Seth Rogen Says Comedians Should Stop Complaining About Cancel Culture

“Jokes are not things that necessarily are built to last.”

May 25, 2021 – While promoting his new book, Yearbook, on Good Morning Britain this week, comedian Seth Rogen was asked about the nature of some of his more controversial material:

“There are certain jokes that for sure have not aged well, but I think that’s the nature of comedy. I think conceptually those movies are sound and I think there’s a reason they’ve lasted as far as people still watching and enjoying them today. Jokes are not things that necessarily are built to last.”

Rogen went on to ponder the connection between comedians and cancel culture and had and decidedly different opinion than the remarks recently made by Billy Crystal.

“To me when I see comedians complaining about this kind of thing, I don’t understand what they’re complaining about. If you’ve made a joke that’s aged terribly, accept it. And if you don’t think it’s aged terribly, then say that. To me, it’s not worth complaining about to the degree I see other comedians complaining about.”

The hosts went on to ask Rogen about looking at his own Twitter feed with hindsight:

“I was never a comedian that made jokes that were truly designed to target groups that were subjugated in some way. Have we done that without realizing it? Definitely. And those things are in our movies and they’re out there, and they’re things that I am more than happy to say that they have not aged well.”

“But in my Twitter, I’ve never made a joke that’s outwardly horrific in some way, and if you have, I would question why you did that. Saying terrible things is bad, so if you’ve said something terrible, then it’s something you should confront in some way, shape, or form. I don’t think that’s cancel culture. That’s you saying something terrible if that’s what you’ve done.”