Jack Whitehall Thinks Past Jokes Could Get Him Cancelled

Things have been going pretty well for Jack Whitehall of late.

He landed his own Netflix series travelling about with his dad, and this year, he starred in movies Clifford the Big Red Dog and Jungle Cruise alongside The Rock - that's right, The Rock.

But the 33-year-old comedian doesn't think it will be plain sailing from here on, as he reckons an old gag could catch up with him one day.

Speaking to The Sun, he said: "I feel like I’ve definitely said jokes in the past that would be worthy of cancellation. I guess it’s how you weather that storm if it does ever come up."

Many celebrities have come under fire for historical quips, comments or tweets that haven't aged particularly well, or that don't sound so good out of context, but Whitehall thinks being a comedian gives him a little more leeway.

He continued: "I’ve had it, sort of, occur a few times and I think, maybe, people are a little better now.

"We’ve had a few of these ridiculous cancellations of people because of historic jokes that - especially with a comedian because it was told in jest and the context of it was only ever intended as a joke - that you do tend to get away with it a little bit more.

"More so than you might with a tweet or a comment in an interview."

Down the years, countless comics have complained that political correctness, woke culture and the prospect of being ostracised for a risqué joke have left them feeling creatively stifled.

The Inbetweeners star James Buckley claimed a fondness for being offended was 'killing comedy', Chris Rock said comedians are 'scared to make a move', and Shaparak Khorsandi wrote: "The fear of being 'cancelled' is real and it will be the death of stand-up comedy as we know it."

Speaking to LADbible in September, Jimmy Carr said that he's already told the joke that will end his career.

The 49-year-old said: "It's a weird thought to think everything I've ever done is being watched today, by someone.

"It's all out there, people are clicking on it, and watching it, and enjoying it. And it's all perfectly acceptable, until one day, it isn't.

"But I suppose that's a reason to relax and sit back and enjoy, because you kind of go, 'Well, it's already out there. The line that ends my career, I've already said it, nothing I can do about it now. Relax'.

"And it's OK, because it was a joke, and jokes are these very special things where you take a very serious thing lightly, and you try and process it and get through it through humour."

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Celebrity

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey