Amy Schumer Swears She Didn’t Tell Any Stolen Jokes At The Oscars
While watching Amy Schumer tell jokes at the Oscars, some caught a case of déjà vu. Because a few of Amy’s monologue jokes sounded just a little too familiar, and they let it be known that they suspected Amy of being guilty of joke-stealing. But during an appearance on last night’s Watch What Happens Live, Amy said she’s not guilty of stealing anything, so the accusations can stop. Or, at least let the accusations be re-directed to the writer that wrote her Oscar jokes.
Two of the bigger jokes in question that felt like a teacher was about to deduct points for plagiarism involved Leonardo DiCaprio’s history of dating women way younger than himself, and the Oscar-nominated film Don’t Look Up. Several Twitter users were quick to point out that they’d already laughed at those jokes on Twitter, many months earlier, and here they are as a little refresher:
Amy Schumer seems to have stolen multiple jokes from her #Oscars monologue off Twitter. pic.twitter.com/6kxKYFEMKa
— Pop Base (@PopBase) March 28, 2022
Many people might note that the jokes about Leo’s ladies putting the girl in girlfriends is as old as the hills and could probably be classified as public domain at this point. But to others, it read like a rip-off situation. The Don’t Look Up joke, on the other hand, felt a little more suspect to some people, considering the movie was released only four months ago, and therefore hasn’t had time to develop a long-standing narrative around the terrible review (which is true, it’s a terrible movie). In essence, Amy was being accused of prepping for the Oscars by searching keywords on Twitter and jotting down the jokes that made her chuckle the most. But according to Amy, that’s certainly not the case. via Variety:
“OK. Well, I would like to say, I haven’t personally been on Twitter,” Schumer said when asked about stealing the [Leonardo DiCaprio] joke. “I’ve had my assistant do it, just so I can remain alive and not kill myself. And also, that joke was written by Suli McCullough. But I thank you guys, always, for making sure that I don’t start thievery.”
I hope Amy didn’t hurt her back when she threw Suli under the bus like that! Amy is no stranger to accusations of theft, to the point that she recently answered questions about joke stealing during a lie detector test for Vanity Fair. via Variety:
Schumer added, “I just got to do a lie-detector test on Vanity Fair and they asked me, thank God, ‘Have you ever stolen a joke?’ and I said no, and it was ‘that’s true.’ So, everybody just chill. It’s crazy. I’m funny enough, I don’t need to steal shit.”B
But there are numerous comedians who disagree that Amy isn’t a joke-stealer. Back in 2016, three female comedians accused Amy of blatantly ripping off their jokes. Amy responded by swearing up and down that she’d never take notes from another comedian’s act. Amy is pretty good at denying joke theft by this point, but she might want to throw together another denial. Because a TikTok user and former stand-up comedian who goes by Ladybomb recently dropped a bomb on Amy’s testimony that she’s not the type to steal jokes.
@ladybombdotcom Reply to @strawbrrymellybean Please support my shop ladybomb.com
Well, if Amy really wants to prove she isn’t down with copying someone else’s works, she should just direct everyone to the incredibly tasteless, unbearably unfunny joke about Alec Baldwin’s Rust shooting that was cut from the Oscars. She can ask, “Would I steal a joke like this?” and every comedian would nod in agreement, saying “Nope, that one’s all you, Amy.”
Pic: ABC