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[Gilbert]
I'd like to apologize

if I hurt anyone

with anything
I'm going to say

or if
it's an opposing viewpoint

to one you might have.

And if I look
like I'm thinking

about something
that might be offensive,

please, I apologize
for hurting you.

[music]

And I'm very sorry

that I bothered you
or upset any of you.

[music]

I genuinely...

am deeply sorry to anyone

who's ever been affected
by that term.

I'm sorry I did that.

I want to apologize

for a comment that I made
on last night's Fashion Police

about Zendaya's hair.

I'm embarrassed
that I did that.

I've learned it is not
my intent that matters,

it's the result.

And the result
is that people

are offended.

I did a bad thing.

I cannot spend
every night apologizing.

I'm here to apologize.

I'm sorry.

I hope
you'll accept my apology.

-Are you ready?
-[all] Yeah.

Then light your torches
and go.

[narrator]
It doesn't take much
to rile up

the outrage mob these days.

If you're a comedian,
there might be calls

for your show
to be cancelled

if someone takes offense
at your joke.

You might have
to kiss your big,

new gig good-bye.

You could get fired
or get death threats.

You might even
get attacked on stage.

Most people just give
into the mob's demands,

but some comics are brave

or stupid enough
to fight back.

I think people like to be
offended because there's like

a really weird sense
of empowerment

with being offended.

I think it's
an attention-seeking device.

If you think
you have the right

not to be offended,

either change
your parameters

of what offends you

or just realize
you're wrong.

Those are your two choices.

[narrator]
Jim Norton devotes
a lot of his act

to raging
against outrage.

Why is comedy
the only form of the arts

where people think
that they have to agree with

or approve the content?

Why is that?

You don't walk
through a museum
with a towel

and throw it
over paintings

that you don't like.

[audience laughing]

I don't want anybody else
seeing this

because
I didn't quite enjoy it.

[laughing continues]

Someone will find something
about every jokes

down to the most
benign subject

till we're all like
five year olds

and can't say anything.

If comedians
avoided every topic

that might offend someone,
there's nothing to talk about.

Pressuring the person
to make a fake apology

over whatever it is
that he's said

that got your panties
in a bunch.

I don't know why we look
at this as progress.

If you're easily offended,
please don't come

to a comedy show.

When people are outraged
by something,

they're also
patting themselves

on the back,

like, "Hey,

I'm a good person,
I was outraged."

People just love

to be offended and they love
to talk about it.

[narrator]
More and more comedians
are getting fed up

with outrage.

They say it's time
for the mob

to learn
how to take a joke.

[Penn]
We don't have a legal right

to not be offended,

but you have a social right
to avoid things

that offend you.

So, your feelings
got hurt,

it's not
the end of the world.

I've always refused
to apologize for a joke.

There's a lot of people
out there whose job is to be

offended for other people.

It's almost like people
have gotten soft.

The Marx brothers

were rebellious.

Nowadays,
you'd watch them and you go,

"Oh,
he's advocating smoking

and the other guy
is anti-Italian

and that guy
is making fun of people

-who can't speak."
-I get offended.

And we're getting
to the point where

outrage is a powerful
political tool.

There's plenty of things
that have offended me,

but that's where
it begins and ends.

I'm offended,
who gives a fuck?

But people,
like, wanna take it

a step further and go,

"I want you to know
I'm offended

and I'd like
something done."

[woman]
Comedy's lovable queen
of mean,

Lisa Lampanelli.

[cheers and applause]

[Lisa]
Context in comedy
is the be all and end all.

If I'm making fun
of every single nationality,

race, height, weight,
et cetera during my show,

the context is that

we're all the same,

we're all gonna
get made fun of.

Thank you homos
for skipping a night

of watching Bravo TV.

[audience laughing]

Oh, my God,
that one who jumped up,

this big queen right here.

Oh!

He is so gay, he jerks off
to Antique Roadshow.

By the end of the show
the white guy

who got made fun of
for being gay

or being, you know, blind,

or--I had a deaf guy
a couple of weeks ago

who was amazing.

He suddenly goes,

"Oh, that's what black people
feel like.

That's what the Asian people
feel like."

So, I think that's what brings
people together going,

"We all the same
in this bitch."

My only line has ever been,
if I can't make it funny

I'm not gonna do it.

Rape can't be taken off
the table, AIDS, everything.

Every time I do an AIDS
and a rape joke,

it kills
and you know what,

it's because
we're scared of it.

And if you're running away
from it

and you're not
confronting it,

you're a pussy
and you're not standing up

to it.

So, I think that's why

you have to make fun
of those subjects.

I think it's very hot
that we have such sexy blacks

and spics at this show.
[imitates cat's meow]

If I can't get raped
by the end of this night,

I want my money back.

No, I mean, come on, man,

if this guy jumps me
after the show,

that ain't a felony,
that is lawful entry.

[audience laughing]

[narrator]
Lisa Lampanelli
markets herself

as an insult comic,
but even she can't escape

the outrage mob.

[Lisa]
If we as comics steered
clear of every topic

that might offend someone,
we would never open our mouth,

I mean, literally,
because I have made a joke

about the band Journey once

and a guy almost stormed
the stage.

What the fuck
is wrong with you?

[crowd cheering]

Look up the funny and sue,
you ugly fuck.

[cheers and applause]

[Lisa]
I'm like, "Really?

You didn't mind spic,
chink, kike,

Jew bastard, cocksucker,
but Journey?"

That's Steve Perry,
motherfucker.

[narrator]
So, what's a comedian
supposed to do these days,

play it safe?

[Gilbert]
George Carlin once said

it's the duty of a comedian

to find out
where the line is drawn

and deliberately
cross over it.

I, of course,
always like that line

because he says duty.

There so many times that,
you know,

we get the wool pulled
over our eyes

in society by, you know,
certain powers

that be who wanna get away
with stuff.

And I see
the role of comedians

as the torch bearer.

You know,
we shine the light

on what's really going on.

It's an amazing lineage
of people

who've taken on
that responsibility.

[narrator]
Richard Pryor took on
that responsibility.

And before him,
George Carlin.

But today's
stand-up comedians

trace their lineage
back to Lenny Bruce.

[Steve Allen]
Now, ladies and gentlemen

here is
a very shocking comedian,

the most shocking comedian
of our time,

a young man
who is skyrocketing to fame,

Lenny Bruce.

Here he is.

[cheers and applause]

There are words
that offend me.

Let's see.

Governor Faubus,
segregation offend me,

nighttime television
offends me,

some nighttime television.

He's honest,
he's--he's smart,

he's funny,

and he's a hero.

[narrator]
Penn Jillette is the taller,

louder half of the comedy
and magic duo Penn & Teller.

He says Lenny Bruce
was an early

showbiz inspiration.

[Penn]
It was like nothing
I'd ever seen

on TV
or in situation comedies.

[narrator]
The Beverly Hillbillies
was America's

favorite sitcom
when Lenny was trying

to make a name
for himself.

It was the early '60s,

and ba-da-boomp jokes
were all the rage.

Anyway,
I'm back in television again,

I was on television
about four weeks ago.

I received two offers
for plastic surgery.

[audience laughing]

[narrator]
Lenny turned comedy

in a different direction.

The personal quality
of Lenny

talking about

his real life

was just mind-blowing.

That changed comedy forever.

[laughing]

You listen to Lenny Bruce
and nothing is surprising

and that's because everyone
ripped him off.

The whole world changed
to come around to him.

[Ron]
When I think of Lenny Bruce,
one of the words

that comes to mind
is risk.

He never saw a taboo
he wasn't willing to bust.

He never saw a line
he wasn't willing to cross.

[audience laughing]

[Ron]
And where did he bust out?
Did he bust out on television?

No.
Did he bust out on radio?

No, not really.

He busted out
in comedy clubs.

[audience laughing]

[Ron]
Nobody ever complained
to the authorities

about Lenny Bruce's act.

I mean, if you're worried
about that,

you don't go to a venue
after midnight,

you know, with a bunch of,
you know,

bearded, beaded,

drunk,
inebriated stoned people.

So, nobody ever complained,
but the cops were there.

[narrator]
It got to the point
where Lenny expected cops

to attend his shows.

And Lenny Bruce
would do things like,

you know,
he'd go through a whole show

and no dirty words,
and then come on,

let's, you know,
do an encore

and the police are right there
and said,

"You know, I'm sorry
I disappointed you,

men in blue,
by not saying cocksucker."

-Boom.
-[narrator] And that's what

Lenny got arrested for
in San Francisco.

He would later talk
about the bust

during his act,
tap dancing around

the forbidden word.

[Ron] Jokes
about controversial issues.

Jokes about race,
jokes about religion.

The Jews killed Christ.

I can't tell you
how long I've had to listen

to this stuff.

Okay, let's set
the record straight.
It's true.

We killed him
and if he comes back,

we'll kill him again.

Well, funny to the people,
you know,

in the audience,

not so funny
to the Irish cops there.

[narrator]
Police arrested Lenny
in Chicago,

in Los Angeles,
in San Francisco.

Lenny had to worry about cops
at his shows,

but nobody else
complained.

Today, it's the reverse.

Cops no longer
arrest comedians

at clubs, but the people
are complaining.

It's almost
as if we've been taught

to love censorship.

[music]

[narrator]
Oh, college.

It's where you can finally
live on your own.

Be free.

-Be yourself.
-♪ And we're banned

♪ From Argo, everyone

♪ Banned from Argo
just for having a little fun ♪

-♪ We spend...
-[narrator] Just be careful

if you're trying
to be funny.

We were accused
of sexual harassment

for an April Fool's
article.

[narrator]
She's the editor
of a student newspaper

at the University
of Alaska, Fairbanks.

And her offense
was running an article

about
a vagina-shaped building.

[woman]
Because it was a joke.

I was poking fun
at the culture
that we live in.

[narrator]
And what about
the good things Hitler did?

Rutgers University
thought this

April fool's article
was anti-Semitic.

So, what if the author
is Jewish.

This Syracuse University
law student

almost got
kicked out of school

because some people said
his satirical blog

was offensive.

Members
of the Tufts University

rowing team were suspended
for wearing this shirt

as in coxswain,
as in this guy.

These days most colleges
enforce strict speech codes

that punish students
for everything

from telling jokes
to committing the crime

of inappropriately
directed laughter.

[Norton]
Yeah, they're very uptight.

You know,
we interviewed Carlin in 2007

and he said that,
"I've been bashing colleges

for years for that."

And Carlin goes,
"Man, I hate to say it,

but all the censorship
is coming from the left

and it's coming
from the college campuses."

We all got to understand
that we could expect

censorship
from the right wing,

but to expect it
from the left wing,

from the politically correct
people

in the campuses,
that caught me by surprise.

[Noam]
Good evening everybody,

welcome to
the Comedy Cellar Show

here on Channel 99,
SiriusXM world of comedy hits.

We have
a very special guest here.

So, this man
has devoted his life,

I'd say to free speech
and he's quite an intersection

with comedian.

[narrator]
Greg Lukianoff
is the president of FIRE,

the Foundation
for Individual Rights
in Education,

a national nonprofit
that fights

for free speech
on college campuses.

I interned at the ACLU
of Northern California.

I studied the history
of censorship,

you know, going back
to, like, the 16th century,

and nothing prepared me
for how easy it is

to get in trouble
on the modern college campus.

I think
there is a direct line

between the stuff
that's going on in campuses

and the idiots
who I get angry emails from.

[narrator]
New York City's
legendary Comedy Cellar

has long been at the center
of the stand-up world.

Before performances,
owner Noam Dworman

hosts his SiriusXM
Comedy Cellar Show.

Everybody feels
they have a right

to be insulated
from whatever it is

they decide offends them,

and we're getting emails
all the time

from customers and it--
and it boggles my mind.

[man]
But those customers
have the right.

If you--yeah, those customers
have the right
to send you emails

-and they have the right
to be offended.
-They should also fucking

stay home
if they don't wanna hear

this kind of humor.

[Chris] I've gone
on the Klu Klux Klan site

to see some
of their greatest jokes

and I'd say about 10%
of them are winners.

Absolutely
have me rolling.

90%, a little harsh.

My name is
Christopher Lee.

I'm from Washington
State University.

I wrote a play called
Passion of the Musical,

which was about satire

about the last two days
of Jesus.

[narrator]
Lee cast himself in the role

of a cross-dressing Satan.

[Chris]
This play was
specifically designed

to offend everyone.

I went for the gold
from whatever religion

you were
to whatever you believed in,

to this country
I love so dearly.

I wanna write something
that makes people go,

"Yeah,
that was hilarious,"

or they're so mad
that they go,

"I'll tell you why
my religion is important,

why women's rights
is important."

[Greg]
Nobody could've done
a better job of saying,

"Hey, guys,
if you don't wanna see

an offensive comedy,

don't come
to this comedy musical

because I wrote it
with the intention

of actually
offending people."

Everyone had to sign
a contract

coming into the show,
knowing it would be offensive.

On the door,
there was all the words

that I said including
a giant banner that said,

"A song contains
the word cunt 24 times."

[man]
I'm offended.

[audience laughing]

[Chris]
I had people
who enjoyed certain parts.

They liked
the Latino sweeping

the floor across the stage
and taking a siesta.

But when I have giant letters
that spell out AIDS

or cunt come across stage,
you know,

and then people going,
"Well, that's not funny."

And I was like,
"I see so.

As long as it doesn't touch
home base on you,

it's funny,
but then as soon as it does,

that's the most offensive
outrageous things

I've ever heard
and you have no right

-to ever say it."
-He was a sociology student

so he was kind of saying,
"I'm gonna do this experiment.

It's gonna show, like,
we're all way too uptight.

Everyone's gonna be
getting along,
it's gonna be fun,

and it didn't quite
work out that way."

[all chattering]

[Chris]
The university
has contacted me and said,

"We have 40 people
who'd like to see the show."

As soon as the show
started off, they started--

they handed out
little fliers saying,

"If they say something
you don't like,

stand up and say
'I'm offended'."

And so, once the first song
starts happening,

people started saying,
"I'm offended.

I'm offended.
I'm offended."

And then the "I'm offended"

changed into
"You're gonna die.

We're gonna get you."

[Chris]
The crowd had weapons.

I actually lost
two cast members.

They ran outside.

We had to call the police
halfway through the show,

and when
we called the police

they're offended
by the topics.

So, the cops
stopped my show

and let me know
that if I proceeded

and the crowd got up
and attacked,

they would not help
because they said

I would be kind of
riling them up.

If I get attacked,
the police would sit there,

and I was like,
I guess watch me get assaulted

or whatever.

[Karith]
College is supposed to be
this place

where you go to grow,
to explore,

to learn,
to express yourself.

[narrator]
Karith Foster performs
at many top clubs,

like The Laugh Factory
in Hollywood

and the Gotham Comedy Club
in New York.

I used to be able

to describe myself
in one word,

I could tell you, people,
I was a Huxtable, right?

And people got it.

Like, a year ago,
people were like,
"Oh, yeah. Sure.

She comes from--in a fluent
African-American family.

Her parents
are professionals."

Now, I say that
and people think my dad

was feeding
my Girl Scout troop.

[audience laughing]

[narrator]
She's also on a mission
to get colleges

to loosen up.

