Earlier this month, Chris Tucker's first stand up comedy special premiered on Netflix. Prior to its release on July 10, 2016, the special was promoted widely, with posters lining the subway stations and bus stops around Manhattan, as well as ads on Youtube. A couple of days before its release, a lawsuit was filed by Terry Hodges, claiming that he was owed for work on the special that he didn't receive compensation for.
While Tucker started his career in stand up as a reoccurring act on HBO's Def Comedy Jam, he is best known for his role in the Rush Hour movie franchise. The comedian also had a role in the Academy Award winning film Silver Linings Playbook alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. According to the Hollywood Reporter, this special is the first endeavor he has starred in and produced by his own company, Chris Tucker Productions.
Eight minutes in, Tucker begins to set up a joke about how he would keep things interesting in his future marriage. He starts by saying, "Fellas, surprise your wife." He continues innocently enough, urging men to buy their wives flowers. He then proceeds to speak about his own future wife, and how he would want her to have a sense of humor, which he judges by her ability to appreciate his surprises. One of these surprises he then acts out. A scene where his wife is cooking him dinner, when she is suddenly attacked through a burglar that jumps through the window with a mask, and begins to rape her from behind. As the rapist he screams, "GET ON THE GROUND. GET ON THE GROUND. WHATCHU THINKIN." He then switches to play the woman as he bends over with his arms resting on the ever-present comedy stool. He thrusts back and forth and screams "WHO ARE YOU?" Switching to the husband, and rapist, he starts laughing, still having sex with her and says "Baby it's me." The joke continues for around another 20 seconds as Tucker acts out the rest of the scene as the two roles ending the dialogue with the words, "Were you scared? I know you were scared." Laughter erupts.
Tucker's "rape joke" does not discuss the role of rape in our culture, the problem with rape, or the absurdity of rape; it condones it. Tucker grossly fails to acknowledge the monstrosity of rape, and him thinking humor can be extracted from rape is monstrous. Rape is absurd. A man thinking that it is OK to pretend to be a burlgler and burst through the window and pretend to rape his wife is absurd. But while this joke shows a man pretending to break into his own house, he is not pretending to rape his wife. He IS raping her. Consent is not a one time question. Consent is not written into a marriage license and nonconsensual sex with a spouse is sexual assault, in case Chris Tucker was confused. Countless women are the victims of sexual violence by their partner around the world, but martial rape is a topic that is rarely a part of the conversation and research on the issue is scarce. Nonetheless, Tucker doesn't satirize the act, he celebrates it.
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, almost half of female and male victims of rape in the United States were raped by an acquaintance. Of these, 45.4 percent of female rape victims and 29 percent of male rape victims were raped by an intimate partner. Similarly, in a 1990 study, it was found that 10 to 14 percent of married woman were raped by their spouse. Yet, despite these statistics, marital rape remains the most unreported type of sexual assault, and it wasn't until the 1970s that a man was first convicted of raping his wife.
Current events is where most comedians draw their material from, and social commentary often draws in the big laughs. Though some comics do center their acts around noncontroversial issues (if there is even such a thing) or their own personal lives, it would be tough to find a comedian who hasn't discussed political or contentious issues. With the world constantly delivering us turmoil and tragedy, it is hard not use humor as a way to cope with the chaos. Comedians like Jon Stewart, Aziz Ansari, Louie C.K, Amy Schumer, and Stephen Colbert are nefarious for using their platform to bring attention to such problems, specifically with spoofs and sarcasm. This season on her show "Inside Amy Schumer," Schumer acted in a sketch entitled "Football Town Nights." The sketch parodies NBC's Friday Night Lights, and takes aim at rape culture in sports. Schumer discussed her decision to use comedy as a platform to address rape culture.
"Rape is good fodder for comedy because it’s the worst thing in the whole world, so it’s untouchable … We’re not just like, rape’s hilarious. It’s always a risk, some people will always be upset just at hearing the word, and you can maybe look at that scene and think we’re making light of something serious. We’re really trying to educate, but that’s not always clear. We know what message we want to send, and we also think the premise is funny, and then we’ll go to town."
As Schumer notes, comedy is a way to educate people in a rare moment where you have their full attention. However, this ability to inform is a responsibility, and it is vital for comedians to express their understanding of the weight of these issues. How is it that a company such as Netflix, which is extremely well-known and currently a pillar in most people's daily lives, has failed to see how problematic Tucker's "joke" really is? Netflix isn't the only one who hasn't addressed Tucker's comments. Overall, the comments have gone almost completely unnoticed. Aside from a blog post by Sarah Starkman for Huffington Post Canada, there is no recorded response to Tucker. Whether or not people see a problem with Tucker's joke, I find it bizarre there isn't at least a debate. In our popular media, performers are watched very carefully, and can usually expect that when using a controversial issue as their material, they will encounter some controversy of their own. Comedian Tosh faced backlash in 2012 after he made comments about rape at The Laugh Factory.
Along with showing his ignorance about the severity of rape, Tucker makes his own contribution to the culture that has tolerated and promoted violence against women for hundreds of years. In less than a minute, Tucker manages to plan, carry out and glorify a rape on stage, with a complete disregard for the impact of his comments, including how traumatic his graphic physical performance could be for a survivor of rape watching.
