The 2020 “Catty Everyone is Gossiping About You Behind Your Back” Awards
It’s time for the all new 2020 edition of the dubious “Catty Everyone is Gossiping About You Behind Your Back” Awards, where we count down the biggest and baddest scandals and controversies that rocked, slammed, or gently nudged the comedy world this year.
TMZ, Perez Hilton, Reddit, Jasmine, Radar, there’s an endless source of websites that dish on Gossip and everyone knows gossip thrives on Scandals and Controversies. So while most of our awards focus on real accomplishment, we can’t help but get a little muddy to highlight this years fights, drunken arguments, rants, apologies, backstabs, complaints, and accusations. You know you love seeing people at their worst, and sharing bad news, and you can’t resist checking out all the OMG, WTF and SMH.
They’re listed backward, countdown style; add your own imaginary ‘countdown’ sound effects (pew! pew! whoooooooooosh).
And remember, it doesn’t make you a bad person. Okay sometimes it does.
Did we get it wrong? Tell us which scandal you think should be this year’s #1 when voting opens December 30th.
Also don’t forget to vote on the best of everything in comedy this year– books, albums, specials, stand up of the year and more! And read all of our 2020 year in comedy coverage here.
In mid-December the news broke that John Mulaney would be heading to rehab to deal with an alcohol and cocaine addiction. Mulaney has talked about his past drug and alcohol problems in his act and in interviews, but it had seemed as if those issues were in the distant past. Sources say he will be spending 60 days in a Pennsylvania rehab facility. Support for Mulaney’s well being has been overwhelming.
Subreddits Disappear. What the fuck happened to comedy on Reddit this year? We lost count of how many podcast and comedy show subreddits got banned during the great purge of 2020. On June 29, 2020 Reddit announced that and sub communities on the site that “incite violence or that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability” are prohibited. And it turns out that many sites that are fans of comedy shows fit that description. Some were banned as part of the big delete, others were removed later in the year. Most notable disappearances were subreddits who were fans of the former Opie and Anthony show, Legion of Skanks, and Cumtown shows. RIP.
Nikki Glaser Says Sorry to Taylor Swift: Not exactly a true controversy, Nikki Glaser apologized even though nobody was complaining after she made some jokes about Taylor Swift. Glaser’s jokes were a part of a montage of people saying mean things at the beginning of a Taylor Swift documentary. Since Glaser’s a big fan, she apologized via a long instagram post. Glaser was shocked to hear herself in the montage, saying, “The sound bite was from an interview I did 5 years ago and I say in SUCH a shitty tone. The quote was, “she’s too skinny; it bothers me… all of her model friends, and it’s just like, cmon!” Glaser said she was probably feeling shitty the day she said that, and didn’t like how crappy it came off. Swift not only accepted the apology, she also sent back a massive hug.
Jessica Kirson vs Twitter: Proving that Twitter controversies are largely uninformed hype, a whole bunch of people on Twitter got mad at Jessica Kirson over her use of an accent in a comedy bit. The character piece that generated the complaints was over four years old, and was posted by someone on Twitter. Shit blew up with many women of color expressing anger that the character portrayed women of color in a bad light. The complaint centered around characters that are “stereotypical, loud, unintelligent, caricatures of black women.” Kirson admitted she no longer found that particular character funny, which is why she stopped doing it. After Kirson’s initial response expressing that the character was old and that she is an ally, she refused to feed the trolls, and the flare up disappeared as quickly as it popped up.
Black Voices Matter: After Black Lives Matter erupted, corporations rushed to prove they really cared. Entertainment was a part of those changes, including a race to recast white actors who voiced black characters. 2020 brought the resignation of both Jenny Slate as Big Mouth’s silly yet sensitive nerd Missy Foreman-Greenwald; and Kristen Bell as Central Park’s Molly Tillerman, a budding comic book artist whose crushes play out in vivid detail on the pages of her sketchbook. The Simpsons recast Carl Carlson, Dr, Hibbert and Lou; Family Guy recast the Cleveland Role, after Black Lives Matter movement ignites a fight for racial equity. In 2020, Ayo Edebiri took over the role of Missy in Big Mouth. Emmy Raver-Lampman took over as Central Park’s Molly. Alex Désert took over the role of Carl Carlson on The Simpsons. And Arif Zahir is now playing Cleveland on Family Guy.
Bill Burr’s SNL Monologue: When Bill Burr hosted Saturday Night Live this October, he knew his monologue had to be memorable. This is SNL after all, and Bill Burr is a legend and that brings expectations. Those who are fans of Burr expect him to take the piss out of someone or other, and well, that kind of comedy always pisses off people who don’t understand the intent behind the jokes. In his monologue, he took on white women who “somehow hijacked the woke movement” which was supposed to be about people of color getting opportunities. “Somehow, white women swung their Gucci-booted feet over the fence of oppression and stuck themselves at the front of the line,” he said. Particularly problematic because, he said white women “stood by us toxic white males through centuries of our crimes against humanity. You rolled around in the blood money, and occasionally when you wanted to sneak off and hook up with a black dude, if you got caught, you said it wasn’t consensual.” That brought out Tweeters complaining that it was a bag look for SNL to bring on a white guy to rant about woke culture, BLM and pride. Others praised the monologue as poignant and sharp, and above all, funny. Later in the monologue his jokes about gay pride month rubbed some people wrong, as he suggested that a whole month might be too much for pride. “That’s a little long, don’t you think? For a group of people that were never enslaved how did they get all of June?” he said, adding, “black people were actually enslaved, they get February. They get 28 days of overcast weather. Sun goes down at 4:00 in the afternoon. Everybody’s shivering. Nobody wants to go on the parade. How about you hook them up with July.”
Pete Davidson Says He’s Leaving SNL. skipped an SNL after party after a February appearance on Charlamagne tha God’s show. Davidson ripped on some of his fellow SNL castmates and complained that he didn’t think anyone liked him. Pete went a far as to say he would probably leave the show, which he described as cutthroat. “I personally think I should be done with that show because they make fun of me on it,” he told Charlamagne. “They think I’m fucking dumb. I’m literally painted out to be this big dumb idiot.” The radio interview and podcast went viral, and Davidson not only finished out the season but has since returned for Season 46.
Black Face Episodes and Shows Get The Boot. The Black Lives Matter movement caused entertainment to once again revisit its history of blackface, and the old suspects as well as some new ones faced some renewed criticism. The response was another round of critiques for the likes of Kimmel, Fallon, Howard Stern, Sarah Silverman and others. Kimmel and Fallon both apologized. And then a long list of episodes or entire shows disappeared from streaming or on demand services, if blackface was involved or in some cases, just alluded to. The Mighty Boosh, Little Britain, Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, Chris Lilly, 30 Rock, Community, Scrubs, The Golden Girls, and The Office all pulled episodes. The BLM movement also caused some services to think about disclaimers or historical context additions to films that don’t adhere to modern sensibilities. “Gone with the Wind” was pulled from HBO Max because of “racist depictions” but returned to the streaming service along with two additional videos providing historical context and denouncing the racist elements.
Louis C.K.’s $$$ Gets Snubbed. Earlier this year, raising money was a huge priority for the Biden campaign, but it turns out that not all money is created equal. The campaign declined to accept a $2800 campaign donation from Louis CK back in March. It was the first donation the Biden campaign publicly refused. Neither Biden’s Team nor Louis C.K. commented about the decision.
Ellen-Gate. It’s been a bad year for Ellen Degeneres in the press. First she gets accused by a vlogger of being cold and distant. Soon after that, after someone suggested on Twitter that Ellen was “the meanest person alive” negative stories began pouring out about the daytime talk host, including a story that she almost got a waitress fired for having chipped nail polish. And this only took us through to March. In April, Ellen was called insensitive for comparing her quarantine in her compound to being in prison. Then there were issues about her crew being treated poorly during Covid. More accusations of being privileged, out of touch, cold and degrading followed. Things got worse this summer, when The Ellen show was investigated as a hostile work environment, requiring a third party to be brought in to investigate. Three senior staff members left the show. Two other celebs, Brad Garrett and Lea Thompson agreed it was common knowledge that Ellen treated people poorly. Ellen has since apologized and taken responsibility for the work environment on her show, promising to make changes.
