Norm Macdonald Says Louis Ck And Roseanne "Lost Everything In A Day," And That The "Victims Didn't Have To Go Through That"

The Hollywood Reporter- [excerpted from an interview with Macdonal]

Roseanne was so broken up [after her show’s reboot was canceled] that I got Louis to call her, even though Roseanne was very hard on Louis before that. But she was just so broken and just crying constantly. There are very few people that have gone through what they have, losing everything in a day. Of course, people will go, “What about the victims?” But you know what? The victims didn’t have to go through that.

I’m happy the #MeToo movement has slowed down a little bit. It used to be, “One hundred women can’t be lying.” And then it became, “One woman can’t lie.” And that became, “I believe all women.” And then you’re like, “What?” Like, that Chris Hardwick guy I really thought got the blunt end of the stick there. 

Norm is my God. When I can’t sleep (in other words, when I refuse to let myself sleep), I lie in my bed and watch his appearances on late shows, or compilations of his best jokes from Norm Macdonald Live, or his Netflix special. This is probably my single favorite standup joke I’ve ever seen, about how he would murder a woman and hide her body. Jump to 19:32.

Norm is one of those people in Hollywood who is so well-liked and has done it for so long that I assumed he could get away with saying anything. Louis was the same way, by the way (there’s a difference between “saying” offensive things and “doing” offensive things). But for the life of me, I can’t understand how any public figure goes near the Chernobyl waste site of recent sexual assault/misconduct cases and pokes it with a 10, 20, or 1,000-foot pole. There is NOTHING to be gained from talking about it as a male unless you’re the most careful, articulate, well-rehearsed person on earth. And even then, no matter what you say, your words will be misunderstood or taken out of context by people who are, rightfully, angry. It just seems like a lose-lose prospect.

You can’t say that Louis and Roseanne are the victims, and that the actual victims didn’t go through what they did. You can’t say it. It doesn’t matter at all whether you agree with Norm or not. Speaking only from a PR standpoint, it’s death. We saw Elon Musk crater Tesla’s stock by taking one puff of a blunt that he didn’t even inhale last week. Norm’s comment here would be akin to him hitting a meth pipe and an adorable, pigtailed choir girl at the same time. People won’t read the rest of the interview; they won’t care about context, or his reputation as being a class-act who refuses to do political humor, or that he’s the last bastion of the true artist-comedian who cares not about conveying some social agenda through his act, but cares only about the joke, its crafting, and the laugh it receives.

NBC already cancelled his appearance on the Tonight Show as a result. Norm apologized on twitter:

But who knows. People make mistakes when they are required to answer questions on the fly and speak honestly. Hopefully, this won’t plague him for too long.