In LA, things are going from bad to worse. Thousands of residents have had to evacuate after losing their homes and everything they own. The pain, fear, and mourning are palpable, and everyone is grieving right now.
Well, almost everyone. Some people are taking this opportunity to make jokes in the poorest taste imaginable.
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Between “hunting for arsonists” during fires that are quite obviously and flamboyantly rooted in climate change, Whitney and 2 Broke Girls creator Whitney Cummings is taking time to make weird jokes about LA’s hard-working lesbian fire chief, Kristen Crowley.
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“I love a lesbo,” Cummings posted on TikTok last week, “but LA fire is run by THREE lesbians?”
It was meant to be a joke—along with Cummings’ cutting-edge (for 2004) joke about “trying to be [a lesbian]—didn’t take.” But in a moment when queer people and DEI efforts are already being blamed for the fires by conspiracy theorists, it’s understandably rubbing folks the wrong way.
This arc isn’t completely out of the blue—but it’s still distressing.
On top of being a not very funny joke to begin with, Cummings’ premise doesn’t make a lot of sense. Has she met lesbians? They happen to be extremely prepared and capable in a crisis!
The moral of the story here is: let’s not try to pin the blame for the fires on oppressed targets even in a joking way, and let’s certainly stay away from the premise that the LA fires are a result of something other than climate change! Thank you!
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