Nick Cannon Fired For Anti-Semitism. When Nick Cannon was fired from the show that used to have his name in the title– Nick Cannon’s Wild n Out– after making remarks on his podcast that were anti-semitic, that was pretty controversial. Cannon had backed up a guest on his podcast who had said that Jews were responsible for all the wickedness in the world, telling his guest “You’re speaking facts. There’s no reason to be scared of anything when you’re speaking the truth.” Cannon also referenced some anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. Soon after, Viacom fired him, bringing yet another scandalous layer to the story. Nick said that he tried to apologize and reconcile the situation, and when Viacom was not interested, Cannon accused the company of wanting to “put the young negro in his place.” Cannon demanded ownership of Wild n’ Out, and an apology from Viacom. He continues to host FOX mega hit , The Masked Singer.
John Mulaney SNL Monologue Causes Two Controversies. First, Mulaney received backlash for a joke he made in his February 29 monologue about it not mattering who wins the election. Viewers criticized Mulaney’s message that they saw as discouraging voter turnout. He later admitted that he was careless with the set up to the joke. But the bigger controversy stemmed from a joke about Julius Caesar. “Leap Year began in the year 45 B.C. under Julius Caesar. This is true. He started the Leap Year in order to correct the calendar and we still do it to this day. Another thing that happened under Julius Caesar was he was such a powerful maniac that all the senators grabbed knives and they stabbed him to death. That’d be an interesting thing if we brought that back now” he joked. The joke led to a visit from Trump’s secret service, and a file being opened with the comedian’s name on it at the highest level, Mulaney later explained during an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel show. “In terms of risk assessment, no one who’s ever looked at me thought I registered above a 1.”
Woman vs Jeff Ross vs Woman. In 2019 a woman accused Ross of an inappropriate but consensual relationship with her when she was a minor- ie statutory rape. She levied the accusations in a Facebook page she titled Iwas15hewas33. The accusations were little seen until 2020 when allegations against Chris D’Elia brought more attention to comedians who cross sexual boundaries. Vulture.com interviewed Ross’s accuser who laid out a long and shocking story with a tremendous amount of detail. Soon after Ross responded, admitting he new the woman but denying any sexual relationship with her while she was a minor. Ross threatened legal action over the alleged false accusations, and then in November, filed a defamation suit naming the woman, as well as Vulture.com for running the story without proper vetting. That legal proceeding is still pending.
Comedian Brian Callen was accused of rape sexual assault in 2020 by at least four women who came forward alleging sexual assault after the stories about D’Elia came to light. Callen has denied the allegations across the board saying “I have never raped, forced myself upon any woman nor offered to trade stage time for sex. EVER.” He soon took a leave of absence from his podcast, and was dropped by agents at CAA and Innovative Artists, but he has continued to perform. Callen later filed suit against one of the alleged victim’s husband, because the man sent out emails urging those doing business with Callen to drop him.
Dave Chappelle Gets Netflix and HBO Max to drop his show. Chappelle asked fans to boycott his own show when it was announced that old episodes of the Comedy Central hit series Chappelle’s Show would be available on Netflix and HBO Max. Chappelle was upset that Comedy Central, who owned the rights, had licensed reruns of the series to the two streaming platforms, but Chappelle was not going to get money for the airings. “Do not watch it unless they pay me.” Chappelle said. He also argued Comedy Central took advantage of him by having him sign that original agreement, which he called, legal but unfair. In an absolutely unprecedented move, despite the fact that CC, Netflix and HBO Max had the legal rights to make the deal, both Netflix, and eventually HBO Max agreed to scrap plans to air the episodes. Now that’s power.
Joe Rogan and Spotify. It was just this summer that Spotify signed Joe Rogan to a 100 million dollar deal, for the rights to his #1 ranked Joe Rogan Experience podcast. After Joe Rogan’s podcast moved to Spotify, fans were freaking out when certain controversial episodes (reportedly 48 of them) went missing, including episodes featuring Alex Jones, Gavin McGuinnes, Milo Yiannopoulous, Charles Johnson, Owen Benjamin, and more. Even episodes from Tommy Chong and Joe List were on the missing list. That’s scandal #1. Along comes controversy #2, an episode which aired with a somewhat transphobic guest upset many Spotify employees, to which management replied that the content was within company guidelines. The missing episodes were later explained as a mistake. There was also an apology and a retraction around the same time, where Rogan apologized for providing misinformation about people lighting fires. “I said it without looking into it. It was very irresponsible.”
Joe Rogan Leaves Los Angeles. Before all of the Spotify controversies had reddit buzzing, Rogan shocked the entertainment world with a pretty big announcement- he was leaving Los Angeles and moving to Austin Texas. The industry in the City of Angels shuddered with the realization that maybe being in LA isn’t so important after all.
Kevin Hart & Ho’ Like Activity. Kevin Hart’s New Special, Zero Fucks Given generated big backlash for the comedy star. Not because it was arrogant, but because he used derogatory terms to classify his daughter’s behavior. What? He called her a ho? Well, yes and no, and he definitely said her actions constituted “ho shit.” After Kev told a story about his daughter changing her mind about which boys she likes. He said “My daughter a ho. This is ho shit. This is ho shit. Hoe activity right in front of my face.’”. Social media called him out for being sexist. He explained “I’m not calling my daughter a hoe, I’m saying what she did is hoe-like activity.” Ooooh okay Kev. So that’s okay then?
Joey Coco Diaz Says He Got Blowjobs for Stage Time. Some people were pretty pissed after someone dug up video of Diaz on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience bragging about giving young female comics stage time in exchange for oral. “You think I’m fucking kidding? Yeah, you’ve got to suck my dick to get up to the Belly Room. I’ll make a call for you. That’s the fucking gateway into Hollywood, everybody knows that.” Rogan then asks: “How many girls did you have do that?” To which Diaz replies: “20.” Rogan bursts out laughing and claps his hands. Well people didn’t like this very much, and Diaz isn’t the only one who caught heat for it. Those complaining didn’t like Rogan’s response at all. But comedians rushed to Diaz’s defense, pointing out the the clip was old, the story older, and there was nobody who was involved who was complaining about anything. Diaz responded to complaints with a middle finger. “If they couldn’t stop me then now that I’m 57……I really don’t give a Frenchman’s fuck….”
Brad Williams Bait and Switch. Dipping back into the category of when old podcast episodes resurface and go viral…….an old episode of Getting Doug with High recirculated this summer. In the episode Brad Williams shares a story about a night on tour with Carlos Mencia gone wild. In the story, Brad claims Mencia brought a drunk girl into a tour bus, and then Williams “swapped out” with Mencia, without the girl’s consent. Williams later apologized and said he made up the story, to have something to say. He says it never happened, but apologized for thinking a story about non-consensual sex was funny.
Jim Gaffigan Gives No Fucks, Gets Political, Goes Off on Trump. Jim Gaffigan, who is decidedly unpolitical as a comedian, and has always kept his political views away from his public platforms went WAY out of character in late August during the Republican National Convention, literally putting Trump and his followers on blast. Correction- Gaffigan gave PLENTY of fucks in his twitter storm tirade. He broke his clean comic character, and the fucks were flying in the multi tweet rant. Addressing Trump followers directly, he said, “I know you stick by your team no matter what, but he’s a traitor and a con man who doesn’t care about you. Deep down you know it. I’m sure you enjoy pissing people off, but you know Trump is a liar and a criminal. By the way, you can’t be against Cancel Culture and tell people to stay out of politics. You know that time you did a job and didn’t get paid? That’s Trump and you know it.” The 18 tweet run included phrases like “douche bag Jerod” “Fuck Lou Holtz.” and ““How many abortions did trump pay for? How many women has he raped?” At one point he excused himself to confront some “asshole trolls” and when a follower (named Karen) told him to stick to comedy, he replied “Hey Fuck You Karen.” It was the stuff of legend.
