I am finding it very hard to reconcile with a ‘joke’ made by American comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish while being interviewed by Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. Tiffany is a multi-award-winning celebrity with over six million Instagram followers, being interviewed by Jimmy who boasts with over 17 million followers on Instagram. So, these are quite influential people on one of the biggest talk shows in America, with global reach if I may add. The two were having a conversation about one of the painful injustices that have become normal to a fault.
As reported by the Daily Mail in the UK, Jimmy asked Tiffany if her stand-up routine had changed amid the recent Black Lives Matter protests and she said, ‘definitely’. “What I've incorporated in my comedy is something that I think that would work, that would change the systemic racism, the injustices that we all suffer. I think the key to it is: All women, just stop having sex. Everyone, just close their legs. Just shut it down.”
My first thought was, ‘It is just a joke, relax’. Then I thought this would not even cut it as a joke. Not now, not ever! There is nothing to laugh about here, nothing. She jokingly implied that if all the women in the world stopped having sex, it would be the best way to make those in charge - who are predominantly male - create the change she wants to see.
