Why Isn't Everybody Embarrassed?

The Shameful Returns of Kanye West, Louis C.K., J.K. Rowling, Chris D'Elia, & My Lunch

Hey, everybody! This is a long one. I had a lot to say. I broke it down into 4 parts, so you can take breaks as you work your way through it. 😬

Part 1 - Kanye West

I’ve been using the social media app Threads more and more these days. For me, Threads is the “new Twitter.” While Threads is owned by Mark Zuckerberg, and that is less than…. optimal, Threads does have a little bit of the juice that classic Twitter had. Of course, I’m referring to the era of Twitter before Elon Musk bluffed himself into buying it and X’ed it all up. Threads has become the place where you can say stuff and see who responds to it and see if it is a thought worth a damn. Late last week, after seeing a bunch of depressing things online (all of which felt connected by a theme), I tweeted threaded(?) this:

So I guess the dudes who were canceled for legitimate reasons met up and said, “2026 is the year we allllllllll comeback!’

At the time, I was already tired of seeing people’s excitement about Kanye West’s new album. To be fair, I was never a big Kanye fan. The only Kanye song I’ve ever really liked is this early track from 2005, with a feature from actor Mike Myers.

That track is still in regular rotation in my house. It is a little dated, but it always gets the party started. However, we all know that since that moment Kanye has filled his CV with more than music. Kanye’s impressive discography is dwarfed by his other less fun (but still weirdly impressive) output. In fact, there is so much of the “less fun” output that Wikipedia had to start a separate page for Kanye, called “Views of Kanye West”. Despite its title, the page is less a laying out Kanye’s various viewpoints through the years and more of a Jackson Pollock painting of offensive and highly-charged words. The page features words like Nazi, genocide, death penalty, abortion, slavery, confederate, skinhead, and Herschel Walker, to name a few. Kanye’s viewpoints are so scattershot that there is even a section of the page that is just named “Other.”. Kanye has been cancelled so many times that he’s even been cancelled while he was already cancelled.

Last weekend, Kanye did two sold-out shows at the 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium after the release of his new album Bully (no, I’m not kidding). Social media was filled with people excited to show that they were “lucky enough to be in Kanye’s presence” (no, I’m not kidding). Many of these people are famous. Some of them have been on the record as being against anti-Black racism, anti-semitism, and anti-misanthropic creeps, but they posted videos anyway. I think Hip Hop DJs Ebro Darden and Peter Rosenberg put the disconnect best this past Monday on their show, The Ebro Laura Rosenberg Show.

Ebro Darden: There’s a thawing on Kanye, because…

Peter Rosenberg: No one wants to hate Kanye.

Whether you are a fan or not, we can all tell that Kanye is a broken man. If you are the kind of person that separates the art from the artist, good for you! But you should know that we’re not all with you on that. When we see the videos of you showing off your seats at the concert, we’re giving you side-eye and a good dragging in the comments. Some of us threw away the Kanye with the anti-Black, antisemitic, misogynistic bathwater.

If you are famous and you absolutely have to go see Kanye, why are you taking pictures and videos? You are gathering evidence against yourself. Where’s your big floppy hat and giant sunglasses? Did you forget that one year ago Kanye tweeted that his next album cover would feature . . . a swastika? (He eventually changed his mind.) Did you forget that last year, Kanye also he released a song called (deep heavy sigh) “Heil Hitler”?

Yes, Kanye made a broad and brief apology earlier this year, but he did it in the most cynical place you can ever apologize: The Wall Street Journal. A list of Kanye’s most ugly acts and words shows that his most frequent targets were Black people and Jewish people, but he didn’t make his mea culpa in a Black space (like The Grio, or The Root, or Essence) or a Jewish space (like Jewish Currents, or The Forward, or The Jewish Journal). Kanye chose The Wall Street Journal as the place for his apology. (Even worse it was a paid advertisement.) Apologizing in the pages of Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper, a paper that celebrates the worst of American capitalism, means that Kanye wasn’t worried that his behavior had offended people. Kanye was worried that his behavior had offended money.

Yet thousands of people showed up to his concert this weekend and told the world they were there. Why aren’t people too embarrassed to be seen supporting this man?

Part 2 - Chris D’Elia

Kanye’s comeback was just a piece of rancid meat in the 2026 stew. The thing that really got my fingers a-Thread-ing was this clip from comedian Chris D’Elia.

If you don’t know, D’Elia was initially “cancelled” in June 2020. It began with one woman on Twitter accusing D’Elia of grooming her through text messages, beginning years before, when she was 16 years old. This led to a torrent of other women with stories accusing D’Elia of sexual harassment and abuse. All the stories featured women who were much younger than D’Elia, many of whom were under 18 when their contact with D’Elia began. D’Elia was 40 years old in 2020 when this all came to light.

Once the story broke, D’Elia quickly got the full cancellation package. He was dropped by his Hollywood talent agency. Comedy Central pulled one of his comedy specials off of their website and also yanked episodes of a television show that he had guest starred in. Many of his Hollywood friends turned on him. D’Elia even got the full Kevin Spacey treatment. A movie that he had already filmed, recast his role with comedian Tig Notaro and reshot his scenes. DAMN!

It’s possible that time was on D’Elia’s side. All of this happened while COVID was in full bloom. While D’Elia was laying low, we were all laying low. It might seem like he disappeared, but really we all disappeared. By February of 2021, D’Elia did the whole YouTube apology thing. Then he slowly but surely fired up the showbiz-inator. D’Elia restarted his podcast and went back on the road doing stand-up (admittedly to smaller venues in smaller markets). He was moving about freely, performing in mainstream comedy clubs. Then in 2023, ten new women came forward in Rolling Stone Magazine to accuse D’Elia of THE SAME THINGS HE’D BEEN ACCUSED OF DOING BEFORE.

While D’Elia did suffer some negative career consequences, there was now a whole new lane in which he could make a living. . By 2023 the manosphere was fully manosphere-ing. D’Elia was back to being a featured guest on many of the most noxious podcasts. Many of his famous friends were answering his calls again. D’Elia was back like a herpes sore! Ten new accusations couldn’t stop him. D’Elia now feels so confident in his return to comedy that he can make fun of woke people, like it is 2015. Making a joke about how silence isn’t violence is a . . . choice when you’re a known sexpest who used your fame to intimidate teenage girls into doing what you wanted and staying quiet about it. What a fucking pustule of a human being.

It is times like this that reaffirm my belief that shame has gotten an extremely bad wrap in our society. Forget embarrassment. Bring back public shame! Why does D’Elia, a known abuser, feel so emboldened to try to make fun of woke people? Why isn’t he being booed like the human sized pile of desiccated feces that he is every time he leaves his house?

Furthermore, WHO RAISED THE PEOPLE WHO ARE SHOWING UP IN THESE AUDIENCES?

Part 3 - J. K. Rowling

When I found out that HBO’s new Harry Potter series had cast a Black actor (Paapa Essiedu) as Professor Severus Snape, I felt happy for Esseidu and then immediately terrified for him. I don’t know the man, but I know the world. Not only did I immediately know that some self-identified Harry Potter fans would reveal their most racist traits in response to the news, but I also knew that Essiedu would be fighting for a cause built on the clay and transphobic feet of J. K. Rowling. My thought was, “Is this gonna be worth it for him?” I don’t think it would be worth it for me.

It is hard enough to deal with racism everyday. Now add death threats. To all that, add being held accountable for the transphobia of the woman you are helping to further enrich. For the cherry on top, add on the fact that Alan Rickman, the much beloved actor who previously played the role, is dead and therefore can’t pass the baton to you in an effort to make the racists chill. No, thank you! None of that sounds good to me at all.

Even white actor John Lithgow is having a rough time. He’s been doing the transphobe-two-step since his casting as Headmaster Albus Dumbledore was announced. Lithgow, himself, is not a virulent transphobe, but he has repeatedly had to try to justify why he took the job knowing that Rowling is not only a virulent transphobe, but a league-leading, virulent transphobe at that. After several interviews where he did the dance, Lithgow gave the game away in a recent interview with The New Yorker Radio Hour. He said, “The whole subject of Rowling’s imputed prejudice, it came up after everything was already underway. I’d already said yes […] I was urged to walk away, and I was not about to do that.”

Okey Dokey!

In other words, Lithgow hadn’t thought about or even thought to think about Rowling’s transphobia until the checks started clearing and us unwashed masses turned the heat up on social media. I. WOULD. BE. SO. EMBARRASSED. IF. I. WAS. HIM. I understand that Lithgow is 80 years old, but then where are your people? Someone should have said, “Hey, I know you may not keep up with everything, gramps, but since you were once acclaimed for one of the few positive mainstream portrayals of a transgender person, maybe you shouldn’t throw all that goodwill away in what could be your final act… literally.”

Again… I. WOULD. BE. SO. EMBARRASSED.

Part 4 - Louis C.K.

On Threads I learned that another of comedy’s sexpests got fully uncancelled. If you are a frequent reader of this newsletter, then you know that C.K. has been on his way back from cancellation for a while. Since his “cancellation” in 2017, C.K. has sold out shows at Madison Square Garden, did a big money gig for the Saudi Arabian government, and received glowing coverage from The New York Times. Now C.K.’s showbiz cancellation has been fully revoked by Hollywood. It’s official. From May 4-10, Netflix is hosting their annual Netflix Is A Joke comedy festival. Last week they announced that not only is C.K. headlining one of the nights, but Netflix is going to release C.K.’s next comedy special, appropriately named Ridiculous. The Hollywood Reporter wrote up the news, and included this commentary:

“The move appears to mark a turning point for the comedian, who had been exiled from many mainstream comedy spaces following a 2017 New York Times report at the height of the #MeToo movement in which five women accused him of sexual misconduct. The women alleged that he masturbated in front of them or on the phone with them. C.K. later admitted to the behavior, saying he believed at the time it had been appropriate because he had asked first.”

Ummm… one slight problem there.

HE DIDN’T ALWAYS ASK FIRST! AND EVEN IF HE DID ASK FIRST, HE DIDN’T WAIT TO GET A YES BEFORE PULLING HIS DICK OUT! ALSO, MANY OF THESE SITUATIONS HAPPENED IN THE WORKPLACE, INCLUDING ONE TIME WHEN C.K. WAS THE WOMAN’S BOSS. THIS IS ALL DOCUMENTED!

SO MANY PEOPLE AT NETFLIX HAD TO SIGN OFF ON C.K. GETTING INVITED TO THE FESTIVAL AND GETTING A NEW SPECIAL. WHAT WERE THEY ALL THINKING? THINK ABOUT ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WILL HAVE TO WORK C.K.’S SHOWS! THE TICKET TAKERS. THE USHERS. THE COCKTAIL SERVERS. THE MERCH SELLERS. THEY WON’T BE ASKED IF THEY CONSENT TO WORKING WITH A KNOWN SEXPEST. SO MANY PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO WORK THE SHOW THAT HE HEADLINES WHETHER THEY WANT TO OR NOT! SO MANY COMEDIANS WILL BE AT EVENTS AND PARTIES WITH LOUIS C.K. WHETHER THEY WANT TO BE IN THE ROOM WITH A KNOWN SEXPEST OR NOT. SO MANY PEOPLE WHO MAKE SO MUCH LESS MONEY THAN HIM WILL HAVE TO PRETEND LIKE THEY ARE OKAY BEING IN THE SAME ROOM AS HIM!

THIS IS HOW SHOWBIZ WORKS. THERE WILL BE SELFIES AND “FUNNY” VIDEOS. SOME PEOPLE WILL BE FINE WITH ALL THIS. THEY WILL BE TELLING ON THEMSELVES. BUT SOME PEOPLE WILL JUST BE CAUGHT IN THE MASTUBATORY CROSSHAIRS OF LOUIS C.K.’S CAREER RESURGENCE. AND LET’S BE CLEAR. THERE IS ZERO EVIDENCE OF LOUIS C.K. MAKING ANY AMENDS WITH ANY OF THE WOMEN HE FOISTED HIS FLACIDITY ON. HE’S A FUCKING FATHER OF DAUGHTERS! AAAAAAAAARGH!

