Melissa Rivers, daughter of late comedian Joan Rivers, revealed what she believes her mother would think about cancel culture.
On June 8, on what would have been Joan Rivers’ 90th birthday, Melissa Rivers, 55, spoke to Fox News Digital and shared she thinks her mother would be “very frustrated” over the power cancel culture has on comedy.
“I think she would be happy that it’s swinging back towards the middle from such extremes,” she said.
Despite her mother’s controversial statements at times, Rivers said she still believes her mother would have gotten a pass.
“I would have hoped that she would have gotten sort of grandfathered in not having to be so politically correct, kind of like Dave Chappelle. And I think she would have,” she added.
However, Rivers said, “It would be incredibly frustrating.”
Joan Rivers died on Sept. 4, 2014. She was 81 years old.
According to Dictonary.com, “Cancel culture refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive.”
Joan Rivers' daughter thinks mom would find cancel culture ‘very frustrating’: ‘Allow people to evolve’ https://t.co/asrKuYYwzl
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 8, 2023
Rivers shared her own thoughts on cancel culture.
“Some people justifiably need to be canceled, some people do not,” she explained. “And I think we went through a phase where it was too much.”
Rivers also came to comedian Kevin Hart’s defense following his decision to step down as the host of the 2019 Oscars due to the backlash he received over past tweets and stand-up material deemed as “homophobic,” according to Fox News Digital. In December 2018, Hart tweeted an apology to the LGBT community for his “insensitive words.”
“The material was taken out of context because at the time that [the joke] was okay,” Melissa Rivers said. “Would he have made those jokes now? No.”
“And I think that’s where she would have gotten frustrated. I don’t know about you, but I am not the same person I was even five years ago,” she added.
She continued, “And that doesn’t mean things people didn’t say were wrong or outrageous or offensive or any of those things. But it’s very hard to judge people, including judge yourself, most importantly, of who you were 20 years ago.”
She acknowledged she’s no longer the same person she used to be.
“The person I was when I started college was not the person I was when I left college. The person I was when I got my first job is not the same person,” Rivers added.
She concluded, “I mean, people have to evolve.”
