Comedian D.L. Hughley defended a joke he made about Debbie Reynolds in an interview with TMZ this week, explaining that the current tendency of people to become easily offended by almost anything is one of the primary reasons Donald Trump was elected president.
“By definition most comedy tends to be insensitive. I wasn’t attempting to be insensitive. I was attempting to tell a joke. And that’s what I do,” Hughley told TMZ, referring to a tweet he posted shortly after Reynolds, a Hollywood icon, died last week just one day following the death of her daughter, actress Carrie Fisher.
“Debbie Reynolds died a day after her daughter did! Black Mama’s don’t die cuz they kids do! They cry and say God don’t make no mistakes!” he tweeted the day after Reynolds died.
Hughley was roundly criticized for the tweet on social media. However, the actor says he’s unapologetic.
“I’ll never take a tweet down just because somebody gets mad about it — f*ck that, that’s silly,” he said.
Hughley doubts that America is as sensitive as the backlash to his Reynolds tweet entailed, considering the election of Trump.
When asked if he thinks President-elect Trump might bring an end to political correctness in America, Hughley said, “I think that that probably is why he got elected.”
“I think people are tired of being told what to think and say,” he added.
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