Dancing With the Stars winner Nyle DiMarco has slammed Dane Cook for an offensive tweet the comedian posted.
In the since-deleted post, Cook wrote, “When a deaf person wakes up late for work do they loudly sign ‘F— MEEEEE” to themselves as they hastily get ready?”
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DiMarco fired back with, “thank u, next,” invoking Ariana Grande’s latest song, but he did not stop there.
Poor guy pic.twitter.com/dIkdJ0HQHn
— Nyle DiMarco (@NyleDiMarco) November 15, 2018
Just before Cook deleted the tweet, DiMarco wrote the same words but used a SpongeBob SquarePants meme font to sarcastically ridicule the comedian.
“WhEn A dEaF pErSoN wAKeS uP lAtE fOr wOrK dO tHeY lOuDy sIgN ‘F— MEEEE’ tO tHeMsElVeS aS tHeY hAsTiLy gEt ReAdY? 0_o,” DiMarco tweeted.
WhEn A dEaF pErSoN wAKeS uP lAtE fOr wOrK dO tHeY lOuDy sIgN “FUCK MEEEE” tO tHeMsElVeS aS tHeY hAsTiLy gEt ReAdY? 0_o //t.co/EUkoziuIXP
— Nyle DiMarco (@NyleDiMarco) November 15, 2018
A number of DiMarco’s followers have joined in on criticizing Cook for his insensitive joke about the deaf, with one person writing, “who knew dane cook was still out there being problematic.”
“The only thing slightly positive about this for Dane Cook is that you gave him an extra 15 minutes of fame,” another person commented. “First time I have even thought this guy in years. Love you Nyle.”
Do washed up has-been comics have to resort to lazy ableism for material to gain relevancy?
— Iowa Black Girl (@ajalyve) November 15, 2018
Cook is certainly no stranger to controversy, as the comedian has dealt with his fair share of it over the past two decades. One of his more shocking comments to cause backlash was in 2012 when he joked about the Aurora, Colorado shooting just a week after it happened.
“So I heard that the guy came into the theater about 25 minutes into the movie. And I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie, but the movie is pretty much a piece of crap… Yeah, spoiler alert. And I know that if none of that would have happened, I’m pretty sure that somebody in that theater, about 25 minutes in, realizing it was a piece of crap, probably was like, ‘Ugh f—ing shoot me,’” Cook said during a stand-up routine, as reported by EW.
Shortly after the backlash over Cook’s joke made headlines, the comedian took to Twitter to apologize.
“I am devastated by the recent tragedy in Colorado & did not mean to make light of what happened. I made a bad judgment call with my material last night & regret making a joke at such a sensitive time,” he said in his statement. “My heart goes out to all of the families & friends of the victims.”
At this time, Cook does not appear to have commented on the backlash over his most recent tweet.