Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Adam Hunter, Chill With The Unfunny, Transmisogynistic Jokes


In the nearly a year since Fallon Fox came out as our #girllikeus in the women's MMA ranks, in addition to the love and appreciation she gets from us in Trans World and our allies, the 'Queen of Swords' has also had to endure a lot of bull feces, ignorant comments, incorrect pseudoscientific rants from people without MD behind their names, and straight up transphobia.

But the latest transphobic attack on Fallon comes wrapped in the Trojan Horse of humor from comedian Adam Hunter.   While he also flings misogynistic and sexist comments at WMMA fighters Ronda Rousey (who said some transphobic crap about Fallon a few months ago), Miesha Tate, and Kim Winslow, he has through his MMA Roasted Twitter handle (which I'm not linking to) also thrown shade at Khloe Kardashian (who is 5'10" vis a vis her petite sisters Kim and Kourtney) and Dog the Bounty Hunter's wife Beth.

But it's Fallon that he has aimed most of his low brow unfunny humor at.   It's one thing to be humorous, and transpeople do have senses of humor.   I enjoy a good joke just like anyone else and one of my fave places to go is the Laff Stop here in H-town, any comedy club or see comedians who are on their game like a Sinbad, Kim Coles, George Lopez and countless others I can name who can make you laugh without offending you.   

But comedians walk a fine line between humor and being straight up offensive, bigoted and hurtful, and when they cross that line we've got to call them out on it.  

actionfigureWhen it comes to Fallon Fox, Adam Hunter has long since jumped over that comedic red line.

But it's not just me saying that.  The person who the transmisogynist jokes are being aimed at has also commented on it.:

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The twitter comments made by MMA Roasted are extremely disgusting. I understand comedy. I really do. And I can take a joke. But, there comes a time when a joke goes too far. Example: Imagine what would happen if MMA Roasted decided to continually make jokes about another aspect of any other fighter that falls within a minority category. Imagine if he repeatedly made derogatory jokes about a black fighter, slamming her or him for being black.

He made this horrible transphobic joke, “I still don’t understand why Big Foot Silva has a tattoo of Fallon Fox’s foot on his back.” I suppose this is supposed to be a crack at me having large feet? (Which I do not.) This is similar to making a joke about the stereotype of black people having large noses. Does anyone reading this think that he would get away with a racial joke like that? And not only making a joke one time, but continuously.

He also said “The New Fallon Fox Action Figure Comes with a Detachable Penis.”  And he took no thought into how that would affect me or the trans community. His jokes in relation to me are transphobic. I don’t believe he understands exactly what he has done or how what he has said incites unnecessary hate and misunderstanding about trans people.

Like I said before. I understand comedy. But, there is a line! Michael Richards found that out years ago. And if this continues, some of them are going to find themselves in the same boat.

Some people may find those degrading and hateful jokes funny.  But those people have a transphobic mindset also. Outside of MMA, the conversation is changing on trans athletes. People are starting to wake up a little bit on this issue. Unfortunately, some in MMA are not paying attention to that. And that will likely bite them in the end. Some of the MMA commentators, comedians, and athletes are really giving MMA a bad name. Their misogynistic, transphobic mindset and language will not be accepted outside of the MMA sphere. And even inside of MMA, people are starting to be uncomfortable with their language and treatment of every type of woman.

This has got to end. It hurts us all. It hurts trans athletes, it hurts cisgender athletes, it hurts the sport of MMA as a whole. If MMA wants to grow, the culture must change just a little bit, or it is going to have bigger problems within greater society. It seems to me that the MMA culture within the United States has gone off the deep end in some areas. Why is that? What is the reasoning behind the hatred many have in our sport for people who are feminine? I’m not just talking about myself. I’m also talking about some of the sexist comments some tend to rattle off about other female fighters. Why all of the blatant misogyny?

What is going on here is obvious. Much like the editors of the “Dr. V’s Magical Putter” story, MMA Roasted is unfortunately negatively exploiting the status of a trans person for notoriety.

Because trans people are looked at as oddities by some in our American society, he uses this particular trans woman as a focal point to unload the ignorance, intolerance, and bigotry that is apparently in his heart to help make a buck. This tactic is very shortsighted and unnecessary. There is an easy way around not making a mistake like this. Simply not make the joke. This is not good for business in the end.

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If Adam Hunter was funny, he'd be able to make you laugh without the misogyny, sexism and transphobia that contaminates his act.  But tragically, he's not and probably doesn't care as long as they are handing him a check for it.    

 
The Fallon Fox jokes aren't funny Adam and are dripping with transphobic stereotypes.   You need Trans 101 and a new comedy writer.  If you wrote those problematic 'jokes' yourself, it's past time to find a new source of material.         

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