Comedian Adam Yenser, a former writer for Ellen DeGeneres and current writer for The Babylon Bee, sat down for an interview with Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow for an insightful discussion on the state of comedy, the truth about Hollywood cancel culture, and the legitimacy of Elon Musk’s offer to purchase Twitter.
Speaking with Alex Marlow on the Breitbart News Daily podcast on Friday, Yenser expounded on the realities of being an open conservative working in Hollywood, from his beginnings as a writer for late-night host Conan O’Brien to his 10-year run as a writer for Ellen DeGeneres.
“Tell me what it’s like on the inside if you’re the lone Republican in a writer’s room filled with lefties,” Marlow asked Yenser.
Yenser agreed that while talented artists may certainly find work in Hollywood, they will often face more adversity when seeking opportunities and may also have to silence their beliefs.
“Cancel culture is definitely real and there are people who have in a real way lost jobs, lost opportunities because of it. I do think there are a lot of people in Hollywood who are secretly conservative or who are nervous about being open about their beliefs,” said Yenser.
“In my experience, it’s tough to kind of have those conversations with people behind the scenes,” he added. “A lot of the people who are in charge in Hollywood, they won’t cancel you outright, but it’s harder to get opportunities and you kind of feel like you’re walking a line.”
Yenser said the primary frustration with being a Hollywood conservative is not so much the fear of being canceled but having one’s ideas shut down or shelved while left-wing ideas get a virtual free pass.
“I think a lot of times where cancel culture does come into play is not necessarily taking people’s careers away, which does happen sometimes, but it’s sort of denying people who are successful in Hollywood the opportunity to have that point of view presented on the air,” Yenser said.
“It always felt like I could be open about that, but those views would very rarely, if ever, make it on air or make it on stage,” he added.
Yenser said that this has led to comedians in Hollywood like Stephen Colbert essentially becoming court jesters who preach to the choir as opposed to actually entertaining people with universal comedy. Producers and executives have taken note of this, according to Yenser, and have even privately expressed their desire to push more universal, conservative-friendly content but resist for fear of offending radical leftists.
That said, Yenser expressed optimism that comedy will improve and beat cancel culture, citing Netflix’s decision to stand by comedian Dave Chappelle in the face of an offended woke mob seeking to censor his transgender jokes. On the other hand, he also acknowledged that the left has become so crazy that there may be nothing left to satirize.
“You try to use hyperbole and humor to draw attention to what’s going on, and comment on what’s going on, and it just seems like every day in the news, there is something that happens that is so crazy, you couldn’t come up with it as a comedy writer,” said Yenser, noting Joe Biden’s administration’s seeming intent to distribute crack pipes under a “racial equity” program.
The discussion concluded on the subject of tech billionaire Elon Musk offering to purchase Twitter and whether or not it was a legitimate gesture to codify free speech into the platform. Listen to the full interview below:
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