TV

Aziz Ansari Addresses The #MeToo Allegations Against Him In His New Netflix Special

The internet has a lot of thoughts.

by Patrick Lenton  10 July 2019
Aziz Ansari Netflix

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Netflix has released the new Aziz Ansari stand-up special Right Now, in which the comedian directly addresses the sexual-misconduct allegations levelled against him in early 2018 in a much discussed Babe.net article.

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“You know, I haven’t said much about that whole thing, but I’ve talked about it on this tour, ‘cause you’re here and it means a lot to me. And I’m sure that some of you are curious how I feel about that whole situation. And, uh, it’s a tricky thing for me to answer, ‘cause I’ve felt so many things in the last year, so. There’s times I’ve felt scared. There’s times I’ve felt humiliated. There’s times I’ve felt embarrassed. And ultimately, I just felt terrible that this person felt this way,” says Ansari, wasting little time in his set, before getting to the allegations.

The allegations he is responding to were levelled by a 23-year-old woman who told Babe.net: “I believe that I was taken advantage of by Aziz,” she said. “I was not listened to and ignored. It was by far the worst experience with a man I’ve ever had.”

Ultimately, Ansari is rebranding the experience as a learning opportunity for himself.

“It moved things forward for me and made me think about a lot. I hope I become a better person. And I always think about a conversation I had with one of my friends where he was like, ‘You know what, man? That whole thing made me think about every date I’ve ever been on.’ And I thought, Wow. Well, that’s pretty incredible. It’s made not just me but other people be more thoughtful, and that’s a good thing. And that’s how I feel about it.”

He doubles down on that whole idea, later saying that the “Old Aziz”, who said things like “Oh, treat yo’ self” is actually “dead”.

“‘Cause I’ve realized it’s all ephemeral. All that stuff, it can just go away like this. [Snaps fingers.] And all we really have is the moment we’re in and the people we’re with.”

People have feelings about his manner of return. Right Now is currently streaming on Netflix.