Brent Butt responds to Jen Grant's story of sexual harassment with a message for asshole hecklers

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      One of Vancouver’s most successful funny guys saw a serious message he posted on Twitter go viral over the weekend.

      On Saturday (May 23), Brent Butt, who’s credited with such sitcoms as Corner Gas and Hiccups, waded into an ongoing conversation about sexism and the sexual harassment that women experience when performing stand-up comedy.

      “Ok…” wrote Butt in a tweet that preceded a longer message. “I got a little angry & couldn't fit it in a tweet, so I put it here:”

      And then:

      “I’ve been a stand-up comedian for 28 years, and NOT ONCE have I been ‘heckled’ with sexual threats. I also don’t know of any other male comics who have been sexually threatened. Yet most female comics get that within their first week. A lot of them hear it on Day 1.

      “And then again, and again, and over and over, during their entire career. But, heaven forbid, if a female comic ever finally gets fed up with this repetitive, vile, hostile garbage, there’s always some dim asshole who’s quick to tell her she’s being ‘too sensitive’. Well guess what, you dim asshole, she’s not being too sensitive.

      “You’re being a piece of shit.

      “Try not being a piece of shit for a while, and I bet that’ll REALLY cut down on the amount of rampant sensitivity you have to tolerate.”

      Butt was responding to issues raised by Jen Grant, a Toronto-based comedian who on May 19 published a blog post under the title, “I was sexually harassed at work”.

      Toronto-based comedian Jen Grant published a blog post on May 19, 2015, that sparked a continent-wide debate about the treatment female performers receive on stage.

      That post recounts an episode of sexual harassment Grant experienced while on stage performing for a corporate audience at a country club. (You’re encouraged to read her post in its entirety here.)

      As Butt points out, many responses to Grant’s story have suggested the heckling she encountered is fair game and part of being a comedian. Also as Butt points out, that’s bullshit.

      Comments

      10 Comments

      Vanman West

      May 25, 2015 at 10:05pm

      So I'm in the audience at a music gig and the douchebag behind me keeps yelling "The fiddle player is hot!"

      Do musicians complain about this stuff? They shouldn't have to put up with it either.

      Sienna

      May 25, 2015 at 10:09pm

      It's such a relief to see that some men are willing to stand up for women in their battle against sexism, and misogamy.

      Thank you Brent!

      Edward Bernays

      May 26, 2015 at 1:20am

      More than a generalization about male audiences and female performers, my take away was that it was a story about corporate culture and their sense of entitlement to degrade people. "I was shackled by my corporate constraints." Food for thought.

      "Too Soon"

      May 26, 2015 at 2:07am

      While I agree that the neanderthal who heckled Jen Grant was completely offside and his actions reprehensible, I have somewhat of difficult time having the "stand up comic" community draw a moral line in the sand of what's appropriate and what isn't. Comics by their very nature push the envelope of taste and have never had any difficulty insulting, make fun of, having a laugh at the expense of anyone regardless of sex, race, sexual orientation or other. As a matter of fact it has become commonplace for some comedians to say something completely inappropriate or offensive and when the audience gasps in disbelief they turn around and say "too soon?". I will not paint every entertainer with the same brush. There are some exceptional comics out there whose humour is intellegent, wry, complex and downright hilarious. As well I respect them for coming to the defense of this woman who need not be subjected to overt harassment by simply trying to ply her trade. But on behalf of anyone who has ever sat in the front row of a comedy show and has been embarrassed to the point of shame by a comic trying to get a cheap laugh at their expense I think the comic community may want to refrain from taking the moral high ground in this instance.

      SarahArboleda

      May 26, 2015 at 11:32am

      Fascinating how unwilling so many people are to call this what it is: sexism.

      It's great when a celebrity like Brent with a big Canadian following decides to speak up against this, but disheartening when comment sections are then filled with people whose responses amount to, "Okay, but..."

      Why do people like @MichaelinVan or @Edward Bernays always feel that they are entitled to question, second-guess, or flat-out deny women's experiences and women's choices? Particularly when their handles would suggest that they've had no first-hand experience in similar circumstances?

      If you are being sexually, verbally, or physically harassed at work, it's perfectly acceptable to remove yourself from an abusive situation.

      A stand-up comic is, and should be, no different. And if people in the club felt that their time had been short-changed, then they had every ability and right to chastise the person who caused the problem -- the sexist heckler, not the comic.

      We need to take people seriously when they talk about the abuse they encounter. Women are constantly told to stop being "attention whores" and to "learn to take a joke," and men are told to "toughen up" and stop being "cry-babies."

      These are harmful, gendered messages intended to keep people from acknowledging and fixing serious problems with the way our society approaches abuse and the lack of support and empathy that is available for victims of that abuse.

      This is a problem that affects everyone because it takes responsibility away from the perpetrator and places it on the victim for daring to speak up, or for allies and supporters for daring to speak up on their behalf. Silence can be as dangerous as the abuse itself -- and the more we ridicule or second-guess people's voices and experiences, the more likely that this behavior will continue -- or even worsen.

      Ultimately, I think we could all do with following Brent's advice in the above article: “Try not being a piece of s**t for a while, and I bet that’ll REALLY cut down on the amount of rampant sensitivity you have to tolerate.”

      @Sienna

      May 26, 2015 at 2:09pm

      True, and at 50 women become invisible and lament at all the attention that they no longer garner. Enjoy the attention; it won't last.

      ursa minor

      May 26, 2015 at 3:51pm

      It's also important to remember that this incident took place at a corporate event. The sexist verbal abuse inflicted on Ms. Grant took place in what is, for all intents and purposes, a workplace environment, and hopefully the perpetrator's employer will enforce appropriate discipline.

      The Past

      May 27, 2015 at 7:52am

      Guys who do that are usually hyper-aggressive and it's too bad he couldn't have been brought to HR where he works. What bothers me is that there is a lack of chivalry these days and the code of conduct for men has gotten screwed up beyond recognition.

      In general, I hate hecklers. They seem to want to make themselves feel powerful by humiliating someone in a very vulnerable, but public position. In this case he used something that he knew would hit home hard and probably felt exhilarated at his success.

      Du Lang

      May 27, 2015 at 11:36am

      Hey, when's The Straight gonna lambast that Alberta MLA from the NDP who called a couple of Conservative MLA's "gayboyz"in a tweet? When does the Hysterical Banshee squad jump all over the same MLA for indulging in a bit of "sexual assault cosplay" for an album cover? Oh... wait... that MLA's a woman. And she plays a left-of centre politician. No homophobia or misandry at all... when a member of the sisterhood's involved.

      Grant

      May 27, 2015 at 3:17pm

      @ Du Lang

      Answer: When she refuses to apologize and refuses to accept her punishment OR when she does it as a grown up.