I like Rob Schneider. I like The Hot Chick and, even more — in defiance of likely a whole, whole lot of people — The Animal.

In my opinion, he’s an underrated actor, pulling off some pretty impressive transformations in movies such as 50 First Dates and Grandma’s Boy.

He’s also impressive when it comes to his views on comedy and a performer’s ability to make jokes without the bone-crushing weight of the internet’s outrage.

Whether you prefer Schneider’s films or not, you should look into him as — at least, as it concerns common sense — one of the good guys in entertainment.

On LA’s KTLA 5 recently, Rob gave his thoughts on Kevin Hart’s firing as Oscar host over old jokes and the related state of comedy and social media (The interview took place before the Academy Awards broadcast).

Rob noted the censorship encroaching the comedic stage, and the inappropriateness of that:

“I’m scared. Comedians are the ones who are supposed to say the horrible things, that everybody thinks and doesn’t say. … The idea that comedians are supposed to be the role models for other people — these people are sick; they’re injured. They’re in pain. They’re coming with their pain, and a comedy club is a place to get that out. It used to be a safe space.”

Subsequently, the stand-up has felt the need to make a major adjustment:

“I do not allow cellphones anymore in the shows.”

Sad. He was asked — What of young people getting into comedy now?

“They’re frightened. They’re frightened. … They’re so scared to do it.”

So-called political correctness continues its ravages:

“I’ll tell you the truth. It’s very politically correct here; it’s way worse in Canada. I had some people get up and walk out of one of my shows — I was just doing a guest set up there — ’cause they were just upset. And I’m saying, ‘I didn’t get a chance to get to what I was talking about.'”

Rob laid out the phases of modern offense:

“So there’s a hypersensitivity to it. But what I think it is, is not everybody feels hypersensitive, there’s just some loudmouths these days, and then other people… The first wave — there’s a few people that are very upset and trying to protect other people who they don’t even know. And then the second wave is, ‘Should I be upset about this? Maybe I should. Maybe I should. You, I will be. ‘Cause I don’t wanna look bad if I’m not upset. And then, so I’ll be very upset.'”

Social media, he said, is certainly among the culprits:

“Twitter’s the worst. The most horrible thing ever invented. But I think that, eventually, you’re gonna have, like, filters for some of this stuff, so that the quote rage will calm down.”

In a world of left-wing — and increasingly “woke” — entertainment, here’s the central reason you should like Rob:

“But I’m worried about overall censorship. As de Tocqueville talked about, when he visited America in the 19th century, what he said was, it’s not just the constitutional right of free speech; it has to be — it’s the will of the people. It’s that people feel free to express themselves. When the people don’t, it’s just a document. The people need to be free to express themselves. And so right now, that is under suppression. “So I support Kevin Hart, I support Ellen supporting Kevin Hart, and I think you can’t just imprison people for their words… “Free speech is all speech, not just the speech that you like and I like. It’s all speech. And it’s even stuff…you say ‘What about hate speech?’ Well, who gets to decide what hate speech is? … Who gets to decide what is the abhorrent speech? That’s what we need to be very careful of.”

Rob was clear on his thoughts of fellow performer Kevin Hart (who also was doused with SJW outrage over his child’s birthday party — here) being canned from the Oscars due to the discovery of old jokes, for which he apologized:

“If Kevin doesn’t host the Oscars, then the Oscars is a shameful organization. … All awards — it’s all crap and self-promotion. If [Oscar officials]…come back and invite him, then it’ll be…the first good thing for those morons over at the Academy. And they are morons. And I really…hope they come around and get their head out of their butt, and I hope Kevin [hosts the show]. Because he’s a great comedian. … I support him.”

Rob said firemen recently saved his neighborhood. So any of their ilk would be welcomed to his weekend show, free of charge:

“On Sunday night … firefighters — you bring your badge, I’ll pay for your ticket.”

Check out the refreshingly candid and pro-First Amendment interview in its entirety, below.

-Alex

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