Comedians Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers are backpedaling after facing backlash over their comments about Rep. Jasmine Crockett. The Las Culturistas podcast hosts had discussed various politicians on an episode of their show published on Jan. 8.
During a segment of “I Don’t Think So Honey,” which features a one-minute rant about culture, Rogers had ripped into California Gov. Gavin Newsom, saying that he needed to get vocal surgery if he wanted to run for president.
The co-host said that he was turned off “anytime a politician is making it too obviously about themselves.” This remark led into his discussion about Crockett, who is running for Senate in Texas. Two days after the podcast episode aired, the podcasters issued apologies. Yang promised to use his platform “more responsibly,” and Rogers vowed to “be more thoughtful.”
From a practical standpoint, apologizing for criticizing a politician should never happen. After all, politicians work for the public and should never be above scrutiny. Identity politics, however, changes that dynamic. Because regardless of the fact that Jasmine Crockett is pro-Israel, widely criticized as lacking substantive policy initiatives, and best known for publicly berating Donald Trump on the daily, any negative commentary about her risks being reframed as sexist and/or misogynistic rather than political disagreement. In this environment, criticism (as Stephen A. Smith found out recently) is no longer evaluated on its merits but filtered through identity, discouraging open debate and forcing a couple of progressive, gay white liberals to say sorry.
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