[cheers and applause]

[Karith]
I started a humorous
diversity program

that I take to colleges
with a fellow comedian,

a friend of mine,
Adam Lehman,

he's a gay comic.

It's called
Stereotype 101.

The idea is to use humor

to broach
the sensitive topics.

There were 1,200 people
in my graduating class

from high school,
12 of us were black.

That's 1%.

I had to import my prom date
because I wanted a brown one.

[narrator]
Now, of course,
it takes many years

to learn how to make
audiences laugh,

and that's why Foster
says schools

should cut
student comedians

lots of slack.

[Karith]
Now, college is where you go
to find out who you are.

It's also where
you find your voice.

And, you know, that's a term
we use in comedy as well,

"Finding your voice,"
when you figure out, you know,

your style.

[narrator]
Salvador Rodriguez
is a student comedian

at Reed College
in Portland, Oregon.

From the lush campus

to the mostly white
student body,

the environment is quite
a change for Rodriguez.

[Salvador]
My father came
to the United States

illegally from Mexico.

I went to high school
in South Los Angeles

at a high school
that was 70% black.

Reed isn't very easy
to make jokes about it

because the people here,
they have a lot of hang-ups

about a lot of words.

[Sean]
Sal's style of humor

is fairly confrontational.

He likes to push buttons.

[audience laughing]

[narrator]
The campus comedians
enjoy performing

risque routines,
and they warn people

who are easily offended
to stay far away

-from their shows.
-[Sean] Please welcome

Sal Rodriguez.

[cheers and applause]

[audience laughing]

[narrator]
This show included
some things

you probably won't see
at your local comedy club.

[Salvador]
The performer before me

got naked

and performed his entire act
completely nude.

[narrator]
The show chugged along
through the nudity

and Rodriguez's
blue material,

but when
he started talking about

the majors women choose,

an audience member
began heckling him.

[narrator]
The heckling continued

and Rodriguez
kind of lost his patience.

[Salvador]
You fucking loudmouthed cunt.

Keep your mouth shut.

And it was at that point
that she stormed the stage

and she grabbed
the mic away.

[narrator]
The following week,

the school paper
ran a piece

that Rodriguez says
got his act all wrong.

Whether they had seen it
or not,

lots of students
were offended.

Well, he got
a lot of lash back.

The outcry at Reed
was very much

against the speech
that happened.

He's definitely gained
a reputation

as an asshole on campus.

And I think
that there should be

some sort of check
on whether that sort of thing

should be allowed
to happen again.

[Salvador]
I yelled back
at a--at a heckler.

In comedy clubs

it's well established
that if you're a heckler

you can be yelled at.

[narrator]
But the administration

launched an investigation,
accusing him of offenses

like directing
a hostile comment

at a female student,

and the Feminist
Student Union

held a support group
for those traumatized

by his act.

There's a support group.

Well, I hope that whoever ran
the support group

for those students
told them to get over it,

told them that this guy,
whatever he said,

if it upset them,
then he was being a jackass

and don't go
to any more of his shows.

I actually went to the second
oldest women's college

in the country, Stephens.

And one of the things

that I appreciated
about that school

is that it was so not
about being a victim,

it was so about
being powerful.

As a mother
of two daughters,

I don't want
anyone's words

to affect who they become
as adults.

I want them to be confident
and strong

in who they are,

and not be deterred

by other people's
stereotypes,

other people's ignorance.

[narrator]
Back at Washington State
University,

Chris Lee discovered
a little something new

about the audience members
who shouted down his musical.

[Chris]
I didn't know it at the time,

but later we figured out

that the university
paid these people

to come into my show
and shout it down.

They came in there
to shut down my show.

[narrator]
It's actually pretty common

to see students
shouting down speakers.

[woman]
Shut your mouth!

[cheers and applause]

[Noam]
Shouting someone down--

Shouting someone down.
Yeah--

-...is not freedom of speech.
-No, it's mob censorship.

And it's kind of like
students going,

"Hey, there's two sides
to each story?

I don't want to hear
the other side."

[Lisa]
When I hear a story

about this Chris Lee,

it's just clear bullying
and threats to a comic.

[narrator]
Today, many students
hold their tongues

because they don't want
to anger the outrage mob.

[Greg]
In a 2010 study,

they asked 25,000 students,
"Is it safe to merely hold

unpopular points of view
on campus?"

This is the kind of question
you ask

when you want
a hundred percent

of people saying,
"Well, yeah, sure,

it's safe to hold them."

Only 40% of students

strongly agreed
with the statement

that it's safe
to merely hold

unpopular points of view
on campus.

But guess what?

Every single year,
that number went down.

By senior year,
only 30% strongly agreed

with the statement
that it's safe to hold

unpopular points of view
on campus.

[Chris]
They were calling me
Black Hitler

because
the Jews weren't safe,

the blacks weren't safe,
no one--no women weren't safe.

They said I was so outrageous
that they were willing

to compare me to someone
who did such atrocities.

[Chris]
I'd let them know
when I arrived on campus.

They'd come.

They'd make sure
I got to class,

but they were like,
"People are just
expressing themselves.

They were kind of outraged
with you.

They're not
going to do anything."

I was like, "Well, why
do I have security?"

It's like they literally
endangered the kids' life,
you know?

And it's just evil,
and it's manipulative,

and awful,
and I hope they get AIDS.

No, I do.

If you're listening,
hi, AIDS.

Go attack those people.

[narrator]
Lenny had become so consumed

with his legal troubles

that he began to read
court transcripts

from his cases
during performances.

And it--here it is.
Oh, yeah.

[narrator]
He figured the court system

wouldn't grant him
a fair hearing,

so he pled his case
to audiences instead.

[Ron]
He'd been busted

in San Francisco.

He's busted
in Los Angeles.

He's busted in Chicago.

So, by the time he gets
to New York,

you know,
his reputation has spread

and the police are there

that night
at the Cafe au Go-Go.

[narrator]
New York prosecutor,
Richard Kuh,

had been expecting Lenny.

[Ron]
He was absolutely determined

to send Lenny Bruce
to jail.

[narrator]
Bob Dylan, Woody Allen,

James Baldwin,
and other famous artists

testified on his behalf,

during a trial
that would last

for six months.

It's amazing.

I mean,
for a few dirty words,

I mean, you know,
all sorts of expert witnesses,

three judges, three.

[narrator]
The long trial

had taken a mental toll
on Lenny.

He became
increasingly obsessed

with vindicating himself
and his comedy.

He grew desperate,
fired his lawyers,

and delivered

the closing arguments
himself.

[Ron]
The trial was
both comic and tragic.

[narrator]
On November 4th, 1964,

Lenny Bruce was found guilty
of obscenity.

He was sentenced
to four months behind bars.

But before being taken
into custody,

he fled to Los Angeles

in an attempt to preserve
his freedom.

[Ron]
He was convicted

for using four letter words
in a comedy club

in Greenwich Village
after midnight.

A, B, and C, and we're gonna
enforce a rule because...

[Ron]
Lenny Bruce

is at the end of his rope.

They're about to foreclose
on his home.

He doesn't have any money.

He can't get
a job anywhere

because of all
these obscenity prosecutions.

[Ron]
He's got a pretty serious
drug problem

and a pretty serious
depression problem.

You mix them all together,

you know what happens.

[narrator]
Lenny Bruce died
of a drug overdose

on August 3rd, 1966.

He was 40 years old.

♪ All alone

♪ All alone

♪ I'll be rich

♪ But so

♪ All alone

[Ron]
But within a year
after his death,

this great Phoenix rises.

There was a movie
about Lenny Bruce

with Dustin Hoffman.

[man]
He was a comic.

A cynic. A satirist.

A criminal. A genius.

[Dustin]
Have you ever seen
so much blue

in all your life?

[man]
Newsweek described
his cause of death

as an overdose of police.

[Ron]
And he becomes this
great American icon.

♪ Lenny Bruce was trying
to tell you ♪

♪ Many things
before he died ♪

♪ All that was covered
by Lenny Bruce ♪

♪ Back in the day

♪ Lenny Bruce
declares a truce ♪

♪ Lenny Bruce is gone

♪ But his spirit's
living on ♪

♪ And on

Your heroes
can only be as good

as your villains, right?

So, Lenny Bruce

had the United States
government to go up against.

To keep going with a bit

knowing where
you're about to go.

He didn't care.

He did--he still did his bit,

like, that's outrageously
awesome to me.

I'm ashamed of my country

for doing that.

I am--

I am disgusted

that that happened.

My sympathy and my empathy
and my heart is with Lenny

that he had
to go through that,

but motherfucker
is that cool.

Doing your show

with cops on the side
of the stage?

Fucking beat that
anybody ever!

[man]
It is now my pleasure

to introduce to you
Mr. Lenny Bruce.

[applause]

[Ron]
The last routine Lenny did,

it was at UCLA.

I will tell you this,
there was any number

of Lenny Bruce's routines

though totally protected
by the First Amendment

that if he did them
on a number campuses today,

they would shut it down.

I don't think any college

would allow Lenny Bruce
to come

-and perform there.
-They would hate him.

Lenny Bruce would not last
a minute

on the modern
college campus.

[Norton]
Because they had become
what they hated.

You know, they had become
the speech repressors.

They had become
the free thought policers.

[Greg]
And he also ended up being
a great figure

in the fight
against obscenity laws,

against the idea that we--

that the government
should be policing speech.

So, he really ended up being
a very influential figure,

not just for every comedian
that's come after him,

but for a generation

of First Amendment lawyers
too.

[narrator]
Lukianoff says Lenny
wasn't just fighting

for the First Amendment,

he was fighting
for something more.

He was fighting
for free speech.

Free speech
and the First Amendment

are not the same thing.

And actually, the bigger,
more beautiful, bolder,

braver concept
is free speech.

And it requires
a certain amount

of tolerance
and a recognition

that you almost certainly
don't know everything

and that you can still learn
from hearing people out.

The problem is
that as a society,

we haven't really
learned deeply

that the solution
to bad speech

is more speech.

You know, you have to go
to Jonathan Rauch.

[Jonathan]
The First Amendment,

although it's necessary,
it's not sufficient.

It has to rest
on a social foundation

of First Amendment values.

That is people who understand,
who get the idea,

the critical exchange
of speech,

often hurtful speech,

wrongheaded speech,
even hateful speech.

Airing those ideas
strengthen society

in the long run.

If people
don't have that idea

in their hearts,
then having it in the law

is not enough.

I'm the author
of a book called

Kindly Inquisitors:
The New Attacks
on Free Thought.

And I'm a senior fellow
at a think tank called

the Brookings Institution.

[man]
Because the Americans

-love democracy and...
-[man] Oh, I see.

That's one reason.

-Also...
-[Jonathan] In any society

that is free enough
to produce open debate,

it's also going
to be free enough

so that some of us
at any given time

are going to feel
really upset.

[bleep] this [bleep]
and their [bleep] yachts.

They aren't in here
and they are not
in our country!

[Jonathan] And no,
that's not a great thing.

-It's a necessary thing.
-Get the [bleep] out of here.

Get the [bleep] out of here.
This is ours.

[Jonathan]
Being hurt by words

is part
of how we build knowledge

and it's our duty to,
I think, accept that

in a free society.

You parasite socialists!

[narrator] Free speech
isn't always pretty,

but it makes life better.

Ideas clash
and the worst ones

get tossed aside.

Many advancements
are the result

of heated debates,
debates that offended

-lots of people.
-[Jonathan] I grew up

as a gay American
in the '60s and '70s

at a time
where just saying

you were gay
or being for gay rights

could cost you your job.

We were actually considered
mentally disordered

and thrown into asylums.

[man]
One never knows

when the homosexual
is about.

He may appear normal
and it may be too late

when you discover
he is mentally ill.

[Jonathan]
We dealt with terrorism

and violence
on the streets.

If you called the police,

they wouldn't help you
because, you know,

you were a queer,
you were a faggot.

We didn't have votes.
We didn't have support.

We were hiding
in the closet.

The one thing we had,

the only thing we had

was our voices.

[narrator]
Activists spoke up.

They persuaded
more and more people

that laws should protect
everyone equally.

The gay rights movement
has come a long way

since the '60s,

but gays
still face hostility.

Do I like that the Westboro
Baptist Church

is allowed to say,
"God hates fags,"

and "God hates the military,"
and blah, blah, blah?

The Episcopal church
is a fag church.

[narrator]
Members of the tiny

Westboro Baptist Church
get lots of publicity

for their
outlandish protests.

This kind of hate speech
is legal and Rauch says

-that's actually good
for gays.
-[man] And there it says,

-"Fags are the--are beasts."
-[man] Okay.

[Jonathan]
There is only one way

to counter bad ideas
and it is with good ideas

and you cannot do that

unless you're able
to confront

the bad ideas.

And it kind of
makes me mad.

We have free speech
and I go,

"But wait a minute,
we have to have it."

[Jonathan]
The society that tries

to bury under the rug
bad ideas is condemning itself

to live in a future
with these bad ideas.

[crowd]
We're here,

we're queer,

-we take it in the rear!
-[Lisa] Hey!

[narrator]
When the church threatened

to protest
one of Lisa's shows,

she said, "Bring it on."

Promising to donate
a thousand bucks

to a pro-gay charity

for each protester
who showed up.

[Lisa]
These assholes

have contributed

to the Gay Men's
Health Crisis.

[narrator] Turns out
50 protesters showed,

so Lisa cut a check
for 50 grand.

[crowd cheering]

[Lisa]
They have
their own special sign

for me by the way,
"God hates Lisa."

And has a picture
of a gorilla in a dress

with a wig
which is fantastic.

I always--
I think you made it

when the WBC makes you
a hate-filled sign.

Hi, fag haters!

Everybody wave bye
the fag haters!

[cheering]

[Jonathan]
I am actually grateful

that the Westboro
Baptist Church exists

to be complete idiots

because every day
they do that,

they use their voices

to demonstrate
how pitiable they are

and why gay people

are making
the better argument.

[Penn]
The most important thing
to a society,

what makes a society,
is the--

is the exchange of ideas.

Free speech is important,
I think, because,

like, that's the thing
that makes us who we are.

I think free speech
is important for society

because that's the only way
change happens.

Free speech
is extremely important

because me being a Jew,

I don't want to have
to pay for speech.

I want free speech.

I want the kind of speech

where not only do you
get free speech,

but they throw in
a limerick

and a witty remark
with it.

I want a whole
bargain package.

[laughs]

[Heather]
You know, the whole point is

if you're easily offended,
please don't come

to a comedy show.

Like, this is not
the thing for you.

When the other moms
invite you, please pass.

[applause]

I also have
a beautiful stepdaughter

and she's beautiful,

she's actually
half Vietnamese,

so yes, I do enjoy
the free foot massages

every other weekend.

-Thank you.
-[audience laughing]

Now I get them
all the time

because she lives with us
full-time and.

Um...

and, you know, even though
she lives with us,

her mom will still call

and leave me
a million messages

about how to feed her
and I'll have--in, like,

two days,
I'll get six messages

that goes something
like this,

"Hi, I'm McKinsey mom,

I'm just calling
to make sure

that you give
McKinsey broccoli.

She like a healthy food.
She like a healthy broccoli.

Don't you just give
a hotdog and popcorn

like you give
to your boy.

And you can afford it.
You can afford it.

You tell Peter
he can afford it."

[audience laughing]

[narrator]
Heather McDonald
did that bit

at a different performance
and learned

she had offended
an audience member.

[Heather]
And this woman came up
to me after

and she goes,
"I think you're so funny.

I just really find the accent
really offensive."

And she was white.

I said, "Well, I'm sorry
you feel that way.

It's based on a real person.
That's exactly how she sounds.

I'm imitating a person
to tell a true story better."

[narrator] Sometimes,
nervous show producers

sanitize performances
before audiences see them.

McDonald remembers one time

when she was performing
with an improv group.

[Heather]
I wanted to do this girl

that I had seen
on a talk show

who was clearly white,

but spoke like she was
a Latina gang member

and I just thought
it was a funny character,

like a Jerry Springer type
character.

[narrator]
But that character made

the producer uncomfortable.

[Heather]
And she said, "Well,

if you're going to do
an accent or ethnicity,

make it be somebody
that's not finan--

economically
beneath a white person."

So, make fun
of the French.

I'm like, "I don't find
the French funny."

[narrator]
And as Noam Dworman's
co-host,

Dan Naturman knows

changing your act
is no guarantee

that you'll avoid
offending someone.

Dan was on
America's Got Talent

and he told a joke

that had the word German
in it.

It was not a joke
at anybody German's expense.

He had to pick a country.

Actually, at the club,
he doesn't even use German,

he uses Mexican,
but they told him

don't say Mexican on TV,
so they made him use German

because it was considered
more innocuous.

[Dan]
In America, we don't speak

different languages
in America.

We speak English.
Other countries, they speak
different languages.

I got a friend
in Oregon, he's from--

he's a countryman
of Heidi's actually.

He lives in Berlin.
He's speak-- do you know him?

He speaks four languages.

He said to me,
"Dan, how come you Americans

don't learn
other languages?"

I'm like, "I don't know.

Probably the same reason

people that can see
don't learn Braille.

-That's probably why."
-[audience laughing]

[Noam]
Heidi Klum is a judge

-and she gets offended
at his joke.
-[Greg] Nice.

And I got news for you,

Braille would be
more practical, right?

Because you might
go blind one day,

that could happen.

But you ain't gonna go German,
chances are.

[audience laughing]

Thank you, America,
vote Naturman!

How'd he do?
Did you laugh?

Well, not really.

It is impressive, though,
that you managed to offend

almost every type
of person on the planet

including the Germans.

[Noam]
And she attacks him

and may very well
have led to ending his run

at the championship
of America's Got Talent.

[Dan]
Oh, but I think it was
going to go down anyway,

-but maybe.
-So this exact phenomenon

that we're talking about,
he had a bitter

firsthand experience
with it.

[Gilbert]
Nowadays, there's people

who might want
to play it safe.

Me being an idiot,
I don't.

[narrator]
Comedy can help us
get through tough times,

but doing comedy
after a tragedy

is one
of the biggest taboos.

Then again,
Gilbert Gottfried

loves sinking
his cold fangs into taboos.

It's kind of his thing.

I used to do a voice

for a certain
insurance company

-[duck] Aflac!
-[Gilbert] The tsunami

was hitting then.

So, I had handled that
the way

I handle
every big news item.

I was doing jokes about it
on the Internet.

Mostly, if you're going
to get offended,

you could get offended
by how dumb

most of them were.

Like, I asked my Japanese
real estate agent,

"Is there a school
in the neighborhood?"

And she said,
"No, but there will be one
in five minutes."

-[man] A horrible thing to say
in the midst of this tragedy.
-[woman] Disgusting.

I couldn't believe
he said that.

A well-known comedian
is no longer

the voice
of Aflac's duck today

because of a not-so-funny joke
about Japan's tragedy.

They basically
dropped me like

shit out of a duck's ass.

[woman]
Aflac says,
"There's no place

for anything but compassion
and concern."

[narrator]
But how surprised
could Aflac have been?

After all, the famously
raunchy Comedy Central roasts

often showcase
Gilbert Gottfried

and his jackhammer tongue.

Donald always says money
can't buy happiness,

but it can buy the best

Eastern European whores
New York City has to offer.

[crowd cheering]

[narrator]
And the tsunami

wasn't the first time
Gottfried made jokes

in the wake of a tragedy.

He did something similar

right after
the September 11th attacks.

[Gilbert]
I was at the Hugh Hefner's
fryer's roast.

And I said,
"Well I have to leave
early tonight.

I couldn't
get a direct flight,

we have to make a stop
at the Empire State Building."

And the crowd
was booing and hissing.

One guy yelled,
"Too soon."

Which I thought meant
I didn't take

a long enough pause between
the set up and the punch line.

[narrator]
But his 9/11 joke
didn't leave

the world
throbbing with outrage

like his tsunami jokes
did.

Maybe it's because
in 2001,

there was no Facebook,
no Twitter,

no YouTube, no iPhone.

But today's
supercharged Internet

blasts outrage
all over the world

as fast as you can type
140 characters.

[Gilbert]
The Internet
makes me feel sentimental

about old-time lynch mobs.

Back then, you actually
had to put your jacket on,

go outside,
get your hands dirty,

and deal
with other people.

You know,
not everything is funny.

-Right.
-And there's not a time
to joke about everything,

but apparently,
Gilbert Gottfried

-is learning that
the hard way.
-Didn't get the memo.

[Gilbert]
And then when I go outside
my house,

news cameras would appear
out of nowhere,

like they were
cornering someone

who was sending
poisoned baby food.

[narrator]
How did Gottfried
eventually escape

the outrage mob?

A far more important story
took his place.

[Gilbert]
Chris Brown was backstage

and he got mad
and threw a chair.

[man]
There he is shirtless
storming out of the studio.

[woman]
Brown reportedly used a chair

to smash a window
in his dressing room.

And that became
the big news item.

See, I think nowadays,

there's the villain
of the week.

And, like,
at any given time,

there's the one guy
we all hate

and then quickly,

it turns around
to something else.

[Jon]
People are getting destroyed,
like, every day.

Sometimes, a number of times
a day all over the world.

[narrator]
In his book,

So You've Been
Publicly Shamed,

author Jon Ronson tells
the tale of Justine Sacco,

a young woman
living in New York.

And with only
170 Twitter followers,

she's pretty much
unknown.

[Jon]
So, she's on vacation
Christmas 2013,

heading from New York

to Heathrow to Cape Town.

And when she gets
to Heathrow, she tweets

what she sees as
a kind of funny acerbic joke

to her 170 Twitter followers
that said...

She tweeted that joke

from Heathrow Airport,

wandered around
the terminal,

sporadically checking
Twitter,

got no replies,
and found that sad too.

That sad feeling
we all feel

when the Internet
doesn't tell us,

"Well done.
That was funny."

And then she got
on the plane,

turned off her phone,

flew for 11 hours,

slept, woke up,
turned on her phone,

and there was a text

from somebody she hadn't
spoken to since high school

that said, "I am so sorry

to see
what's happening to you."

The woman at the center
of a digital uproar.

[man]
At the center
of a digital firestorm.

The woman who sparked
a Twitter backlash

over an offensive tweet

that joked about AIDS
in South Africa.

BuzzFeed tweeted it

as the worst tweet
of all time.

[man]
An incredibly offensive tweet

about AIDS and race.

[Jon]
And the shaming came in waves.

First, there were
the philanthropists

saying, "I am donating
to aid to Africa."

But then it got darker,
then it was like,

"Everybody go report
this cunt."

There were people
all over the world,

thousands,
hundreds of thousands

of people who decided
we must get this woman fired.

Most people didn't realize
at this point

that she was on a plane

and oblivious
to all of this.

But then her employers
got involved.

[man]
Quickly issued a statement

calling the comment
outrageous and offensive.

And said, "This is
an outrageous comment.

Employee
currently unreachable

on an international flight."

And that's when the anger
turned to excitement,

that we knew something
that Justine didn't.

We knew that she was oblivious
to her destruction.

[man]
Sacco posted
the tweet Friday,

just before
a nearly 12-hour flight

from London to Cape Town,
South Africa.

While she was apparently
offline in midair,

millions were online,

anxiously waiting
for her to land

and see the uproar
her tweet caused.

The...

became an instant trend.

First,
you have children dying,

you have children
being born with AIDS.

It's really nothing
to joke about.

[Jon]
I was on Twitter that night

and I thought
what everyone else thought,

"Wow! Somebody's fucked!"

And I kind of,
you know, sat up in bed

and propped the pillow up
behind my,

you know, and then I thought,
"Well maybe the--

maybe it wasn't intended
to be racist."

[narrator]
Too late!

The outrage mob
had already made up its mind.

I think she's basically
got a race problem

and she deserved
to be fired.

[narrator]
Sacco was fired in midair.

[narrator] Meanwhile,
the social media response

was getting violent.

[Jon]
"Somebody HIV positive

should rape this bitch
so then we'll find out

if her skin color
protects her from AIDS."

The anger, the vitriol
directed at her

such that even
the company that fired her

had to ask people to go easy
on her, what about that part?

[narrator]
Eventually the backlash
became so deranged

that the media grew horrified
what they had helped create.

Even some death threats
seen on Tweeter toward her

and she hadn't had a chance

to tell her side
of the story yet.

Somebody went
and live tweeted

her arrival
and "photographed" her.

[narrator]
When Sacco landed
she was unemployed

and Twitter's number one
worldwide trending topic.

The satisfied outrage mob

looked for a new target
to destroy,

but Ronson was determined

to find out what became
of Justine Sacco.

[Jon]
So, I met her in a bar
in downtown New York

and, you know,
she was just broken

and she just kept crying

and it was like
the Night of the Living Dead,

because she was this
kind of spectral figure.

I asked her
to explain the joke

and she said
"Living in America
puts us in a bubble

when it comes to what is
going on in the Third World,

I was making fun
of that bubble."

[narrator]
Sacco's family
is from South Africa

and she was born there.

Her father took the family
to the United States,

because he didn't want
his children to be raised

in such a racist culture.

Justine thought
that she was

being a social justice person
like the rest of us.

She thought
she was making fun

of the bubble
of privilege.

You know, there's a--
there's a comedic tradition

of mocking privilege
by doing an extreme

exaggerated version of it.

Niggers, Jews,
homosexuals, Mexicans, Arabs,

and all kinds of
different Chinks stink!

[narrator]
Dave Chappelle does a sketch

about a blind black man

who happens to be
a white supremacist.

Chappelle uses racist language
to make fun of racists.

[Dave]
Let's talk about
Chinese people.

What they're Kung Fu

and all that silly
ching ching, chong, chong.

Oh, you come here,

you kiss my tea
make her sweet.

I no need no sugar
when you around.

[narrator]
Stephen Colbert
was doing the same thing

and the outraged mob
called him a racist

and demanded
his show be canceled.

Naturally, there was
an official hashtag.

The hashtag, "CANCELCOLBERT"
is trending.

-[woman] Cancel Colbert.
-[man] Cancel Colbert.

-[woman] Cancel Colbert.
-[narrator] Colbert weathered

the storm, but humor can be
more dangerous for amateurs.

[Jon]
She lost her job,
she couldn't get another job.

Newspapers were following her
to the gym,

she couldn't sleep,
she couldn't date

because you Google
everybody you date

and she was just the racist
AIDS tweet woman.

[narrator]
We're all just one
clumsy joke away

from sharing
Justine Sacco's fate.

[Jon]
We're all a mix
of clever and stupid,

you know, we're not
these one dimensional things.

We fuck up.

And we don't fuck up.

We're wise
and we're idiots.

So, many watching
her demise online

while she was offline
on a plane.

[Jon]
Don't leap in on somebody

and destroy somebody
for this drama.

For this
fake social justice.

Let's not frighten people
into being voiceless.

[narrator]
The Adam Carolla show

is one of the world's
most popular comedy podcasts,

and its host is known
for his no-holds-barred

political
and cultural rants.

[narrator]
At this live taping,

Carolla was fuming
about a recent exchange

with California
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom,

who brought up
economic challenges

facing black
and Latino families.

[Gavin]
Half of African Americans
in the state of California

and roughly half
of Latino families

have no access
to a checking account

or an ATM,
things we take for granted.

-They don't have
a checking account.
-What's wrong with them?

-Do Asians have this problem?
-I mean, a lot of communities
have this problem.

A lot of whites
have these problems,
but I just...

-Oh, so it's not just
black and Hispanic.
-No, but it--

-but I'm giving you--
-Then why did you bring up

-black and Hispanic?
-Because the magnitude

-is ominous.
-[narrator] Agree with him

or not,
but Carolla prides himself

on speaking
the unspeakable

and he often
raises issues

that politicians
are too afraid to touch.

Here he asks Newsom
why Asians

-perform so well in school.
-[Gavin] I'm not a sociologist,

-perhaps you could
explain why.
-[Adam] Okay.

-Well, I told you why.
-Why?

[Adam]
They have a family that puts
an emphasis on education.

[Gavin]
Which is a noble thing.

And a lot of Latinos
have families have put

-emphasis on education.
-A lot, but not enough.

-African Americans
have emphasis on education.
-A lot, but not enough.

[Adam]
Their families are broken up.

Okay, Gavin. I get it.

When a white
straight guy seems to...

White? What's white
have to do with it?

What's white have
to do with it?

Well, you've been accused
of being racist.

[Adam]
You have the racist finger
out all the time.

But the finger you use
for personal responsibility,

that stays up your ass!

And they misquote you

or they quote you
out of context.

There's a weird,
sort of mob,

witch hunt mentality.

[narrator]
Carolla says some reporters

recently confronted him
with audio proof

of his supposed racism.

♪ I got a little penis,
I don't care ♪

♪ It can work
if it has no hair ♪

[woman laughs]

♪ You see it right there

♪ It's in your face...

They think it's me
doing a Jackie Chan voice.

They're doing
the gotcha moment,

except for
they're not smart enough

to do their research
and realize that's Jo Koy

who's an Asian American
comedian,

he's doing all the talking
and making fun

of the Asian American
stereotype.

[Jo]
You can just be quiet
for a second,

-you're interrupting.
-[Adam] I can't, sir,
I'm telling you.

[Jo]
You know why?
You're pissing me off.

-You know why?
- I told them,

the guy who was doing
the voice was Asian

and they were like...

"Well, that helps."

[Karith]
You can say
whatever you want to say,

but the rule in comedy is that
it just has to be funny.

[narrator]
But these days
there's a pretty big list

of topics
that are off limits,

topics that comedians
are avoiding.

Topics comedians
are avoiding, it seems like

you don't know
what to avoid.

Racial ones are a big one
for people to avoid,

sexual orientation jokes,

people have always
avoided religion jokes,

Islam especially.

Christianity
is kind of safe now.

A big taboo
in the comic world

would be like, gun topics

because so, you know,
so many school shootings

and this and that,
but school shootings

have been happening forever,

it's just
they've been happening

in bad neighborhoods
first and no one cared

and now that it happens
in good neighborhoods,

everyone is like, "Oh,
you can't joke about that."

[narrator]
And it's not just jokes.

The outrage mob

is also scaring people away
from serious debate

about taboo topics.

We cannot discuss legislation
on rape in this country.

We cannot discuss

sex crimes
on college campuses.

