Photo: Amanda Seales/Instagram

Each year, Variety selects ten of the best stand-up comedians in the country to showcase as Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch. Among those chosen this year were Insecure’s Amanda Seales, The Daily Show’s Dulcé Sloan, and American Vandal writer Jaboukie Young-White. And then there was Darren Knight. Knight’s credits include a series of YouTube and Facebook videos of a character called “Southern Momma” and a documentary about himself called Southern Momma: The Darren Knight Story, in which he is billed as “the fastest rising comedian in American history.”

The trouble seemed to begin even before the show started. Seales said in a statement to Vulture that Knight antagonized both her and Sloan while they were waiting for the preshow panel to begin, and then continued to do so during the panel. When Seales spoke of using her comedy to challenge racism and sexism, “he said, ‘comedy shouldn’t be about attacking racists. That is ostracizing your audience.’ ”

Things got more tense when Knight took the stage at the actual show, with his opening joke reportedly being “To our wives and girlfriends, may they never meet.” (If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s commonly attributed to Groucho Marx.) According to the reaction on Twitter, things did not improve from there. “Darren Knight’s set at @justforlaughs tonight led me to apologize to everyone around me that not all of us (Southern guys) are idiots,” tweeted one audience member. “Dude forgets the name of the festival HE’S PERFORMING AT, makes diarrhea ‘jokes’, & then insults minorities.”

Darren Knight’s set at @justforlaughs tonight led me to apologize to everyone around me that not all of us (southern guys) are idiots. Dude forgets the name of the festival HE’S PERFORMING AT, makes diarrhea ‘jokes’, & then insults minorities. — TJMF84 (@tjmcf84) July 28, 2018

Other attendees tweeted similar sentiments about Knight’s performance, which he chose to end with a mini-lecture on how comedy should not be about sexism or race, because that’s not what the audience wants. The audience booed him off. According to Seales, Knight also commented “Looking good, Precious” to Sloan as he exited the stage. Sloan tweeted about this exchange afterward.

Called me Precious when he got offstage. He fat shamed me cuz he bombed. He had been verbally attacking me all day. @amandaseales and the other comics defended me before the panel. — Dulcé Sloan (@dulcesloan) July 28, 2018

this comic said, on stage, that comics shouldn’t talk about race or sexuality and got booed by canadians do u kno how trash u gotta be to get booed by canadians — jaboukie (@jaboukie) July 28, 2018

The host of the show, Saturday Night Live’s Chris Redd, confronted Knight after the show, which is documented in a series of videos Seales posted to her Instagram Stories. In the videos, Redd can be seen having a heated conversation with Knight, who then storms off as Redd calls after him, “Real comics write real jokes!” The entire exchange can be viewed below.

Knight’s performance and treatment of his fellow performers aside, it’s also unclear why someone known for making videos on social media, and not stand-up jokes, was selected for one of the world’s most prominent stand-up comedy shows in the first place.

Seales has an idea, though. “This speaks to a larger narrative about the misplaced pressure to include voices from the Trump right in spaces simply to appease a demographic that is problematic and damaging to the upward advancement of larger society,” she said, pointing to posts on Knight’s Facebook critical of Maxine Waters, Roseanne’s cancellation, and the existence of BET. Redd, for his part, declined to comment for this article, but summed up his thoughts on Twitter.

😂 🤷🏾‍♂️ that bomb was coated with disrespect and all of a sudden it was trash day — Chris Redd (@Reddsaidit) July 28, 2018

Since the show, tons of comedians have commented on Knight’s performance, or Variety choosing to feature him, on Twitter:

Darren Knight. You fucked up at #JFL tonight big time. Big time. You suck. — Alex Edelman (@AlexEdelman) July 28, 2018

I was there, and what we're not talking about re: the Variety Comics To Watch show is how hard every other comic crushed and how fucking terrible Southern Mama's blowout was. Southern Mama was racist, the blowout was homophobic. — Matt Rogers (@MattRogersTho) July 28, 2018

Hey @Variety, YouTube stars aren’t comics. — Laurie Kilmartin (@anylaurie16) July 28, 2018

Nothing makes me happier than watching @amandaseales @dulcesloan @chrisredd and chris reds stand up to a racist, sexist, homophobes, IN REAL TIME, IN REAL LIFE!!! Without the white supremacist trope of diplomacy!!! Fuck you white nigga and u glad @SamJayComic wasn't there. BET — larry owens (@larryowenslive) July 28, 2018

“And on the pedestal these words appear:

'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.” pic.twitter.com/xWxxRAnTHA — Paul F. Tompkins (@PFTompkins) July 28, 2018

Darren Knight is gonna make history by being the first person to ever be silently scrubbed from @variety's Comics To Watch list. — kai choyce (@kaichoyce) July 28, 2018

We’ve reached out to Knight’s reps for comment and will update if we hear back.

Update: Knight posted the below statement to his personal Facebook page over the weekend: