John Mayer & Kumail Nanjiani, anyone know the story?

[wetandwild]

I'm not the one who's blind here. You can excuse Mayer for his inexperience, but inexperience does not excuse racism--and I'm calling him out for it.

[Having Fun!]

How many musicians have gone from music to comedy?

Andrew Dice Clay

[pollymaepry]

John Mayer is a "jock" type?

[scamboogah]

According to SlyBattery, John Mayer said this:

It was combative in the sense that the crowd didn't really accept the fact that the jock, the guy who gets the girls, was at a place where the guys go who talk about how they don't get the girls.

Or to put it another way, "Y'all just jealous".

[sharilyn]

Racism doesn't happen by accident. Do you, sharilyn, and other Mayer apologists--comedy fans, no less--have some argument to make in favor of Michael Richards? (He was heckled! He sucks! He didn't know what he was doing!).

Or are you saying that all white comedians are racist but only act that way when they bomb/fuck up/make an ass out of themselves?

"Mayer apologist" -- that's something I definitely want to be hauled infront of a tribunal for someday.

Since you've skipped right over the possibilities of Mayer making a poor judgment call or not considering the cultural implications of something before he opened his mouth, and gone straight to "racist", you must have information that the rest of us don't. You're much too evolved a person to put such an extreme label on a guy with so many non-white friends/bandmates, simply based on a couple of failed jokes.

So if you were there that night, hiding behind a mailbox, and watched him scream "PAKI!!! You're nothing but a dirty fucking Paki!!!" at Kumail as he left the building, please stop holding out on us and just say so. We can stop this silly arguing and start ruining his career, so he's forced to take a frontline job at US Customs & Immigration where guys like him belong.

[angryrobot]

I'm not the one who's blind here. You can excuse Mayer for his inexperience, but inexperience does not excuse racism--and I'm calling him out for it.

well I just watched the hot list special on Comedy Central so I assume you will be adding Jeselnik, Cummings and Aziz Ansari to your racist comedian list since they all made racist remarks about Nanjiani.

[suavepebble]

[SlyBattery]

]It was combative in the sense that the crowd didn't really accept the fact that the jock, the guy who gets the girls, was at a place where the guys go who talk about how they don't get the girls.

Just to clarify, this was a quote from the first article in ericluxury's post.

[ericluxury]

It doesn't sound like he was racist on either night. He is a very hateable guy so it makes sense that people who see mistakes like that as racist.
As for whether he should be doing comedy, it sounds like no. I found his comments about how he understands his place in comedy and wants to be treated like anyone else pretty annoying since he did his first set at the hardest club to get passed at in the city while anyone else has to pay to do open mics. Who cares if its not fair, but the I'm just trying to be like anyone else fake modesty is pretty lame.

[John?]

I bet after John Mayer did that set he just wanted to run through the halls of his high school and scream at the top of his lungs. Then he probably found out that there's no such thing as the real world, just a lie you've got to rise above.

[TacoSmith]

I, for one, think that John Mayer should be IMPEACHED.

I apologize.

[darrylduffy]

whoa john? great post early in your AST career.

[John?]

whoa thanks.

[wetandwild]

Since you've skipped right over the possibilities of Mayer making a poor judgment call or not considering the cultural implications of something before he opened his mouth, and gone straight to "racist", you must have information that the rest of us don't. You're much too evolved a person to put such an extreme label on a guy with so many non-white friends/bandmates, simply based on a couple of failed jokes.

So if you were there that night, hiding behind a mailbox, and watched him scream "PAKI!!! You're nothing but a dirty fucking Paki!!!" at Kumail as he left the building, please stop holding out on us and just say so. We can stop this silly arguing and start ruining his career, so he's forced to take a frontline job at US Customs & Immigration where guys like him belong.

I didn't call him racist. I called his actions racist, because they were. And I'm questioning why you and others continue to defend them. Are accepted slurs the only racism you're willing to acknowledge? Do you not understand what's wrong about calling Nanjiani the capital of Afghanistan and an "ambiguous" person because he has brown skin--in a purposely demeaning context, no less?

I'll leave aside the old "I've got ____ friends" argument.

It doesn't sound like he was racist on either night. He is a very hateable guy so it makes sense that people who see mistakes like that as racist.

I didn't know who he was before I read about this incident. I thought he was just a guy who did stand-up. Later I found out he's a celebrity and a carpetbagging comic. Just makes it all the more amazing that people here excuse his racist insults against a career comedian with talent.

[Having Fun!]

For someone all wet, you sure aren't wild.

[SlyBattery]

I didn't know who he was before I read about this incident. I thought he was just a guy who did stand-up. Later I found out he's a celebrity and a carpetbagging comic. Just makes it all the more amazing that people here excuse his racist insults against a career comedian with talent.

Why I reckon there ain't been no use of the term carpetbagger 'round hear since eighteen-aught-six.

I reckon...

[Umlaut]

John's finally released a statement about the incident:

My stupid mouth
Has got me in trouble
I said too much again
To a [comedian] over [his comedy set] yesterday

And I could see
That [he] was offended
[He] said "Well anyway..."
Just dying for a subject change

Oh oh, another social casualty
Score on more for me
How could I forget?
Mama said, "Think before speaking"
No filter inside my head
Oh what's a boy to do?
I guess he better find one soon

[Velveteen Ballsac]

John's finally released a statement about the incident:

Aha! See? Allllll better.

[Berliner]

I think this could all be settled once and for all if someone asked John Mayer his stance on healthcare reform.

[Berliner]

For the record, he is deliberately cagey when asked about the public option:

What do you think about health care? Would you take the public option?
Have you ever heard me play guitar? I'm really fucking good. You know what I'm bad at? Answering questions about public health care. This is not in my wheelhouse. Do you have any questions about music? I almost got a mad need to lighten up. You need to lighten up, because the questions you asked me were all troublemaking questions. If someone gave me the Nobel Peace Prize, and I didn't deserve it, I would just shut my mouth and enjoy the hell out of it.