WHY AREN’T ALL THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE SUPPORTING THIS EMBARRASSED?

*deep breath*

Check out this excerpt of a piece in The Canadian Jewish News, written by Julia Wolov, one of the many women who Louis C.K. assaulted. This was written in 2019 in response to comedy club owner Mark Breslin booking C.K. at his club Yuk Yuk’s in Canada. Wolov wrote,

“Contrary to Breslin’s accounting, what C.K. did was not done with consent. We [Julia and the other women included in The New York Times article] never agreed nor asked him to take all his clothes off and masturbate to completion in front of us. But it didn’t matter because the exciting part for him was the fear on our faces.”

COMING THIS SUMMER ON NETFLIX!

A British stand-up comedian named Josh Kingsford has recently released a multipart YouTube documentary named We Need To Talk About Louie. (Great title!) Before the stories of C.K.”s assaults emerged, Kingsford described himself as a Louis C.K. disciple. The series is absolutely brilliant. It is funny, artful, painful, and illuminating. So far only four parts are out, and at least one more is on its way. Each episode makes an ironclad case for why Louis is guilty, not sorry, and why men need to do a better job of being allies in the fight against sexual assault and rape culture. Men, as a whole and male stand-up comedians specifically, should be embarrassed that C.K. is back and making millions of dollars again, without having done anything to learn or make amends. I’m embarrassed. That’s why I’m writing this.

In Conclusion

I blame much of this on the Trump effect. With Trump flopping around, regularly threatening to start World War III, the unembarrassed have a pathetically low bar to compare themselves to. I guess these people think if Trump (to whom the Epstein FIles are practically dedicated) feels good walking around, then why should these people feel wrong about anything they do? Why should any sexual assaulter be ashamed to be outside when our President is maybe the most outside sexual assaulter ever? Why should you be embarrassed to enrich a transphobe when the transphobe you’re enriching at least writes better books than President Transphobe? Why should Kanye fans be embarrassed when MAGAs still leave the house everyday, proudly wearing the red hats, while not being able to afford groceries, pretzeling their Christianity around the Epstein files, and putting fifty dollars of gas in their cars so they can get a quarter tank? 2026 Trumpers have given disgusting people a blueprint to live their disgusting lives by.

Those of us who know this is all wrong have to be loud, clear, and resolute in saying, “NO! YOU WILL NOT NORMALIZE YOUR AWFULNESS! YOU SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED.” I’m not watching Louis C.K.’s next special. I’m not watching any new Harry Potter anything. I’m only listening to my one favorite Kanye song about George Bush. And Chris D’Elia can hear me roar, because I believe that silence is violence.

Who’s With Me?

2026 WHO’S WITH ME? Stand-up Comedy Tour NEXT FRIDAY IN MARYLAND!

NEXT FRIDAY! April 17 North Bethesda, MD at The Music Center at Strathmore

April 30 San Francisco, CA at 10th Annual Comedy Night for Immigrant Rights

May 22-24 San Diego at The Mic Drop Comedy Club.

My friend Sheng Wang is a nice person with a new comedy special

It is even on Netflix. They do let nice people do comedy on there sometimes. The special is called Purple. It is directed by another nice person who is a stand-up comedian, Ali Wong. It is available on Netflix now!

A nice person posted this on Substack.

That book, Famous Black Quotations, is the book my mom, Janet Cheatham Bell, self-published in 1986. When I saw the post, I was flooded with memories of being in high school when my mom was hustling this book to Black bookstores and Black people all over the country. The hard work I saw her do—and the way I saw her buck the system—is why I do the work I do today. It was so cool to have this pop up on my Substack feed when The Ebony Collector realized that my mom created the book and tagged me in the post. I reposted it on my feed, and lots of people asked if the book is still available. Not in this collector’s edition form, but a few years ago my mom updated it. You can (and should) get a copy from Bookshop.org.