Giuliani Begins a Dizzying Tour Into Batshittsville With a Still From the Movie Borat. After Sacha Baron Cohen announced that the sequel to Borat had been filmed, edited and would be released this year, but before the actual release of the movie– a still photo from the film circulated showing Giuliani with his hands down his pants during an interview. The photo went viral, and was the first in a epic slide of embarrassing moments for the former mayor that included the Four Seasons incident, the hair dye incident, and farting on tv.
Stand Up New York vs New York City vs Seinfeld. Stand Up New York Comedy Club co-owner James Altrucher self published an op ed saying New York Is completely dead on Linked In. It got a lot of attention (particularly for something posted on LinkedIn) and was reposted by the New York Post on August 17. Jerry Seinfeld, the reigning king of New York Comedy (if not all comedy) fired back, guns blazing in a New York Times op-ed on August 24, blasting the club owner for his comments. The heat of the blast made some wonder if Jerry wasn’t perhaps punching down a little too hard at a much tinier target, but the ensuing debate of is NYC dead and gone raged on, leaving some scars behind. BONUS CONTROVERSY! When the uproar eventually died out, one of the clubs other owners went viral in early December for firing some shots at Saturday Night Live in a story posted on Page Six. Dani Zoldan complained that there seemed to be a COVID double standard, one that allowed Saturday Night Live to perform for an audience, but denies clubs the right to do the same. “They have a live studio audience and the cast members are not social distancing,” he said. “I was watching the show Saturday night and I was so upset that struggling comedy clubs are going out of business while they’re doing their thing and collecting a paycheck.” He also criticized comedy stars for not doing more to help.
Chris D’Elia. Just when you thought COVID and Black Lives Matter controversies eclipsed the MeToo movement, comedian Chris D’Elia brought attention back in full force to sexual misconduct in the comedy community. In June, D’Elia was accused of sexual harassment, grooming, and solicitation of nude photos from multiple underage girls. His Workaholics episode was removed from multiple platforms, CAA dropped him, he was replaced by Tig Notaro in a Zombie movie and he was shunned by Twitter. No comics came to his aid publicly that we could see, and in fact, to add insult, comedians and comedy fans on Twitter attacked his comedy and acting skills. D’Elia made #2 on our scandal list not only for being accused of some really shitty things, but also because at least four other controversies this year came as a direct result of the D’Elia accusations inspiring people to pay more attention to sexually predatory behavior.
Ari Shaffir Blows Up Twitter With His Weird Not-Mourning Tweets. Ari Shaffir loves to cause trouble in the name of a joke, and one of this running gags is to tweet something shitty about a beloved celebrity right after their death, while the rest of the world is idealizing the dearly departed. This year, Shaffir went mega-viral after boldly continuing this gag in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s shocking death. He tweeted: “Kobe Bryant died 23 years too late today. He got away with rape because all the Hollywood liberals who attack comedy enjoy rooting for the Lakers more than they dislike rape. Big ups to the hero who forgot to gas up his chopper. I hate the Lakers. What a great day!” Had Shaffir’s tweet just been read by his own followers, this joke would have landed on a pile of previous mean tweets about dead celebs, but it didn’t end there. Thanks to some outrage from actor Michael Rapaport, and no context whatsoever, Ari’s tweet and a subsequent video got seen by hundreds of thousands of people who knew little to nothing about him. The story blew up, making news all over social media as well as many media outlets ranging from Vice to the New York Times. The infamy forced Shaffir to go underground for a short while, and Shaffir used a fake name on lineups around the city. But the sheer insanity of it all earns Shaffir our #1 spot, and that’s exactly where he would want to be.
Boom.
