Comedian Wanda Sykes Says Cancel Culture Criticism Is ‘Straight Men Pissed They Can’t Say Things Any More’

Comedian Wanda Sykes says that criticism of cancel culture criticism is simply “straight men pissed that can’t say things any more.” Sykes reacted to comedian Kevin Hart expressing anxiety over comedy’s overly “political” climate, telling the Guardian, “To me, the whole complaint about cancel culture is a lot of men — especially straight men — who are just pissed that they can’t say things any more, y’know?”

In 2019, Hart had stepped down from hosting the Oscars after his previous gay jokes had resurfaced on Twitter.

“And it’s not like you can’t say these things. You can say them, but now there’s just consequences,” she added.

Meanwhile, Sykes claims that unlike other people, only God can cancel her.

“So that’s why I say I can’t get cancelled. Only God can say: ‘All right, Wanda, that’s enough,'” the comedian said.

During her Netflix special, I’m an Entertainer, Sykes reportedly squats down and mimes pulling a tampon out from between her legs. She then swings the imaginary sanitary product around her head like a lasso, and says, “I welcome my trans sisters into the ladies’ room.”

“Maybe you’ll make us do better, y’know?” she adds.

Sykes was commenting on what the Guardian referred to as the “transphobic moral panic” over biological men entering women’s restrooms.

“These spaces that people are freaking out about admitting trans women to — they’re not exactly the most pleasant places in the world,” the Guardian‘s Ellen Jones wrote.

Sykes also claims during her Netflix special that black people cannot be “weird” due to fear of being murdered.

Kevin Hart is not the only comedian to lament over cancel culture sweeping over the entertainment industry and making it so that people are not as free to make jokes as they once did.

In 2021, actor and comedian David Spade warned that wokeness is killing comedy, saying, “One wrong move and you’re canceled.”

That same year, comedian Dave Chappelle said, “cancel culture shit bothers me,” and called out “fake woketivists” who try to censor their opposition.

Actor and comedian Jon Lovitz has also compared today’s era of cancel culture to McCarthyism, proclaiming, “I’ll just say it — it’s no different than McCarthyism.”

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