Comedian Rob Schneider had the audience reeling Saturday at a charity event in Canada after making transphobic, misogynistic, and anti-vaccination jokes, according to reports.
But not in a good way.
The incident, which took place in Saskatchewan for the "Four Season's Ball," prompted the host, Hospitals of Regina Foundation, to issue an apology.
"While we recognize that in a free and democratic society individuals are entitled to their views and opinions and that comedy is intended to be edgy, the content, positions and opinions expressed during Mr. Schneider's set do not align with the values of our Foundation and team," the statement read, according to to Entertainment Weekly.
"We do not condone, accept, endorse or share Mr. Schneider's positions, as expressed during his comedy set and acknowledge that in this instance the performance did not meet the expectations of our audience and our team."
Commenting on the event, attendee Tynan Allan told the CBC that Schneider's jokes had audience members "groaning, saying, 'What is going on?' Like whispering to themselves. Not a single laugh at times. It was just very apparent how uncomfortable everyone felt and how unacceptable the things he was talking about were."
Reddit users also shared their experiences.
"Yea I was there that night and it was awkward as hell," CRZAcidGaming wrote. "Went on about how 'dumb' women are in an audience that was about 50% women, made anti trans, anti science jokes. Had people walk out before the main event as well as some people complaining to management. Went on for about an hour before they shut him down and took him off stage with security escorting him out."
StencilBoy added that Schneider cracked transphobic jokes, recalling how he said that "back in my day we liked our women without penises" and "told an anecdote about how he told his son, who is 'bad at sports' to say he is a girl to get a better chance."
In its statement, Hospitals of Regina Foundation noted that Schneider was asked "to end his performance earlier than intended, to which he agreed and immediately left the stage."
"An unconditional apology was offered right after to our guests and our community," the statement continued. "We reiterate this sincere and unconditional apology today, for any offense caused by Mr. Schneider's recent comedy set, at the Four Season's Ball."
The sold-out event reportedly raised more than $350,000 for medical facilities.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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