The Satirist
Dating back to as early as ancient Greek civilisation and the Ottoman Empire; satire stood as a form of entertainment specialising in highlighting socio-political observations in light-hearted manner. In addition to inspiring comedic applause, political satire has been long recognised as a tool for advancing political arguments in conditions where historically political speech was prohibited, and currently in western societies where truth telling whilst ‘encouraged’, remains to be favoured over ….
So I guess we could agree that the satirist is controversial by nature.
He, or she is in a sense fearless, where formerly they risked punishment threatening to their lives, and now risks a similar crucifixion that is ‘black balling’ in the entertainment industry. Although this doesn’t matter so much, because by this point the ‘mic’ has already been dropped, and our resources like the internet allow us to replay those messages repeatedly for as long as it takes us to get the message. For the people, the satirist acts as a kind of megaphone, amplifying the thoughts of so many of those who remained silent, and so he or she is held in high regard by the masses. Of course we can obviously expect discontent from those exposed by seemingly sporadic revelations of truth, who will so desperately seek to convince everyone that these are lies. But even if this might have worked before, I think too many of us are far too ‘truth-seeking’ now not to at least consider all varying perspectives contrary to our previous habit of simply digesting what we’d been taught.
The revolving door of change welcomes a new ‘provocateur’ to the stage from time to time, and now the satirist wears a new face.
American stand-up comedian and actor Katt Williams is the main figure seen on my screen at the moment, and despite having an appreciation for stand-up, the chances are I probably wouldn’t have been aware of this recent controversy if not for the sheer volume of people discussing it’s significance. Nevertheless, there is a lot to be said about his material, and in writing this encourage the rest of you to let yourselves be exposed to it, so you might make your own observations.
What are his notes?
In addition to having established himself as a formidable comedian and comedic actor, Williams has been hailed for his attention to recognised by unspoken truths about Hollywood and the entertainment industry, controversies to be found within pop-culture, as well as the occasional illumination to some interesting life philosophies or principles. Most recently his name has been associated with his now famous Shannon Sharpe interview ‘Katt Williams Unleashed’ on YouTube, where he comedically delivers on a whole range of topics, from celebrity idolisation to the myth of meritocracy. But the most popularly noted references come from the wider discussion around the dilemma between maintaining integrity and becoming successful as a black man in the entertainment industry, introducing so many to the conversation of black male exploitation in a contemporary context.
Aside from the interview, I think it’s important to touch on his consistency when it comes to taking on the role of the satirist.
In the interview Williams discusses pop-culture and truths about the entertainment industry, but this comes after his 2006 performance ‘The Pimp Chronicle’ first streamed on HBO but also available on YouTube, (link below). In the midst of many other more light-hearted jokes, the comedian interwove criticisms of Western powers when it comes to middle eastern conflict and the ways in which Western efforts to combat the ‘war on terror’ really consisted of the indiscriminate killings of civilians. This is sentiment we all recognise now, and is a truth so many of us actually platform out activism off of.
“What the f-ck are we sill doing in Iraq? Can somebody tell me? Haven’t we killed everybody? (…) That’s why I love America, we some goddamn bullies (…) We ain’t killing they army, we out here killing them. We over there killing people in sweatpants, tank tops, flip flops and a cowboy hat”.
Established creator and writer ‘Donnell Writes’ on Tik Tok shared his thoughts on Kat Williams in pertinence to this performance as well as his latest interview, sharing what I think is the perspective that a lot of us share in consuming his comedy,
“What I appreciate about Kat is his consistency, not everything he says is true and we have to learn to do a better job of discerning when he’s being serious and when he’s being comedic, or when he putting in 100 on 10 as the elders used to say, but this has always been a part of his comedic repertoire; giving you doses of hard hitting truth that make you laugh but also give you something to think about”.
This evaluation perfectly captures the essence of his 2006 performance. Here he told us about the role of the American government as exploiters and bullies, talks about American propaganda and the presence of misinformation and more importantly disinformation as well as gaslighting, and the ways in which these tools bear effectiveness in manufacturing consent for genocide. He talks of the American hand in the killing of hundreds of thousands, whilst convincing all of us that middle eastern conflict has nothing to do with us regular people.
I have no doubt that should the show first aired now, that many would take no issue with what he had to say with regards to Palestine, because the way in which we’re so easily able to visualise these tragedies through social media makes it a lot harder to dissociate with such crimes against humanity, where a clear victim allows for the realisation of a clear villain. But ‘back in the day’ these views were likely perceived as being radical almost to the point of constituting conspiracy. However, the designation of any truth for being a conspiracy doesn’t necessarily work to actually invalidate claims made, especially when we consider who it is that points a finger to accuse the satirist as being crazy.
