If Tom Brady Roast Returned Comedy, Can Jamie Foxx's Forbidden Film Now Come Out?
The night Too Careful Comedy died may have been Sunday, May 5, 2024. Write that down.
Perish the thought of Political Correctness perishing?
Or, as Henny Youngman might say, "Take my political correctness … please."
"Guys, just re-watched the roast again. I can confidently say Tom Brady has killed PC culture," Green Bay Packer offensive tackle David Bakhtiari said on X Monday night. "He is our Jesus Christ. He pretty much socially crucified himself on Netflix live for three hours while the world watched. He is a god d--- hero. We are healing. It's marvelous."
The roast, in case you don't know by now, was the "G.R.O.A.T. - The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady" on Netflix Sunday night, filmed live and wonderfully unedited from the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, which is an "urban" area, as the PC people might say.
But comedian Kevin Hart, who hosted, said, "Tom brought Boston with him tonight. I’ve never seen Inglewood so white. It looks like a Bruce Springsteen concert just let out. This used to be the home of the Lakers. Now, it’s the home of the Quakers."
OPINION: Tom Brady Roast Was What Comedy Should Be
And PC be damned for the rest of the night.
"You guys gave me 60 seconds? My name is Dana," said mega-millionaire Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) CEO Dana White. "Is that not trans enough for you liberal f---s?"
Comedian Andrew Schulz even delivered gay jokes.
"Bill (Belichick) has secretly filmed more guys playing for the other team than (P.) Diddy," he said.
Tom Brady Didn't Throw To Black Receivers?
On former New England and Tampa Bay quarterback great once Tom Brady saying that playing football provided him the most true version of himself, Schulz said, "Hiding behind a mask, throwing things at black people."
After a pause, Schulz added, "I'm kidding. He never threw to the black guys."
On Brady's targets as a quarterback, tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receivers Julian Edelman and Wes Welker, who are all white, Schulz said, "Gronkowski (Polish), Edelman (Jewish), Welker (German) - that's not a receiving corp. That's a law firm."
Edelman spoke of his Brady Bromance.
"I know there's going to be a lot of jokes about me being gay for Tom," he said. "Well, let me set the record straight. Those balls weren't going to inflate themselves."
The reviews of the special have been mostly over-the-top positive.
"I think they broke the mold on what's OK now," former San Diego and Buffalo NFL great linebacker Shawne Merriman told FOX News Digital. "I mean, there was everything in there - race jokes and gender jokes. It's like man, let's get back to that, where comedy is comedy. And it's OK. Nobody was offended, and it was a great time. It was the best roast I think I've ever seen in my life."
Merriman praised Netflix.
"In today's society, everything is so censored," he said. "For them to clear this and let this happen live, I think they broke the mold on censorship."
OPINION: Release Jamie Foxx Film On All-Star Weekend
So, does that mean that Jamie Foxx's comedy film, "All-Star Weekend," which has sat unreleased since principal photography wrapped in 2017, now finally be released? The timing may be right.
"All-Star Weekend" was the directorial debut of Foxx, who won a best actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Ray Charles in "Ray" in 2005 and was spectacular in "Django Unchained" in 2012. He is a veteran stand-up comedian and made a name for himself in "Living Colour." So, one would think if he is involved, "All-Star Weekend" would be hilarious, or at least worth a watch. Especially when one considers some of the trash that keeps being released, such as "Your Place Or Mine," "Asteroid City," and "Magic Mike's Last Dance" last year.
And Foxx used his considerable contacts across the industry to put together an all-star cast for "All-Star Weekend," which is set around an NBA All-Star game. One of the stars for a cameo is Robert Downey Jr., but he portrays a Mexican in supposedly stereotypical fashion that got the PC police alerted.
Foxx wanted Downey, who is white, because he nailed the character of Kirk Lazarus, who is black, in the hilarious, non-PC "Tropic Thunder" in 2008 - directed by Ben Stiller, who has had a similarly versatile career path as Foxx.
"I called Robert and said, ‘I need you to play a Mexican,’" Foxx told Joe Rogan in 2017. "I said, ‘You played the black dude, and you killed it.’"
As the years went by and Foxx was unable to get "All-Star Weekend" released, he thought he realized the inevitable.
"It's been tough with the lay of the land when it comes to comedy," Foxx told the Cinema Blend website in 2022. "We're trying to break open the sensitive corners, where people go back to laughing again."
OutKick Seeks Comment From Jamie Foxx, ‘All-Star Weekend’ Producer
Check again, Jamie Foxx. You said that two years ago. Watch the Tom Brady roast, if you haven't already. And revisit releasing "All-Star Weekend."
You could make it happen. We need it.
OutKick reached out to Foxx on X on Tuesday asking if he will try again to release "All-Star Weekend" with the new comedy climate that the Brady roast has apparently created. As of Wednesday, we had not received any comment.
Producer Butch Kaplan did respond to a request for comment from OutKick.com via Facebook.
"Out of my hands," Kaplan said.
Previously ‘Outlawed’ Movie Can Explode At Box Office
And the fact that the film was basically banned for seven years now could help it become a blockbuster.
I can see it now, "Previously Politically Incorrect All-Star Weekend In Theaters Now!"
This strategy worked for Howard Hughes, who shelved his release of "The Outlaw" in 1941 because the Hollywood Production Code police had issues with his display of Jane Russell's breasts and demanded more cuts than he wanted. Because of the too-busty-and-banned image of the film, it packed theaters when Hughes finally released it in select theaters in 1943 in San Francisco.
More releases by United Artists in 1946 in Richmond, Virginia, and Chicago set theater records. By the end of 1946, the film had made $1.75 million - not bad for the time. After several more "banned" releases, the movie had grossed a hefty $20 million by 1968.
Next NBA All-Star weekend, Jamie?