From a night filled with off-color jokes about drug use, domestic violence, prostitution, mental retardation, and child custody, one particular joke is commanding the most internet chatter.
On last night’s Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen, roaster Amy Schumer used the death of Jackass star Ryan Dunn to make a swipe at fellow roaster and Jackass alum Steve-O.
The only video clip of the joke in question has been taken down from YouTube, due to a copyright complaint from Viacom. So a text recreation will have to do.
Schumer, a previous cast member of Last Comic Standing and Roast rookie, had this to say when she got to the podium for her turn to poke fun at Sheen and the others –
Steve-O, I truly am–no joke–sorry for the loss of your friend Ryan Dunn. I know you must have been thinking, ‘It could have been me,’ and I know were all thinking, ‘Why wasn’t it?”
The crowd gave a few uncomfortable laughs followed by a chorus of “aaahs” and “oooohs.” The camera cut to Steve-O who appeared to have a blank expression, not at all amused by the joke.
Here’s a clip of Schumer just moments after the Ryan Dunn comments, for a little context –
This joke thrust Ryan Dunn into the top trending Twitter topics again, for the first time since June, when the TV star was killed when he slammed his Porsche into a tree after a night of bar hopping. A huge controversy erupted regarding a tweet by film critic Roger Ebert. Ebert tweeted that “Friends don’t let Jackasses drink and drive.” Dunn’s actions resulted in the death of his passenger.
Although many lashed out at Ebert for the tweet, some came to his defense. As you can imagine, Dunn’s fellow Jackass pals were not too happy with the Ebert tweet, especially Dunn’s longtime friend Bam Margera.
Folks on the Twitterverse have opinions coming from all sides of this one –
@amyschumer for making a joke about Ryan Dunn… funny… were they ticked when he killed an innocent passenger?
People are ticked with@SteveO didn’t punch that girl in the face for bringing up Ryan Dunn. #WentToFar.
I’m surprisedThe look on Steve-O’s face during the Sheen Roast when Ryan Dunn came up was kinda heartbreaking. Cheap joke too.
Ryan Dunn joke pissed off all the people who forgot what a roast is & that Ryan also killed a guy.
Some fellow comedians have come to Schumer’s defense, including usual roast participant Lisa Lampanelli and Jim Norton (Schumer retweeted Norton’s tweet)
@sKILLzz @amyschumer I don’t think the Ryan Dunn joke was that bad! I think it didn’t get the response it deserved cause Steve-O looked sad.
@amyschumer did EXACTLY what she should have done on that roast. Fuck people and their selective outrage.
It’s obvious that the Ryan Dunn death is still a controversial topic for those on Twitter. What do you think? Is anything fair game during a roast? Is anything fair game period? Or did the joke cross a line?