You can't discuss that.

[protestors shouting]

[narrator]
Here protesters shout down
a panel discussion

-that addresses sex crimes.
-[woman] Get the fuck
out of here.

[narrator] Be careful
discussing suicide.

After showbiz legend
Robin Williams

committed suicide,

punk rocker
Henry Rollins wrote

that parents
shouldn't kill themselves

because it traumatizes
their children.

Henry Rollins
said that Robin

was selfish for doing it
and blah, blah, blah,

and people went after him
and he had to apologize.

[Norton]
We have punk rockers
now fucking apologizing.

And it's like you don't
owe an apology, Henry.

Even if what you said
was wrong.

Even if Robin was suffering
and it wasn't selfish.

I don't think
you're out of line to say,

"Is this a selfish
fucking thing?"

[narrator]
If you challenge
society's taboos,

you might be looking
to start a discussion,

but don't be surprised
if you get called
names instead.

[Carolla]
All they're gonna do

is try to make you look
like a bigoted,

sexist,
xenophobic whatever...

You're just a privileged,
white feminist bitch--

[narrator]
That's how Twitter responded

to a British writer,

one of the few people
who questioned

whether
Justine Sacco's tweet

was really meant
to be racist.

And she said to her shame
she shut up

and watched Justine's life
get ripped apart.

We have to learn

you can't have
the exchange of ideas

if there's
a chilling effect.

[narrator]
A chilling effect.

It's when you see others
getting shouted down

for voicing
controversial opinions

and you decide
to just shut up yourself.

Because, why bother?

It's like,
"Hey these are opinions

that people disagree with."

Like, "Hey, United States
there, buddy.

We're just one big pile

historically of opinions

that people disagreed with
and that's fine."

[Jon]
If this climate of fear
continues,

what it will create

is a cold conservative
conformist world.

Where what we're doing
is tearing apart

the people
who step out of line.

[narrator]
MSNBC's Martin Bashir
made pointed comments

about former Alaska Governor
Sarah Palin.

Harvard President
Lawrence Summers speculated

about why there aren't more
female science professors.

NPR's Juan Williams
admitted to feeling nervous

when he saw people dressed
in Muslim garb on airplanes.

They all stepped out of line
and it cost them their jobs.

All we're doing is
training each other to lie.

Training each other
to toe the company line

and then sitting around

like a bunch
of fucking dummies

going, "How come no one
is honest anymore?"

I don't know, stupid,
because the last time

someone told the truth,
you jumped on them

and tried
to get them fired.

That's not more debate,
more speech, more thought.

That's a form
of private censorship.

And it may be legal,
but it's still usually

-a dangerous bad idea.
-Here.

[narrator]
The thing is
taboos are always changing.

Talking race
can be dicey today,

years ago it was sex
that put everyone on edge.

In 1851,
Gynecologist James Platt

got kicked out
of the American
Medical Association

after allowing
students to watch

a consenting woman
give birth.

In the 1970s,
researcher Vern Bullough

landed on the FBI's list
of dangerous Americans

because he supported things
like legalizing oral sex.

Today, childbirth
has become a lot safer

because
we've opened up about it

and adults
are no longer arrested

for oral sex.

In other words,
the censors got it wrong.

If you're on the side
of censorship,

you're on the side
of an arrogant idea

that essentially you know
where wisdom will come from

and you don't know
where wisdom will come from.

Gavin Newsom
can come back on my show

tomorrow if he likes.

The only way
that we find truth

in any society
is through public debate.

He will never
show up again

because he does not wanna
fucking lock antlers

with someone
in a long-form discussion

on his policies.

Once you get
into the business

of saying you're going
to prohibit

things that people
find offensive

or wrongheaded,

that's where the most
sensitive person in society

gets to determine what all
the rest of us can hear.

Cars, technology,

cellphones,
like everything's this.

And then free speech,

we're pulling it back
to the '40s.

[Ron]
After Lenny Bruce died

something remarkable
happened.

Was it a landmark
Supreme Court opinion?

No.

Was it a major act passed
by the Congress?

No.

The American culture

basically came
to the conclusion

that never again will this
or should this happen.

After Lenny Bruce died,

no comedian,

not a single comedian
in any of the states

was ever again prosecuted

for obscenity

in a comedy club.

That's a remarkable feat.

And I think that's why

so many comedians today

revere Lenny Bruce.

Guys like Pryor
and Carlin acknowledged,

Lenny is the guy that kicked
the fucking door open

for everybody.

So, we all owe him
a tremendous debt.

He was arrested
for what he said.

I can't imagine that.

I can't imagine that.

But we fixed
a lot of that.

Oh, my God, yeah.
We don't get arrested anymore.

Our punishment
is now corporate

and you lose your gig
on Comedy Central

or you have to apologize

because you lose
a movie opportunity.

When Lenny did it,
it was a real penalty.

It was fucking--
it was going to jail.

Lenny Bruce was sentenced
to prison

'cause people
didn't like his jokes.

I should be hung.

[narrator]
The culture changed so much

that eventually
even the state of New York

admitted how stupid
it had been

to bust Lenny Bruce.

Ron Collins partnered
with fellow

First Amendment Attorney
Bob Corn-Revere

to petition
Governor George Pataki

to clear Lenny's name.

[Ron]
I never thought there was...

any chance at all

that the governor
would pardon Lenny.

[narrator]
It seemed impossible.

But then it happened.

[Bob]
This is a copy

of the pardon itself.

"Therefore, know ye

that I have pardoned,

remised, and released

and by these presents
do pardon,

remise and release

the said
Leonard Alfred Schneider

aka Lenny Bruce."

Archaic legal language
that basically says

Lenny Bruce
has been pardoned.

[Ron]
It was just
a wonderful feeling.

I really felt

that for just
a pinpoint in time,

the Earth shook,
just a little bit.

[narrator]
The pardon came 37 years

after Lenny's death.

Makes you wonder what Lenny
would think of today's world.

[Bob]
I think he would hear people
using language

that he was afraid

he was going
to go to jail over

and he would think,
"My gosh, things are freer

than they've ever been,"

but at the same time

he would
probably be confronted

with attitudes that...

he wouldn't be able

to get his mind
around the idea

that if he said
something offensive

that people
would turn him in.

[narrator]
It's a weird, terrifying,

and exhilarating time
to be a comedian.

You don't have
to worry about cops

arresting you at clubs,

and new technology
like podcasts

lets you avoid corporate
and government authorities.

Smartphones
and social media

allow you
to connect with fans

and build a following.

But it's that same
liberating technology

that's fueling
the outrage mob.

[Noam]
We had thousands of people

tweeting against us.

[narrator]
They demanded Noam Dworman

stop giving stage time
to Artie Lange

because they were offended
by one of his jokes.

"New York Comedy Cellar
if you don't stop

using Artie Lange
we're gonna bring

-the protest to you."
-[Greg] Wow.

And this began
to bubble up

to the point
where I got scared

and actually pulled down
all our podcasts off the--

off the air
because I didn't want anybody

to start researching
what other kinds of jokes

we might have made.

[gunshots]

[narrator]
Times are especially tough

for comedy
outside the U.S.

On January 7th, 2015

terrorists
offended by cartoons

depicting
the Muslim prophet Muhammad

shot and killed
11 staff members

of the satirical magazine

Charlie Hebdo
at their office in Paris.

[Greg]
The Charlie Hebdo massacre

should've been
a wakeup call to everyone

who believes in free speech
all over the world.

That you can't
have a right

not to be offended
without it backfiring,

without it being
a terrible disaster.

And there was a moment

when it looked like France
and the European Union

have learned this lesson.

[Jonathan]
Hundreds of thousands

of citizens of France

in the streets
for free speech.

