You’ve probably seen Amy Schumer’s name pop up many times over the past couple of months. As creator and star of Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer, she is known for pushing the limits in the name of comedy. This season she’s been tackling many big topics, but in last night’s episode she really went for it. Schumer took on the Bill Cosby scandal and put him on trial, literally. Acting as Cosby’s defense, Schumer jokingly bribed the jury with sweaters and pudding pops to sway their vote. In the end she received a thank you cocktail sent from Cosby, which she cautiously dumped out.
Schumer’s smart and funny sketch about the Bill Cosby allegations achieved its goal: to get people talking. While many might shy away from addressing such a sensitive topic in fear of offending people, Amy managed to do so with class and honesty. In an interview at the Tribeca Film Festival Panel, Schumer explained her reasoning behind wanting to do the sketch: “We were like, ‘We want to address this. We don’t want it to go away without us getting to comment on it.’” Amy and her writers boldly wrote what’s been on everyone’s mind since the story was first exposed. Playing the defense lawyer, she explains in the sketch, “Let’s remind ourselves what’s at stake here: If convicted, the next time you put on a rerun of The Cosby Show, you may wince a little, might feel a little pain. And none of us deserve that. We don’t deserve to feel that pain. We deserve to dance like no one’s watching. And watch like no one’s raping.” While some people might feel that this topic was off-limits, Schumer really just helped express the idea that society protects individuals who have power or fame no matter what they are accused of. Topics such as sexual assault need to be discussed, especially in the media, and until society’s notion of rape culture changes, we’ll have to keep relying on comedy sketches and monologue jokes (remember Tina and Amy’s moment at the Golden Globes?) to expose the popular opinon.
Check out the sketch below: