I want to start off by saying, I've never really considered myself a feminist. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with being a feminist, I just never identified as one. However, while watching the Rob Lowe Roast turn into the Ann Coulter Roast, I felt uncomfortable. I laughed at the jokes directed towards her reputation, a lot of them deserved. But then there were jokes directed towards her appearance, and jokes made that could be said to any woman. Those are the jokes I didn't laugh at or find funny.
The reason being was that while many of the jokes did point out the harsh truth that Ann Coulter is a product of racism in this country and warrants a feeling of disgust, the jokes that were pointedly about her appearance and gender still could've been said had you replaced her with literally any other female. And that's the problem. The reason I can't fully support what was said during the roast is because for so long, so many of those jokes have been directed towards females in general, and I find it unnecessary. I find it unnecessary that among the various things and offenses that could've been said about Ann Coulter, and who she is as a person and how she is a poison in our society, instead, some of those comedians chose to attack her on things much less important and much more superficial.
Yes, it's funny to hear someone being compared to a scarecrow or being forced to accept the nasty truths about their personality, but when a joke escalates from "repugnant" and "hateful" to "hatchet face bitch[es] alive," you start to wonder whether that truly needed to be included. It's especially off-putting, however, when the punch line is, "it's not too late to change, Ann. You could kill yourself." I'm not sure about anyone else, but I don't find jokes about suicide funny. Maybe that's just me though.
That same comedian makes another comment about her appearance, saying she looks like a "truck stop transvestite whore." One of the most degrading things to be called as a female is a whore, and yet, that word, and many more, got thrown around more often than I felt comfortable with.
More than anything, I'm disappointed by the roast. So many more comments of value could've been made, on top of the ones that had been said. I'm all for the tearing down of Ann Coulter. She disgusts me and is yet another reminder of how messed up this world continues to be. I would have loved to have seen more pointed jokes about her white privilege, racist views, and baffling ignorance. Unfortunately, what I saw was really just the degradation of a woman, that although far from innocent, did not need to have happened. We could have experienced intelligent, satirical, politically charged comments, and instead what we got was something that truly fell flat to me.
Those cruel, offensive things could have been directed towards your mother, or sister, or girlfriend, or best friend. And at some point in their lives, maybe they have been. Maybe they've had worse said to them. And so even though I in no way support Ann Coulter, I also can't whole-heartedly support the roast that she received.
