Amy Schumer has a lot going on these days. From her new book The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo to a recent controversy surrounding one of her show’s writers, Schumer has been going non-stop.
This past week, comedian and “Inside Amy Schumer” writer Kurt Metzger went on a lengthy tirade about rape allegations, which was widely criticized as misogynistic and victim-blaming. Schumer was forced to comment on the mess because of her close connection with Metzger.
On Aug. 17, Schumer tweeted that she “couldn’t be more against [Metzger’s] recent actions.” On Thursday night, she spoke in greater detail about the matter during an interview with PBS’ Charlie Rose.
Although she made it clear that she considers Metzger to be a good friend and feels that his differing perspectives are an asset in the writers room, Schumer also reiterated that Metzger’s commentary on women and rape is not her own.
Schumer explained to Rose:
Kurt’s my friend, I love him, I’m not on Facebook so I don’t read his crazy rants… he gets something from going after people and making them mad that is not representative of me at all. I’ve asked him, “can you just stop because it comes back to me.” Because he writes for the show it becomes a bigger story, because of our connection. Whatever tangent he’s gone off on, I have not agreed with and it’s been really upsetting to see someone I care about hurt themselves like this.
She added that she wishes fans would not attach her to to his Facebook and Twitter rants. “I think people want his head, they want to burn him at the stake,” she said. “And I want them to not attach me to what he’s writing.”
Watch a clip from her interview with Charlie Rose below.
Schumer explained she wishes the entire conversation could be refocused away from Metzger and onto rape and the importance of consent. “[Metzger] baits people, he’s the problem no question,” she said. “But the focus is on him rather than on what the real, main problem is.”
The topic of sexual assault and rape is a personal one to Schumer, since the 35-year-old comedian recently revealed that her first sexual encounter was not a consensual one.
In a July interview with Marie Claire, Schumer described the moment she realized she had been assaulted ― something she also writes about in her new book, The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo.
“My first sexual experience was not a good one. I didn’t think about it until I started reading my journal again,” she told Marie Claire. “When it happened, I wrote about it almost like a throwaway. It was like, And then I looked down and realized he was inside me. He was saying, ‘I’m so sorry’ and ‘I can’t believe I did this.’”
Schumer explained to Rose that she hopes the conversation surrounding Metzger’s comments can be shifted to help victims of rape and sexual assault.
“I was sexually assaulted, I encourage women to come out and I want men to hear what happened so that there’s no confusion.”
- Amy Schumer
“I was sexually assaulted, I encourage women to come out and I want men to hear what happened so that there’s no confusion,” she said. “Because people have different understandings of what sexual assault is, what rape is. So let’s all get on the same page so it happens less.”
In an Aug. 19 interview with NPR, Schumer described why it was so hard to write about her assault in The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo.
“Just talking about being sexually assaulted in any way, you know, for women, it’s never like, ‘Oh, I’m really sorry that happened to you.’ Which is really how it should be, and how you would think it would be,” Schumer said. “But it’s more, we look for problems we have with how that woman has spoken about her sexual assault.”
Schumer also spoke about the need for people to understand that cases of sexual assault and rape don’t always play out in super clear cut ways, which is why she decided to tell her story:
I call it “grape,” because it’s this gray area. Not of whether or not it was rape, but it’s not the way we think of, like, a “Law and Order” episode. And when it’s not as black and white for everyone, it makes it harder for them to digest. So it’s this very personal thing to me, that I decided to share. And I’m only looking for people to feel less alone reading it, and maybe for a guy to read it and think, “Oh.” Maybe that’ll stop somebody in their tracks, I don’t know.
Listen to Schumer’s full NPR interview below.
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