Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe reportedly was dropped by his talent agency and two live appearances with Joe Rogan after he used a racist slur and mocked a comic of Chinese descent during a caught-on-video rant.
WME Entertainment “parted ways” with Hinchcliffe this week, unidentified sources told TMZ.
The Creek and Cave comedy club conspicuously scrubbed Hinchcliffe from the bill for a two-night Joe Rogan show Wednesday and Thursday in the Texas capital.
“He’s not coming. We are getting all the (promotional) media down as speak,” the club’s owner said in a Facebook post captured by a Texas Monthly reporter.
“We are no longer working with Tony or hosting any of his shows. Antone’s is strongly against hateful speech and racism of any kind,” another club, Antone’s, said in a Twitter post.
Hinchcliffe referred to Peng Dang as a “filthy little f—ing ch–k” and ridiculed the fellow comic’s jokes and the way he spoke after Dang introduced him at Big Laugh Comedy in Austin last Thursday.
Dang posted a clip of the rant on social media Tuesday and told the Daily News he was “shocked” by the attack.
WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
Hinchcliffe specifically referenced Dang’s jokes related to AAPI hate, including one where he talks about the mass shooting at three Asian spas in Georgia in March and suggests shooters should show more respect considering Asians invented gunpowder.
Hinchcliffe specifically ridiculed the gunpowder joke in a feigned accent.
“I was just really shocked by it, considering I had just had a really good performance speaking out against Asian hate going on in this country,” Dang told The News.
“As a comedian, I want to respect everyone’s freedom of speech and our profession, so I didn’t confront him immediately,” Dang, 36, said in a phone interview.
“Some people were telling me to just use it as fuel to be a better comedian, but I just didn’t feel that was the right thing to do. Asian-Americans are constantly being told to keep their heads down and become successful and one day all of this will be gone. But look at what’s happening to us around the country. Asians are under attack,” he said.
“I decided the right thing to do is to speak out. It is not okay to use Asian racial slurs as a comedian,” he said.
Attempts to reach Hinchcliffe, 36, were not successful. He had not used his social media platforms to address the controversy as of midday Thursday.
He previously wrote for several Comedy Central celebrity roasts and reportedly moved to Austin from Los Angeles last year to join fellow comedians Rogan and Brian Redban.
