Sarah Silverman: Saying “Gay” in a Joke Is Like Saying “Colored People”

Actress-comedian Sarah Silverman compared making gay jokes to describing a black person as “colored.” “I think I can find other ways to be funny. I mean, I used to say ‘gay’ all the time…’Oh, that’s so gay.’ Were from Boston, we’d go, ‘That’s what we say in Boston. I have gay friends. I just say gay,'” Sarah Silverman told TMZ. “And then I heard myself and I realized I was like the guy who said ‘What? I say colored…I have colored friends.’ And I realized it was stupid and I’m certainly creative enough to think of other words besides that, that don’t hurt people. But I fuck up all the time.”

Silverman was recently called out by Nick Cannon for past homophobic jokes. Unearthed were multiple social media posts where the comedian used the homophobic slurs “fag” and “faggot.” In one post, Silverman said, “I dont mean this in a hateful way but the new bachelorette’s a faggot.” Cannon retweeted these posts from Silverman, as well as others by Amy Schumer and Chelsea Handler.