It’s time to condemn hate speech masquerading as late night comedy before it’s too late.
Before something bad happens to the Republican nominee for president — like it almost did this week — or one of his supporters.
As a an Emmy award-winning producer and graduate of Chicago’s Second City Conservatory, I have a message for my fellow comedy classmates, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Louis CK, and Sarah Silverman: Stop the hate.
Hate speech isn’t comedy. It’s ugly. It’s discriminatory. It’s dangerous.
Every night for more than year, these hate speech “comedians” have fanned the flames of hate and violence against Donald Trump with “joke-filled” comparisons to Hitler and the Nazi Germany.
Yes, Adolph Hitler was a genocidal maniac. However, the last time I checked, Donald Trump has never once committed an act of genocide — not even after 14 seasons of “The Apprentice.”
All joking aside, the point I’m making is that these comedians’ outrageous comparisons of Trump to Hitler would be a joke if they weren’t so potentially deadly.
Last week, Colbert slammed Donald Trump on an episode of “The Late Show,” by drawing a swastika and broadcasting it on network TV to explain Trump’s response to the mass shooting in Orlando.
In March, Silverman appeared on Conan complete with Nazi uniform and mustache to bash Trump.
Trump is also a nightly target of comedian Seth Meyers who says, " . . . It doesn’t mean Trump is the same as Hitler. It just means that if you looked up Hitler on Amazon, Trump might show up in the ‘You may also like’ section.”
But no knock-knock jokes for radical Islamic terrorists. No jokes about their executions of gays or their “honor” murders of rape victims.
Just hate speech jokes against the Republican candidate trying to destroy them.
ISIS organizers must be laughing their heads off . . . literally.
Hasn’t this comedy hate speech inflamed the thousands of violent protesters attacking Trump and his supporters? Didn’t it contribute to the assassination attempt on Trump’s life by an illegal immigrant? Could it lead to more violence? Yes, yes, and yes.
What if I — as a comedian — revised these so-called jokes and replaced the name Trump with President Obama? If I were to do that, wouldn’t I be off the air? Wouldn’t I have the Secret Service knocking at my door?
“There’s such a double standard. If you had switched the names, you’d be accused of a hate crime,” agreed Trump spokesperson and CNN contributor Kayleigh McEnany during my exclusive interview with her on 1590 WCGO. “Absolutely, in some ways, the left encourages it [hate speech] by not speaking out against it.
"You have Hillary Clinton dismissing it in an interview and then proceeding to give justification for why people feel this way. It’s irresponsible.”
Comparing Trump to Hitler invites a lethal element into public discourse. It invites a rationale for violence.
A Huffington Post writer recently penned this gem, “Sorry Liberals, A Violent Response to Trump is as Logical as Any.”
Former drug-addict-turned-conservative radio host Glenn Beck entertained the idea of assassinating Trump with author Brad Thor on his radio show last month and was temporarily suspended by Sirius XM.
Maybe Beck’s on the sauce or doing coke again — regardless, he’s back on the air and —cheetos aside — he shouldn’t be.
Personally, I don’t take counsel from Mormon converts with a history of hard drug and alcohol abuse that claim the conservative mantel and neither should you.
Even House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have been silent on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and the violence being committed against his supporters.
Where is the outrage from the GOP leadership?
If Hillary Clinton had been the target of this shooting, can you imagine the political establishment’s response? They’d blame Trump.
Donald Trump has been in the public eye for as long as I can remember. For thirty years, he has been treated as a celebrity, as a great dispenser of wisdom and motivation and —bam — the day he wins the Republican presidential nomination, he’s Adolph Hitler.
What is the history lesson here for people who have little to no knowledge of World War II? The lesson is that the GOP nominee for President is a Hitler equivalent.
It is a defamatory political slur that has been used against every Republican candidate since Goldwater.
Even Reagan was a target. “If you are voting for Ronald Reagan, you are the equivalent of a good German voting for Hitler in Nazi Germany,” said one newspaper in an editorial.
These are dangerous times and hate speech comedians do not and should not exist in a vacuum. They are responsible for the violence they incite.
If the violence results in death or destruction, it should be considered a hate crime.
As a country and as a people, we have become desensitized to violence and violent rhetoric and it has contributed to the rise of hate speech comedians. This hate speech has filtered down into media, popular culture, and what was once the Republican Party and conservative movement.
How does wanting to make America great comport with fascism? Since when did patriotism become a dirty word?
And shouldn’t we be more worried about those that do not want to make America great and that do not love this country?
The answer is yes. And that’s no joke.
William J. Kelly is an American producer, television and radio host, commentator, media strategist, and critic. In 1994, he ran for U.S. Congress. In 2015, he made waves when he busted the campaign finance caps in the Chicago mayor’s race. He is the founder of RevDigital, an independent TV and documentary production house. Kelly is a frequent contributor to The Washington Times, American Spectator, and others. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.