Comedians Got Steve Bannon Kicked From New Yorker Festival

Former Chief Strategist Donald Trump is calling the New Yorker and editor David Remick “gutless” after he was dumped from their upcoming festival. He was supposed to be the fests headlining speaker. The decision to cut Bannon from the program came only hours after the announcement that he would be appearing as complaints and threats to pull out of the festival came pouring in via Twitter.

Virtually every comedian scheduled to perform or speak at the festival swiftly voiced their unhappiness with Bannon’s presence at the festival by tweeting that they would not be a part of the festival if Bannon is on the slate. It appears that John Mulaney started the ball rolling and everyone else quickly followed suit. Judd Apatow emphatically said he would not take part in an event that normalizes hate, and called for the New Yorker to cancel the Bannon event. Jim Carrey said that he and Bannon on the same program was something that could “never happen.” John Mulaney explained his decision to pull out, differentiating this situation from what he would call public intellectual debate. “this isn’t James Baldwin vs William F Buckley. This is PT Barnum level horseshit,” he wrote calling Bannon an “amateur night sonofabitch.” Bridget Everett tweeted that she’s out if Bannon is in, Jimmy Fallon simply wrote “I’m Out”, and Mike Birbiglia and Bo Burnham also let it be known that they would not participate.

Ben Stiller is not scheduled to be a part of the fest but wanted in on pulling out anyway, writing “I totally was available to fill in when everyone dropped out but would have so quickly said no f-ing way if they had asked, but now it’s all moot, so never mind.”

Comedians weren’t the only ones who were bitching. Writers, staffers and others scheduled to be a part of the event were also speaking out, but the most prominent voices came from the world of comedy.

Bannon, not surprisingly, was not pleased. “The reason for my acceptance was simple: I would be facing one of the most fearless journalists of his generation,” Mr. Bannon said in a statement to The New York Times. “In what I would call a defining moment, David Remnick showed he was gutless when confronted by the howling online mob.”

The festival runs October 5th through 7th, and is a multiple genre’d event with film, tv, and literary programs, and a long list of comedy programming. Assuming everyone is back in business, the festival will feature Jimmy Fallon talking with Ariel Levy, Jim Carrey talking with Colin Stokes, Patton Oswalt talking with Eric Lach, Bo Burnham talking with Michael Schulman, John Mulaney with Susan Morrison, and Mike Birbiglia in conversation with Emma Allen. Outside of the one on one conversations, the festival also offers “Sh!t Show: A Parenting Comedy Revue” hosted by Ophira Eisenberg and Emily Flake with performances by Janelle James and others. Apatow is scheduled to be a part of a program called “Surviving Twin” talking about an upcoming Netflix special he is producing with a live performance by Christopher Guest, and Loudon Wainwright III. And Bridget Everett will be talking with Michael Schulman and also performing live.

Get information on the event at festival.newyorker.com.

https://twitter.com/boburnham/status/1036741650612019200

Read more comedy news.