Bill Burr declares cancel culture 'over,' Bill Maher says Louis C.K. was reprimanded 'enough'
Is "cancel culture" over? According to Bill Burr, "No one cares anymore."
Burr appeared on Monday's episode of Bill Maher's "Club Random" podcast where they discussed the ramifications of "cancel culture" and support for Louis C.K. after being accused of sexual misconduct in 2017.
At the mention of C.K., Maher said, "Don’t get me started on that. Isn't it time everyone just went: 'OK, It wasn't a cool thing to do, but it's been long enough and welcome back.' Enough! I mean for Christ's sake, it's not the end of the world. People have done so much worse things and gotten less."
"There's no rhyme or reason to the #MeToo-type punishments," Maher added.
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Burr chimed in and said, "They took $50 million, I think they punished him," likely referring to C.K.'s previously claim that the reaction to the sexual misconduct allegations cost him upward of $35 million in lost revenue.
C.K. has returned to going on tour and has had several television comedy specials since the allegations levied against him. In 2017, a number of women approached a group of New York Times reporters who had been working on stories about sexual predator Harvey Weinstein, alleging that Louis C.K. had masturbated in front of them about 10 years earlier. This followed a few years of reports about the comedian’s inappropriate behavior around women, which he had steadfastly denied.
After the NYT article was published, Louis C.K. issued a contrite response, noting that the accusations were "true" and adding, "The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly."
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Burr told Maher that "cancel culture" is now obsolete. "It's like most things. It started off with something everyone could agree on, and then quickly it just spun out of control. I remember whenever that cancel culture got to the point of where it was, 'I don’t like some of the topics in your stand-up act.' That's when it got weird.
"But that's all over. It's all over," he continued, "No one cares anymore … Well, if you're not doing anything. If it's just like, 'You did this joke about this group of people, or that group of people, and I've decided…' I don’t know. I feel like I'm going back two years in my life. I don't even think about it anymore."
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Maher didn't quite agree, responding, "That’s not true. Either one of us could get canceled in the next two minutes."
Contributing: Marco della Cava
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bill Burr, Bill Maher talk 'cancel culture' and Louis C.K. post #MeToo
