Sarah Silverman Responds to Controversy: I'm 'Done' With Gay Jokes

For a story that started with tweets that were already being dragged out of the dark ages, this Kevin Hart controversy sure keeps going.

After Hart complained about being asked to apologize for his homophobic tweets from nearly a decade ago and dropped out of hosting the Oscars, Nick Cannon thought the appropriate response was to drag up old tweets from white female comedians Chelsea Handler, Amy Schumer, and Sarah Silverman that also could have a homophobic reading to them.

And Silverman finally has something to say on the matter.

“Yeah, I’m definitely done with [saying anything that could be perceived as homophobic],” she told TMZ. “I think I can find other ways to be funny. I mean, I used to say ‘gay’ all the time. ‘Oh, that’s so gay.’ We’re from Boston, we’d go, ‘That’s what we say in Boston. I have gay friends. I just say gay.’ And then I heard myself and I realized I was like the guy who said ‘What? I say colored. I have colored friends.’ And I realized it was stupid and I certainly am creative enough to think of other words besides that that don’t hurt people.”

“But I fuck up all the time,” she admitted.

Silverman was initially hesitant to comment on Cannon bringing her into the controversy when TMZ asked, saying she was thinking about making her own video about the situation.

Previously, her only form of response had been sharing a thread on Twitter from a white gay male author claiming that the women’s tweets were different than Hart’s because they had been active allies to the community, and because the intent behind the tweets didn’t read as “malicious” the way Hart’s did. While those are true statements, and intent is always relevant, it was still a problematic take in and of itself, and Silverman seems to have spent some time reflecting on that.

But though she seems to agree with idea that there are some things heteros should know better than to say in 2018, Silverman acknowledges that comedians “don’t like to be told what to do.”

“Anyone should express themselves as they see fit,” she added. “And if there’s consequences, that’s part of it.”