Chelsea Handler Tweets Opinion, Twitter Gets Mad, Surprising No One
Chelsea Handler did what Chelsea Handler does best over the weekend, sending out a politically-charged tweet that has successfully riled a few thousand people on Twitter into a mouth-frothing fervor. On Sunday, the comedian tweeted about a news story that was reported that day, in which two Chinese tourists were briefly arrested outside of Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag. You can see the tweet below:
2 Chinese guys were arrested in Berlin for making nazi salutes. Wouldn't it be nice 2 have laws here for people who think racism is funny?
— Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) August 7, 2017
In the tweet, Handler suggested that the U.S. would benefit from enforcing similar laws against hate speech/symbols. That, of course, led to a flood of angry tweets directed at Handler regarding free speech, because we all know that there’s no better platform for a nuanced discussion about the First Amendment than a social media platform that is inundated with trolls and where posts are limited to just 140 characters, about the length of a lame motivational quote found on a coffee cup.
Handler, probably wisely, didn’t respond to any of the comments in the thread, and simply let the mob have at it. Say what you will about Handler and her politics, but she owns everything that she says and doesn’t seem to be in the business of deleting unpopular posts.
Below are a few tweets she received in reply:
Are you saying we should have thought police????
— Mitch All Together (@MyBrainGoesPop) August 7, 2017
So racist jokes are only funny when you make them? Everyone else should be arrested. pic.twitter.com/7nxLS5h1wV
— Tyler Smith (@TheTSmoove) August 7, 2017
If we got rid of first amendment protections for jokes someone found offensive, how much time would you spend in jail.
— Razor (@hale_razor) August 7, 2017
Pease re-consider. Would you want to see Mel Brooks arrested?
— Christina Sommers (@CHSommers) August 7, 2017