Amy Schumer Says She Got Death Threats Over Her Seat Filler Bit With Kirsten Dunst At The Oscars

Just when you thought everyone was done talking about the 2022 Oscars, namely: Will Smith, and everything that went along with that (like the fact that Will can’t get jiggy with the Oscars for a whole ten years). But then Amy Schumer pops up and reminds us that she too had her own Oscar moment that apparently won’t die. And according to Amy, her little bit with Kirsten Dunst and her husband Jesse Plemons went over so poorly with the audience at home, that Amy became the target of major hate, including death threats.

Before Amy led into a bit congratulating the honorees of the Governors Awards, which was held two days prior to the Academy Awards on March 27, she approached the husband and wife double first-time nominee team of Kirsten and Jesse for what was clearly a pre-rehearsed gag in which Amy pretended she didn’t know who Kirsten Dunst was by referring to her only as a “seat filler.” Despite the Academy Awards being more tightly planned than a space shuttle launch, a whole lot of people at home thought the bit was improvised, and that either Amy really didn’t know who the iconic Kirsten Dunst was, or that Amy was an evil mean girl who was hell-bent on “humiliating” Kirsten on her big night (a quick poke around Twitter shows that was a popular word being thrown around to describe what people believe happened to Kirsten).

Amy later apologized on social media, saying that it truly was a joke that everyone was in on and that she’d never deliberately disrespect a “queen” like Kirsten like that. Amy recently appeared on The Howard Stern Show and she revealed that that notes app apology only came about because her haters were out for blood. via Variety:

Speaking to Stern, Schumer said that she came forward with a response to fans because the death threats she was getting over the joke were out of control. “They were so bad the Secret Service reached out to me about that bit,” Schumer said of the death threats. “I was like, ‘I think you have the wrong number. It’s Amy, not Will.’ The misogyny is unbelievable.”

The Secret Service? Over a hacky joke at the Oscars? I don’t want to assume anything here, but knowing the Secret Service got involved makes it seem like they truly didn’t have anything better to do. I guess “If you got time to lean, you got time to clean” doesn’t apply at Secret Service headquarters. But it wasn’t just them who allegedly contacted Amy to see if she was alright in the wake of her joke that went over like a fart in an elevator. She says that the LAPD also reached out to her about the hate she was getting online for her joke. And do…what exactly? DM Twitter users like @BringItOnFan26 and @SofiaCoppolasQueen and inform them that it’s considered harassment to keep messaging Amy Schumer and telling her to “Virgin Suicides” herself?

Amy added that the joke was presented beforehand and that Kirsten herself personally gave her blessing for the bit. In fact, she says that nothing was truly off the cuff, like her joke about Leonardo DiCaprio’s younger girlfriends, saying that she got his approval for the joke before she show.

Receiving a death threat over that joke is the pinnacle of online overreaction. But I don’t understand why Amy didn’t just handle this whole situation herself. She could have replied back to every death threat with another joke, like “I see this joke has really made you mad, but can you just clarify whether you’re threatening death against me or the person I stole that joke from. You know, since I steal every joke.”

Pic: Twitter