You know, it's like

we all take a bullet.

They killed people,

but all French people
take a bullet.

[Greg]
But within a week

of the massacre
they were arresting

people for cracking jokes.

They go after a comedian

who kind of condones
the terrorism

or makes fun of it.

Now, I think that comedian's
opinion stinks,

but you--hey, dummies,

do you want free speech
or don't you?

[narrator]
A comedian called Dieudonné

was found guilty
of condoning terrorism

and received a suspended
two-month jail term

for a Facebook post.

He wrote that he felt
"like Charlie Coulibaly,"

a play on the popular
"I am Charlie Hebdo" slogan

that incorporated the name

of one
of the Paris attackers.

[speaking French]

[narrator]
He has been repeatedly fined

for anti-Semitic speech
and local authorities

have banned his shows
in several towns

because they see his act
as a threat to public order.

I mean, yeah,
you're not shooting people

like the Islamic militants
did,

but you are
arresting people.

You are penalizing people

for saying shit
you don't like.

France, like...

all developed countries
in the world

except the United States
has hate speech laws.

France's
free speech stinks.

Canada is not great
with free speech.

They have a whole
human rights commission

that penalizes people.

Britain kind of stinks
for certain reasons.

You can get in big trouble
for saying things.

[narrator]
Britain jails people

who make comments

officials deem
to be offensive,

and an accountant
named Paul Chambers

was arrested
for a Twitter joke

authorities misconstrued
as a terrorist threat.

In France,
Dieudonné's clashes

with authorities
have fueled his popularity

and turned him
into a martyr.

But today, more Americans
support hate speech laws

than oppose them.

Yes, the same nation
that thinks

it was ridiculous
for cops

to arrest Lenny Bruce
for words,

supports laws
that would allow cops

to arrest people
for words.

[Ron]
We must not be afraid

to be free.

It's scary.

It really is.

And I think Lenny Bruce

brought that point home
in spades.

[Bob]
The pardon obviously

wasn't for Lenny Bruce

even though it was done
in his name.

The pardon was really
for the rest of us

to stand as sort of
a public monument

to the values
that we protect.

We do protect
the outcasts.

We do protect the people
who are there

and who will offend us.

If we can protect
those people,

then all of us can sleep
a little safer at night

because we know
that we will be able

to express our ideas, too.

At the end of the day
it's not like we have

all of the high cards
when it comes to truth,

morality,

patriotism,
what have you.

We need a few wild cards,

we need
a few code breakers,

we need a few people

that are willing if you will
to jerk our chains,

all right?

In other words,

we need more Lenny Bruces.

[Mel]
You fucking offend me.

And you don't care
about anyone but yourself.

[Gilbert]
I remember when
all the news stories

came out about Mel Gibson

being arrested
for drunk driving.

The police woman
was Jewish

and he started saying stuff
about the Jews.

Then he started
to say stuff

calling her sugar tits.

Then he started
saying like,

that a group
of African Americans,

only he didn't use the term
African Americans,

should rape
and kill his wife

or he was going to kill her,
hitting her with a shovel

and burying her
in the rose garden.

And after all that came out,
all I could think is,

"Wait a minute,

what did he say
about the Jews?"

So, I think people
like to pick and choose

what to get offended by.

I think being offended
is a smorgasbord

and you go, "Okay,
I like this and this.

Oh, that I'm offended by,
oh, this is good,

no, that one
I'm offended."

Well, liberals are offended
by certain things.

Blacks are offended
by certain things.

Women are offended
by certain things.

White Christian males
are offended

by certain things.

We're all offended
by whatever

violates our comfort zone.

[narrator]
If comedians steered clear

of anything that violates
someone's comfort zone,

imagine what the comedy shows
of the future would be like.

[Jonathan]
One of the first things
you know

when a society
is turning authoritarian

is the comedians
start to worry.

When they start going
for the comedians

everyone else
needs to sweat.

Do you really want
to live in a world

where people
have to think twice

before they tell
any kind of joke,

or question
someone else's religion,

or question anybody
at any level?

Because if you're going to say
one person,

you know, who said something
that you don't like,

doesn't have
the right to do that,

then what about you?

What if you say something
that someone doesn't like?

Along with the right
to speak freely

comes a responsibility
to have a thick skin.

Words can be hurtful

but they're not the same
as violence

and they can be countered
with other words.

And that's
our responsibility.

It's the responsibility
to put up

with being offended.

[narrator]
So, where are we headed?

Will we embrace
free speech

or will we turn
toward America's past

and Europe's present

and arrest people
for word crimes?

[Greg]
The idea of a future
in which we're all

always walking on eggshells
does not appeal to me.

When I look ahead
I see America

increasingly
standing alone

as committed
to the First Amendment in law.

And I don't think we're ever
gonna get better with it.

This whole thing,
like, every time

something big happens
we're like,

"Oh, tide's
about to turn."

It's never
going to change.

It's gonna keep
going downhill.

[Greg]
There was this huge study
that's done every year

and they ask citizens
whether or not they think

the First Amendment
went too far.

47% of people
between the ages of 18 and 30

said the First Amendment
goes too far.

This is terrifying
to those of us

who care about
free speech

and the future
of free speech.

Everybody says,
"I love free speech.

I love free thought,
I love free expression,"

but deep down
they're all going,

"Except for when,
except for when."

There's always
that little asterisk,

as to--it doesn't--
that doesn't apply here.

But you might be interested
in how I became offensive.

[narrator]
You know, a comedian changed

the culture once,

maybe comedians
will do it again.

[Lisa]
We're not backing down.

I mean, we're not gonna quit
anytime soon.

And I think--
I think people are a little,

like...

sick of these
politically correct folks.

I like to think

that really

the majority of people

do have a brain
in their heads

and aren't getting offended
if they hear a joke.

I used to not invite
my friends

that had herpes

to this all girl
stand-up show that I did

because this one girl
that I performed with

had a really,
really funny herpes joke.

I'm, like, so codependent
that I thought,

"God, I'm just gonna see
my friend in the audience

and she's gonna talk
about herpes

and I know she has herpes.

And that'll really hurt
her feelings."

So, I didn't invite her
to several shows.

And then all of a sudden
she was at the show

and here is the girl
I'm performing with

does the herpes stuff
and I was like, "Oh, no!"

And I look out
and she's laughing

harder than anyone.

-My double D sister
over there!
-[narrator] Karith Foster

is still using comedy
to start

honest conversations
on campus

and students geek out
on free speech

at conferences organized

by Greg Lukianoff's
organization.

Chris Lee has graduated
from college

and now AIDS
and cancer charities hire him

to tell filthy jokes
at their events.

[Chris]
They don't go,
"Ugh, that joke

ruined my night."

Because it can't.
They beat cancer.

[narrator]
The world of comedy

is one of the few places

where playing
the outrage card

doesn't work too well.

Thank goodness,
plenty of us

can still get offended
without having a meltdown.

And thank goodness,
so many of us

can still take a joke.

To get
all these emails saying,

"Oh, my God, we'll be
the four gay guys
in the front.

Please call us this
or call us that."

I have guys come up to me
on the street and say,

"Hey, call my friend
and call them this"

or "Call my wife
and call her the 'C' word.

She'll--she loves you."

'Cause I've had
handicapped people

come up to me
or write me letters saying,

"I think it's bullshit
that you don't make fun of us.

Like,
we can't take a joke?"

The race
to be the most outraged

is really,
really awful stuff,

but you're not gonna be
talking about this

in 20 years.

Yeah, this will be
completely fixed.

We have to scream at it
and stand on the mountaintops

and have no fear and yell,

"You cannot put
a chilling effect

on our freedom of speech.

But, oh, by the way,

keep in mind
while we're doing this

that we're gonna win."

[music]