Following the recurring attacks on stage comedians, RX Radio presenter and Comedian Daniel Omara has proposed that comedians be allowed to have arms on stage for their protection.
This was after America’s standup comedian Dave Chapelle had an abrupt encounter with a man who tackled him to the ground before a team of security guards raced to the stage, chasing and eventually punching and kicking him till he was on the ground.
The altercation happened last week on Tuesday during the Netflix is a joke festival at the Hollywood Bowl where the unidentified attacker was found to have had a replica gun that could eject into a knife blade.
Being a comedian himself, Daniel admitted that comedians are at risk of attacks from the public after the Will Smith Chris Rock slap that emboldened people and I think comedians should be allowed to bear arms on stage.
James Onen, commonly known as Fatboy suggested that perhaps it is time for comedians to have bodyguards to protect them from potential assault. However, according to Daniel a few can afford them, so comedians need to carry their own safety devices.
“I think we need to start taking this thing a lot more seriously because everytime we mention it people are like, no you guys just want to go around unchecked and i'm like okay, if we are advocating for free speech and then you beat people up because you don't like their opinion, then I don't know what we want.”
James Onen recognised the incidences as an indicator of “scary times” for comedians yet they do a lot in society by bringing laughter across people’s faces and relieving their stress.
“We need comedians in this world given the hardships we are suffering. We are being told to eat cassava if we can't afford bread and now it feels like politicians are the only ones allowed to be comedians now,” Fatboy said.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive and Sarah every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.
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