When comedian David Spade received the job to guest host ABC's "The Bachelor" after regular long-time host Chris Harrison was fired for defending a contestant who once attended a party with an antebellum theme, he warned cancel culture is making the comedy business "very dicey."
"It's very dicey; it's very tricky," Spade, who got the gig as a result of Harrison's "cancellation," told Variety. "You used to have to say anything to go as far as you could, to push the envelope, to get attention, and people would be like, 'I like this guy. He's pushing it.' And in comedy clubs, audiences really appreciate that.
"Now you say the one wrong move and you're canceled. It's a very tough world out there."
Spade also talked about the idea comedians should stick together against the idea of entertainers losing their jobs over politically incorrect speech.
"I think all the comedians have gotten together, in a way, to say we just have to keep doing what we were doing, and the people that come to the shows will appreciate it, but you get an outsider that comes in and goes, 'I was so offended,'" Spade said. "The intent is not to be mean.
"If the intent is to do it as a joke or a spin on something, and it is mean to people, but you're just making fun of that, I don't think that's horrible," he added. "I've been in the business doing it for 20 years, so I hope comics are allowed to be comics. I really hope so."
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