Sunday, October 16, stand-up comedian and actor, Amy Schumer, performs a long awaited show at Tampa, Florida's, Amalie Arena. Tensions were already present among audience members, as this is the first time Schumer has visited the Tampa Bay area since calling the city "horrendous" in her book "The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo." In it, Schumer writes "I was on the road doing a tour and traveling between two horrendous cities: Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Tampa, Florida... I'm not scared about writing that and making those people mad because I know for a fact that no one who lives there has ever read a book." What made the lasting impression was not Schumer's comments about the city, but her political beliefs and mocking GOP Republican candidate, Donald Trump. And while many audience members abruptly left during the middle of her show after feeling offended by the comedian's comments, I for one disagree. So here's a brief summary as to what the hell happened in Amalie Arena that Sunday night.
After Hurricane Matthew struck Florida's east coast earlier this month, Florida Governor Rick Scott extended the deadline for voter registration until Tuesday, October 18th. Amy Schumer used this opportunity to go out and register Floridian's to vote in the upcoming election. Schumer posted this photo along with another video of her gathering around crowds in Tampa's Amalie Arena as she registered and updated local's voter identification cards.
Show Time: What Actually Went Down
Amy Schumer kicked off her Tampa show with one of her most infamous topics: mostly sex stuff. Per usual, Schumer was bold, raunchy, and did not spare any details as she told audiences about a romantic weekend in Paris gone horribly wrong, and a former hookup during one of her previous visits to Tampa which she calls "the best one-night stand of my life."
Things quickly went from raunchy to controversial as Schumer began to change her subject onto Florida and the presidential election. Florida is currently a battleground state for GOP candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and Schumer was not shy about expressing her political views. Crowds became furious with Schumer after she calls Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, an "orange, sexual-assaulting, fake-college-starting monster." It is estimated that a total of 200 people walked out of her show after hearing her comments.
However, Amy Schumer was open to hearing opposition. During her show, Schumer asks one audience member who will be voting for Donald Trump to come up on stage and explain why they feel Donald Trump would be a better president. Schumer put much emphasis on having a peaceful political discussion, and asked all audience members, regardless of their political views, to show respect for whoever comes on stage. A male Trump supporter did join Schumer on stage and explained that he was a RHINO (a person who hasn't voted for a Republican since Ronald Reagan) and that he was choosing to vote for Trump because he felt that he could not trust Clinton. The two debated civilly, and the man later left the stage.
Amy Schumer then began to express her views regarding sexual assault and gun control. Schumer, a sexual assault victim herself, slammed Trump over his comments regarding women on the leaked video of him from 2005. Schumer then asked if any audience members who were also victims of sexual assault to stand up, visualizing the statistic that one in six women will be victims of sexual assault. Schumer then went on to explain her views on gun control, after expressing her condolences for two female fans who were murdered by a gunman after storming into the movie theater playing Schumer's "Trainwreck" this past summer. Schumer explained that she felt that convicted felons, terrorist watch suspects, and those suffering from visual or mental impairments should not be able to have access to guns. She jokes on this subject "do not give the blind, crazy guy a gun."
Schumer's Response
In the days following her show in Tampa, Amy Schumer read an open letter to the city during one of the later shows in Madison Square Garden. In it, Schumer writes:
“Dearest Tampa, I’m sorry you didn’t want me, a comedian who talks about what she believes in, to mention the biggest thing going on in our country right now. How could I think it was okay to spend five minutes having a peaceful conversation with someone with different views?"
“After the show, I want you to know that I will go straight to a rehab facility that will teach me how to make all people happy. Both the rich, entitled, white people who are gonna vote for him and the very poor people — who’ve been tricked into it! And Tampa, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said that he was an orange, sexual-assaulting, fake-college-starting monster. Shouldn’t have said that. I will never again say that he is an orange, sexual-assaulting, fake-college-starting monster!”
But Here's the Bigger Picture
Amy Schumer had two choices when it came to what she decided she wanted to talk about in Tampa: she could have played it safe and stuck with her raunchy routine, or she could be bold and tell her audience how she really felt. Rather than cowardly hiding from the audiences' boos, Schumer stood up for what she believed in and used her voice for something bigger than just stand-up comedy. Amy Schumer did more than just entertaining a crowd that Sunday night, but instead got more people talking larger issue at stake. Even when faced with the criticism of the masses, Amy Schumer refused to back down or apologize for anything she said or believes in; and that is truly brave.
