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Samantha Bee enlisted Terry Crews for a special PSA on male sexual abuse and hack comedy on Full Frontal Wednesday.
The segment opened with Bee discussing the rise of male sexual abuse, noting that about one in 33 men in the United States has been a victim of attempted or completed rape (far more than the number of men that are falsely accused committing such a crime).
Bee added that some of the most prominent cases of the #MeToo movement have been men who have allegedly preyed on other men, such as Kevin Spacey and director Bryan Singer.
Nevertheless, Bee pointed out that pop culture overwhelmingly treats male sexual abuse as a joke. She offered examples from a range TV shows, movies, news broadcasts and comedy specials, all of which made some version of tired “don’t drop the soap” prison rape joke. One clip even came from an episode of SpongeBob Squarepants, prompting Bee to crack, “How could you, Spongebob! Don’t you know innocent college stoners are watching?”
In an attempt to curb this kind of comedy, Bee joined Crews – who first shared his experience with sexual assault in 2016 – for a special message about all the things that are way more funny than sexual abuse. The pair touted the everlasting comedy gold of spit takes, pies in the face, off-brand merchandise (like “Milk Dards”) and the classic bit of two kids stacked in a trench coat trying to get into an inappropriate movie.
