Jeff Foxworthy: Cancel Culture Deprived Us of the Ability to Laugh at Ourselves

Nick Kangadis | July 31, 2020
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People need to get over themselves and incorporate a little humble pie into their lives. Especially on the toxic landscape that is social media, users put way too much stock into the importance they feel their “hot takes” have on the world. When it comes to cancel culture, those that seek the removal of others in order to live in some sort of sterilized world need to take a bite out of reality and be able to have at least a modicum of self-awareness.

Legendary comedian Jeff Foxworthy spoke with Fox News in an exclusive interview to promote his new “What’s It Worth” show, which airs on A&E.

During the interview, Foxworthy was asked about how cancel culture has affected comedy in today’s society.

Here’s what Foxworthy had to say:

I talk to my comic friends about this. It was like in the late '80s or '90s if I was writing a routine, I might say, well, men do this and women do that. And then you would have some man or woman say, "Well, I don't do that." And you know, part of me is like, "I know it's a joke." You know, play along. But I started writing, I do this, my wife does that. But we've gotten to the point nobody has a sense of humor about themselves.

And my thought is we're all a mess. We all make mistakes. And in fact, I had gotten to the point where I was saying, when I walked out on stage, that I remind myself right before I walk out that everybody's going through a struggle, everybody. It might be financial, physical, emotional… So I have grace with people because you don't know what they're going through.

And I don't think laughter makes the struggle go away, but laughter is like the release valve that keeps the boiler from exploding. So, let's learn to laugh at ourselves. When other people make a mistake, have grace with them, when we make a mistake, we hope people give us grace in return. And I just would love to see us get back to that.

Even when trying to explain that a part of our culture is bad, Foxworthy still maintains his class and responds with love instead of hate.

Foxworthy’s point that cancel culture has taken away a large part of our ability to laugh at ourselves is absolutely true. Everyone, regardless of ideology, race, religion or sexual orientation, is so touchy these days that any hint of something that could be construed as negative — or a criticism — about them throws people into a tizzy. I’m guilty of it too, at times.

We could all gain a little more happiness in our lives if we took Foxworthy’s advice - at least a little - and regain the ability to look at ourselves introspectively, brush off the animus we sometimes feel and direct a chuckle or two in our own direction. After all, laughter is the best medicine.

Obviously, people should stand up for themselves when they’re legitimately done wrong, but we could also use a certain degree of lightening up.

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