Baller Alert Entertainment & Lifestyle
Jimmie “J.J.” Walker, the star of the seventies hit television show “Good Times,” is working on a new book about comedy’s great generational and racial divides. But, in a recent interview, the actor and comedian launched a tirade about the #MeToo movement and the culture of political correctness on the red carpet of the Paley Honors in Beverly Hills, all while defending comic Louis CK.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Walker told a reporter that “We’ve gone too far with the PC Culture.” He was walking the red carpet to show support for the night’s honorees, a roster of comedy legends including Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett, Norman Lear, Lily Tomlin, and Carl Reiner.
Walker defended CK, telling reporters, “It’s way out of line. It’s really hurting comedy and hurting a lot of artists. It’s totally unfair. If you look at his act, Louis C.K. talks about masturbation all the time. So, when you go see Louis C.K., [you] should expect to see some masturbation jokes. If you [are] around him, I would expect to see that. I don’t think that people like that should be indicted and have stuff taken away from them.”
Walker was referring to Louis CK and his current attempt at a comeback tour, which has already gotten off to a bumpy start after the comic made a Holocaust joke at a show in Tel Aviv, claiming he’d “rather be in Auschwitz than New York City.”
CK also referenced his past sexual misconduct allegations, telling the audience, “If they say ‘yes,’ then still don’t do it because it’s not popular,” he reportedly said.
The disgraced comedian spoke of the 2017 scandal where multiple women accused him of masturbating in front of them without their consent — behavior he later personally confirmed.
Walker, who has been working in comedy for 50 years, said he’s noticed the audiences have separated in recent years, which prompted him to write his as yet unpublished book on the subject. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Walker contends a lot of the divide in comedy can be attributed to cable television. “When I started on [Johnny] Carson and Ed Sullivan, every comic was on it. Black, white, Asian, gay, this, that, that, that, this. Jay Leno took over, and there was no comedy. Nobody. Minority comics developed their own thing — like Def Jam, that was for black people. If you watch cable now, you will see the divide. There will be black night — ‘Hey, it’s black night, get down, baby!’ Then gay night — ‘Hey b*tches, it’s time for us!’ Then you’ll have, ‘Loco baby, it’s time for the Hispanics, baby! Coming at you!’ People do not play across the board anymore. Everybody has their crowd and their people.”