Canadian author, filmmaker and activist Naomi Klein in ‘How conspiracy theories became mainstream’ shares thoughts on this kind of thing that serve as trailheads to perceiving conspiracy theories in a far more expansive way than what we’re used to,
“Even though conspiracy theorists always talk about ‘The elites, the elites’ (…) The people who conspiracy theories benefit the most are the elites, because it deflects attention away from the system”.
After the spotlight is shifted from those it should stand on, a microscope is placed onto the crazy conspiracy theorist, and in comes our willingness to brush off his words and the focus becomes laughing at as well as criticising the words of someone who ‘just can’t be taken seriously’.
So there is that explanation as to why voices like Williams’ get left out of so-called ‘intellectual’ more ‘serious’ conversations, but there are a few others too…
Initially we can blame the reality that is the ignorance to black intellectualism, especially where the confines for intellectualism in the traditional sense command that we speak or present ourselves in a certain way. For this reason, aside from his comedic delivery, the likelihood is that his notes on the entertainment industry won’t be digested as material that serves to sufficiently criticise pop-culture in a way that can be referenced. Still there is something to be said about the ways in which important truths hidden under the guise of jovial camouflage allow for a kind of agility when it comes to avoiding censorship.
But also there are other criticisms that we can make of the comedian, despite the fact that we can choose to listen to some of what he says.
Having only heard positive things about Williams since learning about him I went into watching his clips with feelings of optimism, but not without the usual critic sitting on my shoulder ready to detect uneasy feelings that often come with the consumption of problematic sentiments made by men on podcasts.
The Typical
Though he doesn’t assert any kind of specific narrative about women as far as going in detail about his socio-political alliances either way, the tone with which makes his remarks about women signify sexist prejudice at best. This kind of evaluation isn’t completely unfounded, given that the recent interview takes place on the platform of a man who’s been known to make disgustingly derogatory comments about women in the entertainment industry. Shannon Sharpe faced fair backlash following his objectifying comments about Megan Thee Stallion, where he explicitly outlined sexual acts that he wished to perform with he rapper, who faced brutal attack after brutal attack following the incident where she was shot by Tory Lanez back in 2020.
Williams’ alliance with somebody who has exhibited an all too predictable form of misogynoir work to discredit him in discursive spaces committed to progression. Whilst he makes revelations about black male exploitation in Hollywood, the contradictory nature of choosing to align with someone who has poked fun off a woman who has faced such dehumanisation repeatedly throughout her own career feels ironic.
It is unsurprising though, the conversations that people deem important are often those which serve to illuminate he public to their specific kind of suffering, and black men in pop-culture have been seen to do this repeatedly over time. It’s definitely true that he problems black men face in the industry should certainly be emphasised. But it’s hard to take seriously discussions that criticise black exploitation from the mouths of those who ignore it in instances where it occurs in it’s worst form.
But where there isn’t necessarily credibility, there is an element of power.
Those Williams mentioned in the recent interview have since responded to a lot of his claims. Stories told about names like Steve Harvey, Kevin Hart and Ludacris don’t go unnoticed, and revelations about powerful black men in positions of inferiority could only provoke a response that rectifies image, saving face.
After merely mentioning Ludacris once in the Shannon Sharpe interview, Ludacris appeared back in the studio for the first time in nearly a decade. Such a quick response signifies a kind of insecurity and the possibility that there is truth in a lot of what Williams said. Hart responded with a similar kind of bitterness disguised as a mature ownership of the situation tweeting “Gotta get that anger up outta champ”.
Ultimately the question remains as to whether naming Williams the verified satirist ends up giving him too much credit, specifically where inconsistencies in morality have been demonstrated. Like I said before, the satirist is generally controversial by nature, and it’s clear that Williams isn’t concerned with the appeasement of the masses as he aims to expose the realities of the black male existence in the entertainment industry. Perhaps there is a way for us to pay attention to some of what he says without hailing him as a truth-seeking deviant guided by an overwhelming desire to do good. I think I’m wary of the latter, given our previous proclivity for propelling problematic figures into popularity before properly evaluating the full extent of their characters.
What to make of the satirist?
I’m sure we’ll see more of Kat Williams as others both enjoy and seek to critique his content. After all he is saying some important things, as the satirist often does, and his words shine a light into the dark corners of Hollywood. But where we can’t see clearly his agenda, there remain a few of us to be convinced that he deserves this place centre stage,
Asisa
Sources
Kat Williams UNLEASHED
The Pimp Chronicle
https://bnnbreaking.com/arts/katt-williams-sparks-controversy-bold-claims-and-celebrity-critiques/ More info on the controversy
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGejMagrT/ Link to Donnell’s Tik Tok
what a great critique and thank you for speaking about the way he spoke about women, that felt so odd to hear coming out of the same mouth that was connecting so many conspiracies not conspiracies dots, 😵💫.
Hey yes you’re completely right, I think I mixed up the year she was shot with the year he got convicted