Actor and comedian Marlon Wayans came out swinging against cancel culture for its stranglehold on comedy and its censorship of jokes.
Wayans, who got his start on In Living Color and The Wayans Bros. in the 1990s, hit against cancel culture in an interview with Buzzfeed that centered on his 2004 movie White Chicks which featured him and his brother, Sean, in whiteface as two undercover FBI agents.
“I don’t know what planet we’re on, where you think people don’t need laughter, and that people need to be censored and canceled. If a joke is gonna get me canceled, thank you for doing me that favor. It’s sad that society is in this place where we can’t laugh anymore,” he said.
Wayans denounced “this damn generation,” presumably Generation Z, as a bunch of “scared-ass people.”
“I ain’t listening to these folks: These scared-ass people, these scared executives. Y’all do what you want to do? Great. I’m still gonna tell my jokes the way I tell them,” he said. “And if you want to make some money, jump on board.
“And if not, then I’ll find a way to do it myself. I know my audience,” he added. “My audience comes to my shows every weekend and they leave feeling great and laughing. One thing about the Wayans: we’ve always told the worst joke the best way.”
White Chicks has been a lightning rod for controversy ever since the concept of blackface became a national conversation in 2018 when anchor Megyn Kelly defended it as a matter of costume.
Marlon Wayans defended the film in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2020, saying that “white chicks” love the movie most of all.
“You know who loves ‘White Chicks’ the most? White chicks. That’s how you know it’s a good movie. A good joke in comedy is when the people you make fun of laugh the loudest,” he said. “And what’s beautiful is that we’re equal-opportunity offenders. It was a great exploration of gender, of race, of pop culture, and done with kid gloves so everybody could laugh. And I think that’s what makes it a cult classic to this day.”