Here: https://t.co/qNnHEngHbF… pic.twitter.com/9v65pd9nIV
Dipping my toe into a take on cancel culture in episode 2.#SarahSilvermanPodcast eps 1-5
Here: https://t.co/qNnHEngHbF… pic.twitter.com/9v65pd9nIV
Silverman and other comedians were the subject of scrutiny in 2018 after Kevin Hart lost his Oscars hosting gig when old homophobic tweets were unearthed.
Hart's friend Nick Cannon used examples of other comedians such as Amy Schumer, Chelsea Handler and Silverman to claim hypocrisy as he pointed out they continued to thrive in the industry despite their use of the word 'f*g' in tweets.
In 2010 Silverman tweeted: 'I don't mean this in a hateful way but the new bachelorette's a f****t.'
At the time, Silverman shared a thread by an LGBTQ advocate who said those women's tweets weren't viewed as homophobic because of their past support for the community. However she said she doesn't mind holding herself accountable for the past remarks.
Silverman continued in the second episode of her podcast that without forgiveness those who have been canceled are 'going to find someplace where they are accepted and it's not going to be with progressives, which ironically means to be changed, progress.'
Silverman interviewed Picciolini in a 2017 episode of her show I Love You, America.
In her podcast she explained how Picciolini ended up becoming a white supremacist after one approached him and showed concern about him smoking at 14 years old.
He now works to get people out of extreme groups.
Silverman and other comedians were the subject of scrutiny in 2018 after Kevin Hart lost his Oscars hosting gig when old homophobic tweets were unearthed. One of her tweets from 2010 was unearthed
She added: 'Do we want people to be changed? Or do we want them to stay the same to freeze in a moment we found on internet from 12 years ago?'
'If we don't give these people a path to redemption, then they're going to go where they are accepted, which is the mother****ing dark side,' she said.
'I think there should be some kind of path. Do we want people to be changed? Or do we want them to stay the same to freeze in a moment we found on internet from 12 years ago?'
It's not the first time, Silverman has expressed these views.
At the New Yorker Festival last November she felt shame for her character wearing black face in an episode about racism and apologized for her own 'complicity in a liberal bubble racism.'
However Silverman said she thinks people 'should take into account the nuance of things and the people's intentions and their room for growth and if they have changed or if they have not — there's a big difference.'
At the time she even encouraged celebrities to forgive their trolls and stand-up comedians consider why people heckle at comedy clubs.
'If you see them, it means something,' Silverman – who spent a year replying to a social media critic who she eventually bonded with over back pain - said. 'Empathy is free, it's not like something you can get back.'
She explained that her friend Christian Picciolini joined a neo-Nazi group when he was 14 years old
He now works to get people out of extreme groups. They are pictured filing a 2017 episode of her show I Love You, America
Silverman warned on her podcast that 'people go towards love'. Picciolini is seen holding a sign saying 'the answer is love'