Logo text
Netflix isn’t too happy about the claim made by comedian Marc Normand.
Normand recently told a story about him Tuesday with stories! A podcast about a podcaster dealing with a sensitive joke from his new special, Marc Normand: Nothing too pleased.
Normand claimed that Netflix executives insisted on not promoting a joke about Muslims on social media, saying it would be too dangerous for the company.
“We have to do a conference call,” Normand says. “There are 18 Jews with a loudspeaker and a Jew. They said, ‘Yes, bad news. “We’ve reviewed the special again, and we’d like you to delete the Muslim joke.” I say, “Oh, why?” [they] Well, the last time a comedian made an Islamic joke, we got bomb threats. We received death threats. They said they would kill us. They destroyed the entire studio, blowing the place to smithereens. “So we don’t want to use Islamic humor.” So I said: I have to fight for the joke here.
Normand then says executives backed off, or perhaps made it clear, that they didn’t want to remove the joke from the special, but only from a social media promo. “They said: ‘We have to keep her off social media. Social media is where all the dirty things start.’”
Normand continued: “I was like, ‘Okay, okay, I don’t like it, but okay. I’ll take it off on one condition: I want you to admit on this call that they’re dangerous people. You have to admit it, or I’ll post again.'” I mean, I’m half-joking… and they’re like, “Okay, we’re not going to do that.” And I’m like, “Why not?” “Well, that’s offensive.” And I say, “I just want you to say that out loud.” I need to admit… It’s like we’re all pointing out that we’re all virtuous, but you don’t actually act that way, do you? I think this is a perfect example of that. “Hey, we’re scared.” Why are you nervous? This is what I meant. So they admitted it.”
But Netflix’s source strongly denies most elements of Normand’s story. The gist of the truth is, “We advised him that we are a global company and to be careful of the clips and jokes he used to promote the special on his social media channels,” the source said. But the idea that a Netflix executive would portray Muslims as a dangerous threat on a conference call, let alone verbally agree with Normand that they are “dangerous people,” is “not true, untrue, and just plain wrong,” the source says. Furthermore, the source says Normand wasn’t on the call, just his reps. So the idea of a back-and-forth dialogue between Normand and the executives didn’t happen (“It’s just cosmetic”).
Overall, Normand comically mocks all sorts of different groups more or less equally. In case you’re curious, the joke — if you don’t mind spoilers — goes: “All my friends who have kids tell me horror stories about their kids. One of my friends has a teenage daughter, and it’s like she’s going through all these stages. First she went through a promiscuous stage. Now she’s going through a Muslim stage. I was like, ‘Hey, she slept with a Muslim, that’s not bad.’ “Now she gets down on her knees five times a day.” For a different reason… He says, “Yes, I think so, but do you think she’ll stop smoking weed?” I said, “Well, she’s a Muslim woman. She could still get stoned.”
Normand then comments, “Ah, it’s an Islamic joke! You laughed at the Jewish nonsense, and you were just trying to keep your balance.”
A representative for Normand had no immediate comment. Here’s the trailer for his own film:
