Aziz Ansari addresses sexual misconduct allegations in Netflix special: “I hope I’ve become a better person”
Update, July 10th, 2019, 11:19 a.m. PST: Aziz Ansari addresses the sexual misconduct allegations against him in his new Netflix stand-up special, Aziz Ansari: Right Now. The comedian says in the special that he hopes reflecting on the incident has made him “a better person.”
“I’m sure that some of you are curious how I feel about that whole situation,” he says. “And 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. And after a year or so, I just hope it was a step forward. It moved things forward for me and made me think about a lot..”
Ansari’s new comments reflect Vulture’s previous reporting on a February stand-up set that the comedian performed in New York City.
Original story follows.
On February 11th, comedian Aziz Ansari performed a stand-up comedy set in New York City. And for the first time on stage, he addressed the sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him last year. A quick recap: On Saturday, January 13th, 2018, babe.net published a story from an anonymous woman (who went by the name Grace) stating that she had experienced unwanted sexual touching by Ansari in his Manhattan apartment after a date.
After her account was published, Ansari said he reached out to Grace directly. He also issued a public statement, saying, “In September of last year, I met a woman at a party. We exchanged numbers. We texted back and forth and eventually went on a date. We went out to dinner, and afterwards, we ended up engaging in sexual activity, which by all indications was completely consensual.”
Fast forward to last night when Ansari approached the subject in his new material.
According to Vulture, Ansari said, “There were times I felt really upset and humiliated and embarrassed, and ultimately I just felt terrible this person felt this way….But you know, after a year, how I feel about it is, I hope it was a step forward. It made me think about a lot, and I hope I’ve become a better person.”
He continued: “If that has made not just me but other guys think about this, and just be more thoughtful and aware and willing to go that extra mile, and make sure someone else is comfortable in that moment, that’s a good thing.”
This sounds pretty heartfelt, but let’s be real: gaining a partner’s enthusiastic consent and making sure they’re comfortable in a sexual situation should be basic tenets of human interaction—not something you learn by being called out for sexual misconduct. Plus, Ansari failed to apologize for the encounter. Even if he perceived it as consensual (Grace’s account suggests she felt pressured to engage in more intense levels of sexual activity than she desired), she is still owed an apology for the trauma she endured. Instead, he chose to center the discussion on his own growth and the new “perspective” he’s gained since the allegations become public.
Twitter definitely had thoughts on that:
https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/952729778070552576
aziz ansari did not apologize. he did not admit wrong doing. he did not acknowledge his predatory behavior. he boiled the issue down to “i made someone feel that way”, which is wrong. you assaulted someone. this isn’t about feelings, it’s about ACTION
— zee (@imkenzierain) February 12, 2019
Ansari also said he was “scared that I’d never be able to do this again,” meaning work as a comedian, again centering himself and his own success rather than being self-reflective or attempting to understand what Grace had to give up during their encounter: a sense of safety, respect, and dignity.
