Please excuse the grammar & spelling as it is not my best subject. This is my own personal statement and not some essay that I am writing to win an award with.

Ever since Trump was elected dictator president, everyone, myself included, has gotten way more fired up when it comes to politics. I never considered myself a political activist, and I still don't. The only reason I'm "into" politics is becuase of the recent election and how fucked up the States have become. I honestly know little about politics as well as I do American history. (you can blame my education for both of those) Like I found out, the day after I voted, that the independant party has never and will never win. Why? Insert political statement and analysis here.

I am writing this post becuase two comedians, who I admire, have gone under backlash becuase of their political statements; Kathy Griffon and JonTron. I became a comedian this spring and I feel the need to speak up for both of them. 

The JonTron story is rather old, but I'll tackle it first since I finally understand the whole conversation on what went down with JonTron and Destiny. I was scrolling through my "Watch Later" playlist which consists of playlists of songs I've yet to listen to, creepypasta readings and documentaries. I had marked a video that I thought was a creepypasta about Jontron (I think it was called the Disappearance of Jontron). And it was more of an analysis of what happened during the night of the outrage. It didn't answer my curiosities. However I scrolled through other videos, even my friend's, Josh's videos trying to help me grasp what Jontron said and wether or not he meant it. Or was it taken out of context? It wasn't until the 5th video by the channel, NoBullshit, who helped me understand the situation and still keep me as a JonTron fan.

When this outrage first happened, the only details I knew were Jon said something about immigrants, to the point where he seemed like a nationalist. At the time I was scrolling through news article after news article for details but there was no statements approving or disapproving his actions, except the Young Turks, a channel I watch rather frequently. There was even a Word Funk episode, discussing the situation right when it happened in the news. Leon Thomas worked with Jon at a point of his life, so I felt that he knew Jon better than the Turks did or any other random statement from random people and news articles. I even unfriended a lot of people when it came to this controversy becuase I honestly wasn't sure who to believe, until I heard Thomas's statement.

When I heard that Word Funk segment, I had told a person who I had unfriended at the time, that Jon did something we did not want to believe but happened anyway. Same with Bill Cosby. He raped women and we didn't want to believe it until more and more statements were coming out. I feel guilty for saying that now becuase there is a difference between Jon and Cosby. Cosby committed several crimes and left his victims as evidence of the situation. Jontron was more of a misunderstanding.

From all the news articles and videos I had watched, even the Word Funk episode, at the time, none of them actually had evidence of the actual conversation between Jontron and Destiny, until I saw the NoBullshit video. Now while I could of looked up the interview myself, I felt like I'd be skipping through the show just to find that one conversation and hoped for the worst.  The NoBullshit video anaylized sentence by sentence stated by both Jontron and Destiny.

To go off topic a little bit, does anyone remember that "scandal" with Ariana Grande at the Krispy Kreme, where she said she hated America? I still had my positive opinions about Grande, becuase I knew she was joking becuase I've grown up watching her and seeing her on live TV before. The Jontron case is similar but to an extreme. The interview showed that Destiny was not allowing Jon to finish his statements becuase his opinions are wrong.

When it comes to comedians and controversial statements, its hard to tell fact from comedy. After seeing that interview I understood where Jon was coming from, even if I didn't agree with it. I have a feeling that Jon dosen't think whites are the superior race becuase he does not attack minorities head on.  

I love social media becuase its the best way of getting to know a public figure, without being a crazy stalker fan. From Jontron's social media, there dosen't seem to be any malice or harm. Its just goofy stuff about his life. Thats it. 

Now lets look at another controversial figure, Kayne West. West has a reputation for being an asshole to really anyone. And the thing about it, he dosen't care. Not in the sense of "haters gonna hate" but more bullies pointing and laughing as you walk away.

When I was against/on the fence about Jontron, a part of me died becuase he was one of the top 10 people who influenced my creative style. And you can see it in my videos. I had this custom made shirt of him with the word "eech" underneath, that thankfully I still have and will wear with pride again.

There is this whole debate about locker room talk, which yes, it exisist. I am going to use another controversial figure, the oompah loompah we have as a president, Donald Trump. The difference between Jontron's locker room talk and Trump's is Trump actually has biased against certain groups of people. When he says that he "grabs 'em by the pussy", he means it. And not only that, Trump has power, and Jontron is only a youtuber that a small handful of people know, but I digress. Jon's statements were taken out of context, often jokes about dark or crude subjects, and wether his feelings towards immigration are a bit on the racist side, I accept his opinion.

When I first started my comedy class, I was a bit hesitant to be in front of my peers becuase my jokes were a bit...dark. Subjects revolving around suicide and rape and all sorts of gruesome things you can think of. But I learned as a comedian, if you have been through an experience, you have the right to joke about it. If you haven't been through those sorts of experiences, your ignorant and a terrible comedian. I've been a victim of sexual assault and I have attempted suicide a number of times, and while these events may seem harsh, they make me stronger as a comedian. You know what subjects I avoid in comedy? Politics! Becuase I know jack shit about how the American government works.

Also, when I joke about harsh things within that nature, I don't attack the victim. I attack the abuser. One of my jokes is that my father is too damn cheap to pay for anything, so if I had committed suicide, he wouldn't pay for the funeral and would bury me in the back yard in a cardbord coffin.

In recent news, Kathy Griffen has been targeted by everyone wether they are right winged, left winged, ambtrex-wing, Russian, etc. Here's how I feel about the image. Its gross, yes. But its also fake. And is a work of art in a gruesome way. When I look at the image, I think of the willingness to fight for freedom and not "lets kill the president." Its a poltical statement and a harmless one, even if there is a fake head that looks like Trump.

The arguement that people have is "no one bat an eyelash when these similar images when Obama was in office." Here is the difference between Kathy Griffen's image and the Obama hate speech. The Obama hate speech is malicous and basically states "the person who made this sign is clearly a racist asshole and wishes all black people to go pick cotton." The Griffen image has nothing to do with race. Well part of it does becuase every minority is in trouble becuase of our elected leader. Its basically saying "fuck the system, lets rebel against the rights we are about to loose."

Now I can see some of you are about to write "but why does it have to be so graphic?" In which case I advise you, if you are a deviantart user and you believe this, get the hell off this site becuase there are a lot of graphic images on here political, sexual, and what not. Do you think if the image was Kathy Griffen holding a stuffed red heart (the shape, not the organ) it would make such of an impact? Or a sword or what ever noun you can replace Trump's head for. I don't think it would be as powerful as a statement as the one she had put out in the public.

So are Kathy Griffen and Jontron awful human beings? No. Do they make controversial statements for publicity stunts? Yes. My point is, before you loose your head about a public figure saying something "outrageously offensive" really think; "what is the message that this person is trying to say? Does this person wish malice on a certain group(s) of people? Do they really mean what they say or is it a joke that is just a bit overboard? With all of that said, I'm gonna go marathon some Jontron now.