Daniel Tosh's Rape Joke Defended by Comedians

USMagazine, Thursday, July 12, 2012, 7:15am (PDT)

Daniel Tosh's controversial jokes about rape didn't go over well at his Friday Laugh Factory show in Los Angeles, but as angry audience members express their disapproval, Tosh's comic pals are backing up the Comedy Central star.

"Some attention-seeking woman heckled a comedian, so if anything, she owes him an apology for being a rude brat," tweeted Jim Norton Wednesday, days after the Tosh.0 star was said to have joked about gang rape.

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According to an outraged audience member who recounted Tosh's stand-up show via her Tumblr blog, the comedian "[started] making some very generalizing, declarative statements about rape jokes always being funny, how can a rape joke not be funny, rape is hilarious."

When the female attended fired back at Tosh, 37, for his comments, the comic heckled her right back. "After I called out to him, Tosh paused for a moment. Then, he says, 'Wouldn't it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her...'" she recounted on her blog.

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Fellow comedian Dane Cook slammed the attendee via Twitter, without referencing Tosh's incident directly. "If you journey through this life easily offended by other people's words I think it's best for everyone if you just kill yourself," Cook tweeted.

Anthony Jeselnik, a fixture on Comedy Central and a former Late Night With Jimmy Fallon writer, also chimed in via Twitter. Said Jeselnik: "This Daniel Tosh rape joke controversy really has me second guessing some of my rapes."

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For his part, Tosh issued an apology shortly after the anonymous blogger's rant went viral. "All the out-of-context misquotes aside, I'd like to sincerely apologize," Tosh tweeted Tuesday, along with a link to the Tumblr post made by the Laugh Factory patron. "The point I was making before I was heckled is there are awful things in the world but you can still make jokes about them."

Wrote Patton Oswalt via Twitter: "Wow, Daniel Tosh had to apologize to a self-aggrandizing, idiotic blogger. Hope I never have to do that [again]."

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Daniel Tosh's Rape Joke Defended by Comedians