Aziz Ansari Didn't Address His #MeToo Moment At A Sold Out Show In Knoxville

Aziz Ansari is making a comeback.

Over the last month, the comedian has started hosting “pop-up shows” in cities across the country. They’re billed under the title “Working Out New Material” with the intent of doing exactly that.

Ansari’s position in the constellation of Hollywood #MeToo stories is a complicated one. It happened on a date, while many of the other incidents happened under more professional guises. It’s one woman’s story, in contrast to the scores of victims who have shared stories about Harvey Weinstein and Charlie Rose. These details, however, don’t render Ansari’s accuser’s story or feelings any less valid. If anything, they warrant an even more nuanced conversation about enthusiastic consent and victim-blaming.

But so far, if anyone has gone to one of Ansari’s shows looking to gain clarity on his accusations, they haven’t found it.

Thursday night’s Knoxville show at the Tennessee Theatre was announced a week ago and just a few days after Louis C.K. made a surprise appearance at New York City’s Comedy Cellar. Tickets went for $42 and sold out quickly despite the short-notice. Par for Ansari’s previous “Working Out New Material” shows, the audience was warned that phones and smart watches would be locked away during the show. It’s a practice that’s become de rigueur at comedy shows to prevent jokes from hitting the internet and spoiling the experience of future audiences.

After brief sets from Wil Sylvince and Phil Hanley, Ansari made his way to the stage, wearing a T-shirt from Kanye West’s Yeezus tour, and was welcomed by roaring applause. A bit about staying off his own phone rolled seamlessly into jokes about how quickly and incisively the internet vilifies people — without leaving room for a nuanced conversation. He talked about Roseanne, the CEO of Starbucks, and the teen who was accused of cultural appropriation for wearing a Chinese qipao to prom.

At one point, he quizzes the audience on a new outrage he saw online: Pizza Hut is embroiled in scandal because some customers thought they were delivered a pizza with the pepperonis arranged in the shape of a swastika. But some people online think it looks more like a Star of David. Other people think it just looks like a regular pizza. He likens it to the Laurel/Yanny auditory illusion that went viral in May and encourages the audience to weigh in.

Ansari goes on to explain that sometimes his girlfriend doesn’t pick up on racist microaggressions because she’s a white woman from Denmark. He had to explain to her why publications refer to her as “Becky.” When someone yells at them on the street that she probably gets a lot of free taxi rides with him as her boyfriend, she takes it to be a comment on her being perceived as a gold digger, only dating him for his wealth. But Ansari explains to her that the man is using the stereotype that Indian people are taxi drivers to make fun of him.

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You guys have reached an all time low.

[jhemilae]

Vice 2012: Venezuelan sewer children
Vice 2018: Man does not apologize publicly for a bad date

Wtf Vice?

[zak_abass]

What happened to vice? They used to have really good documentaries. Now the whole channel just makes garbage content.

[sebnewb]

He didn’t do anything... it was a bad date. Really vice

[zerimorren]

He isn't allowed to be a person anymore, on any platform he is on he should grovel and beg forgiveness amiright?

[stephaniehale]

It was just a bad date, as simple as that. She just made a big deal out of it. Nothing that happened in his apartment was out of ordinary. It was just a regular guy trying to get laid with his date. What's wrong with that?!?!?! She shouldn't have gone to his apartment in the first place if she didn't want those events to unfold one by one.

[GriffinLKVW]

She went on a date. Had consensual sex. In the morning, realized she regretted it. Tried to take out his career. But he needs to show remorse. For what?

[ivanbellman]

Wow... degrees of remorse as the barometer for forgiveness.

[Henchman_Holding_Wrench]

What? You want him to write a bit about how he can't read minds?

[ECPlex]

Lame aziz I’m sorry you had a bad date

[guidedprismg.e.w.p]

He didn’t do anything that would warrant this. He made a bad choice and she consented even though she was uncomfortable. Not really anyone’s fault, it was a bad date.

[kingghidorah]

Man I used to love Vice...that North Korea expose was great...over the years their extremely liberal bias has grown and now the spill over is just to much...why is a bad date news?

[TheRishabhkumar]

I support #Metoo but aziz didn't do anything.

[TheMcGloneCode]

He has no reason to be sorry or to apologize

[colemctavish]

Wtf Vice... She had a bad date. Quit pushing this false narrative!

[jairoherrera]

I wonder if Vice news' intention is to try to shame Aziz and his audience despite the fact he didn't do anything wrong against a false accusation. In otherwords, they are trying to bring back this topic to life again.

[XSpImmaLion]

I'm downvoting this video not because I have problems with #metoo movement, not because I like Aziz Ansari, and not because I dislike Vice content or feel it's "FakeNews", but because this video makes no sense, has no context, and looks like a rushed job.
Vice, not all your audience lives in the US or knows the context of what you are talking about. If you are going to do a piece on a current event, please put up some clarification and some context to it other than some thrown out text that has no weight to it. This is a very poorly produced piece.

[ConnorNolan]

Why hasn't there been any consequences for a false accusation of sexual assault? That should be the story

[Chino]

Because it wasn’t a “me too” moment. GTFO. Vice sucks.

[noahskinner]

Yeah, he didnt address something that has nothing to do with his comedy in his sold out show. They bought a ticket to listen to his comedy, not to address these allegations