His Words Are Not Mine The Hollywood Reporter

May 2024 · 6 minute read

Amy Schumer found herself entangled in a sexual assault scandal that has quickly taken the comedy scene by storm.

On Wednesday, the Inside Amy Schumer star blocked Twitter users who urged her to fire comedian Kurt Metzger, a staff writer on her Comedy Central show, over his recent social media posts mocking rape accusers. Schumer responded on Wednesday morning that although she considers Metzger a friend, she was “saddened and disappointed” by his comments.

Schumer, whose Emmy-winning series was renewed for a fifth season, added in a subsequent tweet that she does not currently employ him. (It’s unclear when Metzger’s employment status on Inside Amy Schumer changed. According to IMDb, he is listed as a writer and occasional actor on the show’s four seasons, including the season four finale.)

I am so saddened and disappointed in Kurt Metzger. He is my friend and a great writer and I couldn’t be more against his recent actions.

— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) August 17, 2016

Kurt does not work for me. He is not a writer on my show. Please stop asking me about it. His words are not mine.

— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) August 17, 2016

I didn’t fire Kurt. He isn’t a writer for my show because we aren’t making the show anymore. There are no writers for it.

— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) August 18, 2016

Over the weekend, Metzger unleashed a series of Facebook and Twitter posts over NYC comedian Aaron Glaser, an Upright Citizens Brigade performer who was allegedly banned — following an internal UCB investigation — from the famed improv theater after multiple women alleged that he had raped them.

Glaser addressed the incident in a since-deleted Facebook post (in full below) after his alleged actions circulated via a private Facebook group for female comedians on Saturday: “Recently, one or more women accused me of sexual misconduct, specifically that I raped them…I know these are serious accusations, and I know they are untrue.”

Adding that the information is “the result of internet vigilantes taking a third-rail issue into their own hands,” Glaser said he has now been banned from additional comedy clubs and has been shunned as a performer. He added that he is appealing UCB’s decision. 

While the UCB is not formally commenting on Glaser, a spokeswoman told The Hollywood Reporter, “UCB has always had an open door policy and encourages anyone with a complaint or concern regarding sexual harassment to report it immediately to any of our Directors of Student Affairs, who are trained professionals. Any such complaints are always taken very seriously.”

Metzger quickly came to Glaser’s defense on Saturday and has been posting and sharing stories covering the saga in a steady stream on his social media.

In a lengthy, now-deleted satirical “Jiff Dilfyberg” post that has gone viral (he removed it on Wednesday afternoon), the writer mocked women who come forward about sexual assault:

“Guys I have just heard some disturbing news, this guy Jiff Dilfyberg is a rapist! I know because women said it and that’s all I need! Never you mind who they are. They are women! ALL women are as reliable as my bible! A book that, much like a women, is incapable of lying!

“You think I would dare ask my God, Lord Jesus Christ the Nazarene to provide any “details” or “evidence” of any kind before I believe in him? Or a woman? No, because that be that would be like hammering the nails into Jesus My Lord’s feet! Or re-raping the victim’s good hole!!! Or asking for proof in a murder trial!

“Anyway Jiff Dilfyberg is dangerous! So fucking dangerous that we can’t go to the police to report his many rapes! That would just be tooooo rapey, and the women are too brave for that. If we ask them to even merely also post a vague account of what happened before asking us to believe that would be like re-raping their rape! These women are as BRAVE as they are sore!”

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Some of his other rants include:

 

Hey I know the cops aren’t always helpful and that rapists often don’t get convicted. Still call the cops FIRST. Then…

Posted by Kurt Metzger on Saturday, August 13, 2016

 

If you are raped by Bill Cosby you and you didn’t go to the cops I get it. You were scared etc etc. I give you credit….

Posted by Kurt Metzger on Saturday, August 13, 2016

 

Wow! Well tonight on Race Wars we’ll get into it. Let me once again clarify my rantings, since my punishment the mob is…

Posted by Kurt Metzger on Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Metzger has been called out for his misogynistic comments in the past. After saying he was “pro-rape” in a previous interview, among other things, two female writers accused him of an online harassment campaign.

On Wednesday, Metzger addressed the issue on his weekly podcast that he hosts with comedian Sherrod Small, Race Wars. In the nearly two-hour episode titled “#RapeWars,” Metzger discussed the Glaser fallout and debated rape culture in general, referencing Nate Parker’s current rape trial scandal, with radio host Charlamagne Tha God, Vocativ editor Erin Gloria Ryan and comedian Keren Margolis.

When it came time to explain his words, Metzger offered a somewhat-apology.

Saying that he was speaking to the social media “mob” and bloggers and not the victims of sexual assault, Metzger said his biggest gripes were with how the UCB handled the situation with an internal investigation that didn’t involve the police, and how the story snowballed. 

“I kept getting my point just turned into a lie over and over again,” he said. “When people started doing that I said: You want to see offensive? I’ll f—ing show you.”

He continued, “This is my apology: The fact that I got so inflamed from being taken wrong, this is where I am wrong.”

Referencing how he is only being referred to as “Amy Schumer writer,” he spoke to a broken system when it comes to reporting rape: “I think this shit is important and I got caught up in thinking, ‘I’m right.’ So now because I said all this crazy shit, thinking I’m right, that’s my ego. This is more important than being right.”

He later added, “We do this thing that we declare guilt based on a person whispered to another person, then everybody gets a pat on the head for bravery.”

Schumer continued to get caught up in the uproar, as she took to Twitter on Thursday to clarify the tweets she sent about Metzger’s employment on Inside Amy Schumer the previous night.

#InsideAmySchumer is not cancelled. @ComedyCentral has provided us with a wonderful home and we couldn’t be happier there. I am just touring

— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) August 18, 2016

Doing Standup and focusing on writing more for the next year at least. We are slated for a season 5 but not in the foreseeable future.

— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) August 18, 2016

I’m grateful @ComedyCentral is giving me this time to work on other projects. Now please grab my book #TheGirlWithTheLowerBackTattoo for now

— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) August 18, 2016

Comedy Central hasn’t commented on Schumer’s tweets.

See the deleted posts from Glaser, who hosted a monthly stand-up show at UCB, below.

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Aug. 17, 6:50 p.m. PT: Updated with UCB statement.

Aug. 18, 12:30 p.m.: Updated with Race Wars podcast and Schumer’s Thursday tweets.

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