In the wake of rape allegations that rocked the New York comedy community, one of Amy Schumer's (now former) writers emerged to somehow attract more anger than the actual alleged rapist. Now the feminist comedy star is responding. Comedian Kurt Metzger, one of the original writers of Inside Amy Schumer, is best-known for his 2013 fight with feminist bloggers in defense of rape jokes, although he probably will now be remembered as someone who loves rape jokes, but hates it when rape victims speak out in ways he disapproves of.
Schumer defended Metzger in the 2013 fight over rape humor, and the two were clearly on good terms as recently as August 2.
After Metzger's posts, in which he basically said private organizations cannot ban people unless they go to the police and Kurt Metzger first, people quickly wanted to know what Schumer thought. Metzger noticed.
Clearly she was having a rough day, since her book just came out (in which she reveals being sexually assaulted as a virgin), and she actually blocked some people who tweeted at her about the story.
By Wednesday, however, Amy Schumer had ended her silence (and apparently any chance of Metzger returning for future seasons).
So… what exactly happened, you ask? Let's back up. On Saturday, August 15, news filtered through the New York comedy scene that a minor comic had been banned from the prominent Upright Citizens Brigade Theater after several different women told the theater he had raped them.
Soon, comedians were divided between (mostly) supportive people who took UCB at its word that it had received serious allegations from women in the community, and a loud but vocal minority decrying this action by a private institution as a rights-depriving "witch hunt." Even more than the accused rapist's defensive posts on Facebook, however, it was Metzger's screeds that attracted the most attention with his list of demands for rape victims:
In summary, Metzger has two core demands: 1) all victims MUST go to the police or they cannot be taken seriously, and/or 2) you can tell your story without pressing charges IF you give Metzger all the details and your name. Not the officials at your school, but a stranger on Facebook. He just wants to know everything about your rape, is that so hard? Why can't you just tell everything to Rape Czar Kurt Metzger?
The thing is, several women did tell someone, and although they're anonymous to the public, they're not anonymous to UCB. They went in person to UCB's Director of Student Affairs, Marissa Tunis, and told their stories. At least one man also went to Tunis to confirm he had first heard one of the victims' stories years earlier. They weren't wearing masks or using voice scramblers.
The bottom line is: only UCB has to believe the accusations to ban someone from UCB. It's clear that this upsets and scares Metzger, but ultimately that doesn't matter. Private organizations get to decide who belongs and who doesn't, and there is literally no reason why anyone else should be involved or be privy to details.
If they wanted to, UCB could just ban people for being rude. It's their theater. So setting the bar at "multiple rape accusations from members of the community" seems pretty reasonable. You hate UCB now? Boycott UCB and see who joins you. Start your own club! See who shows up. I'm sure it'll be a classy crowd.