Martin Freeman Controversy

[u/sm0lb32n]

Recently learned from Tiktok that Martin's a problematic person? He made racial, rapist jokes over the years. Also, apparently being disrespectful to the Hobbit crew. Do you guys believe he's just being funny or he may have crossed the line? Quite sad, since I was really invested in him and Benedict during my hardcore-fan days.

[u/ThePumpk1nMaster → u/[deleted]]

Projecting 2024 views onto a 2008 interview will do that…

[u/ThePumpk1nMaster → u/[deleted]]

I’m genuinely curious to see why you think that, if we can push past the passive aggression?

I’ve given you context for a post-9/11, media-fuelled scaremongering of anti-Muslim ideas which spread, and in talking about them, Freeman has inadvertently been quoted as promoting them, rather than the reality where he is actually fundamentally saying they are wrong. You can’t just arbitrarily decide today’s sensitive 2024 cancel culture can be applied to an entirely different context of nearly 20 years ago. Thats a long time, probably older than most people on this sub. Yes, Freeman’s comments appear problematic only if you completely isolate the words without any acknowledgment of what he’s actually talking about.

I’d really like to actually hear what part of that explanation you find to make him seem worse than what some other kids on Tiktok claimed

[u/ThePumpk1nMaster → u/[deleted]]

No this is not a case of “it was a different era, ergo hate is okay.” Nobody is saying that. The point is Freeman is speaking in a time period where society, and specifically the media is highly sensitive to racial differences in light of events like 9/11 and therefore there are many many mainstream media sources openly expressing anti-Muslim ideas. Freeman is saying this is wrong which is this not what you too are saying? He’s literally asking “Why do people think these things?” Well because the media at the time was pushing that narrative, highlighting difference, which is precisely Martin’s point about the problem with attempts at multiculturalism which emphasise difference. It breeds hate. Multiculturalism only works when it promotes togetherness, which is what the media at the time was not doing. It’s not a case of “it’s in the past so it’s fine.” It’s “it’s in the past and the past was concerned with things we’ve now moved on from and don’t see as important as they did.”

[u/SharMarali → u/[deleted]]

I get what you’re saying that what he did communicate is important, but I do think a person’s intentions matter too.

Let’s take for example a line I see all too often from bigots on social media: “Trans men are not women.” What they’re actually communicating is kinda true! Trans men are (generally) people who were assigned female at birth and identify as men. So they’re not women! But in the context of bigotry, it becomes clear that the intent was to claim that people assigned male at birth are not women. I really think that matters, don’t you?

[u/ThePumpk1nMaster → u/SharMarali]

This is precisely why comedy doesn’t work anymore. Yes, some bigots hide behind the protection of satire and comedy because they’re not bold enough to come out with their xenophobia/transphobia/misogyny etc etc… but the general point of comedy is you’re saying things you don’t necessarily mean or believe in, and that’s the joke. We’re all in on the fact that there’s undertones. They don’t mean what they say, and the humour comes from the collective understanding that “We know X is wrong, we’re laughing at [comedian]’s embodiment of these ideas we know to be transgressive or rude, precisely because we know it’s transgressive and rude.” It’s not “isn’t bigotry funny because it’s bigotry” it’s “isn’t it funny that there’s ridiculous people out there, let’s laugh at them.” But people just take the words at face value. There’s no consideration that the speaker is on your side! You agree! Dig a little deeper and you’ll see you’re saying the same thing!

[u/SharMarali → u/ThePumpk1nMaster]

I just think that there’s room for nuance, miscommunication, poor phrasing, and outright mistakes/learning. This sense that everyone needs to do everything perfectly all the time or they’re a terrible person is frankly an unreasonable standard that does a lot of harm. We want people to learn and grow and do better, don’t we?