Did Tim Allen’s Nazi Germany Joke Help Kill ‘Last Man Standing’?
After six seasons, Tim Allen‘s ABC sitcom “Last Man Standing” stands no more.
The Disney-owned broadcaster canceled the “Home Improvement” alum’s Friday series ahead of next week’s TV upfronts event, despite “Last Man’s” steady ratings from last year. While a 1.6 Nielsen number in the key 18-49 demographic is generally nothing to write home about — especially when that includes a week of delayed viewing, as this one does — it’s not bad at all for a Friday.
Actually, it’s pretty darn good. Also good? A sitcom with half-a-dozen seasons under its belt not even losing one-tenth of a ratings point season over season.
Also Read:Tim Allen: Being a Hollywood Conservative Is Like Living in '30s Germany.'
So why did Channing Dungey show her Michigan-loving comic the exit door?
Some may wonder if it’s Allen’s — a noted Republican — politics. Hollywood is a liberal playground, and Allen very publicly doesn’t roll that way. Or it could be because of one ill-received quip he made two months ago.
On a March episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Allen told Kimmel that being a Republican in Hollywood today is “like 1930s Germany. You gotta be real careful around here, you know. You’ll get beat up if you don’t believe what everybody believes.”
That didn’t go over so well with many, in and outside of Hollywood.
The Anne Frank Center called Allen’s comparison “deeply offensive” and said it “trivializes the horrors imposed on Jews in Nazi Germany.”
“Tim, have you lost your mind?” said Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center. “No one in Hollywood today is subjecting you or anyone else to what the Nazis imposed on Jews in the 1930s — the world’s most evil program of dehumanization, imprisonment and mass brutality, implemented by an entire national government, as the prelude for the genocide of nearly an entire people.”
Also Read:Tim Allen's 'Last Man Standing' Rips 'Microaggressions' on College Campuses (Video)
Added Goldstein: “Sorry, Tim, that’s just not the same as getting turned down for a movie role. It’s time for you to leave your bubble to apologize to the Jewish people and, to be sure, the other peoples also targeted by the Nazis.”
At the time, ABC declined to comment on Allen’s comment to TheWrap, referring inquiries to Allen. His team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his Nazi Germany comparison.
A show insider tells TheWrap that ABC has not been making much money from the 20th Century Fox TV series, which was a likely factor in the cancellation.
An ABC rep did not immediately respond to TheWrap‘s request for further explanation on why “Last Man Standing” has been shut down. Allen’s team also did not respond to a request for comment.
Check out tweets below from people wondering whether the actor’s incendiary comments may have impacted the show’s fate.
Related:
Catch episodes and highlights of Last Man Standing on Yahoo View.
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