Amy Poehler's Show 'Difficult People' Includes A Horrible Joke About Blue Ivy And R. Kelly
If anyone locates the whereabouts of the chill on the Hulu original Difficult People, please return it to the show’s producer: Amy Poehler.
The series is under fire for an inappropriate quip aimed at Beyonce and Jay Z’s three-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy. During the scene in question, the show’s main character Julie (played by comedienne and creator Julie Klausner) relays a tweet she wrote that landed her in hot water online. The “joke” she told? “‘I can’t wait for Blue Ivy to be old enough so R. Kelly can piss on her.’” Rightfully so, Klausner, Poehler and the entire production have now incurred a real problem on the Internet.
Garnering a healthy serving of criticism, the folks behind Difficult People were slammed on Twitter for the insensitive nature of the comment:
I understand comedy is supposed to be without limits, blah-blah-blah, but what is the humor in a pedophile pissing on a toddler?
— Michael Arceneaux (@youngsinick) August 17, 2015
READ: Birthday Blues: 10 Times Blue Ivy Carter Gave Us Life
A joke about R. Kelly assaulting Blue Ivy is not a joke targeting him. It's making light of what he did and punching down at his victims — jamilah (@JamilahLemieux) August 17, 2015
While Poehler did not deliver the horrible joke herself, her involvement with the show leads to her accountability as well. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Klausner shared that Poehler gave notes on every script of the series, pointing to her knowledge of the Blue Ivy comment.
“Amy could not have been more hands-on. She did not only give notes on every script, she gave notes on every draft of every outline. She weighed in on casting videos, cast roles. She weighed in on production matters,” she said. “She came up with the title. She would give notes on every single edit, not only of the shows but of the promos, the trailers. She would be involved in every stage of the process in a way that she would go above and beyond.”
The show, Poehler nor Klausner have issued an apology. Watch the Difficult People clip below:
