Instagram/Josh Denny
Food Network host Josh Denny is catching major heat online after he suggested that “straight white male” was the new “N-word.” Denny posted the tweet in the wake of the Santa Fe High School shooting that killed ten people and injured a further ten people. Teenager Dimitrios Pagourtzis has been charged with capital murder in relation to the attack.
Denny’s message to his 117,000 followers read, “”Straight white male” has become this century’s N-Word. It’s used to offend and diminish the recipient based on assumption and bias. No difference in usage.”
According to his Twitter profile, Denny is a stand-up comedian, writer, actor and “lover of food.” Denny says he is the host of the IoJD podcast and of Ginormous Food on the Food Network. Denny is a native of Philadelphia but now lives in Los Angeles. On his official website, Denny says that his show on the Food Network debuted to an audience of 35 million people.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Denny Identifies Himself as a Libertarian on Twitter
Facebook/Josh Denny
Just before writing his controversial tweet, Denny wrote that he had been invited to a political discussion because he identifies as a libertarian. He joked, “because a Libertarian is the closest thing to a conservative you can find in the entertainment industry.” During the controversy, Denny made reference to not believing Senator Rand Paul was not a real libertarian saying, “I like that you think Paul’s views are Libertarian. He’s a member of the Republican Party. Blanketly, I think most publicly funded things need to go away – and lower/remove income tax entirely.”
Cops gun down black teen:
White people: “we should get the cop’s side of the story.”
Cops gun down dog:
White people: “these rogue pigs should get the death penalty!” t.co/hrPoY9SOnD
On April 25, Denny wrote regarding Donald Trump and Kanye West engaging positively on Twitter, “Laughing hysterically at liberals response to @kanyewest; like he’s betrayed them. Don’t you know rich trumps black every time? My favorite trump is the version that’s a verb, as used above.” A few weeks earlier, Denny tweeted, “Nothing tickles me more than the way people instantly encapsulate you based on one tweet. If I tweet something “liberal,” conservatives freak out; something “conservative,” and liberals freak out. If you read three tweets, you’d find me hard to label for most I’d imagine.”
2. Denny Says His Favorite Vacation Spot Is Las Vegas
Screengrab via Food Network
In a bio piece on the Food Network’s website, Denny goes into his favorite vacation spot saying, “It’s definitely got to be Las Vegas. There’s, like, a MILLION restaurants in a 2-mile radius!” When asked about his favorite smell, Denny said, “I love the smell when you walk into a small mom-and-pop pizza parlor. The hot air from the ovens being in small spaces — it gets me EVERY TIME!”
The article, that focuses on his food tastes, mentions that Denny’s guilty pleasure is pizza, “I will eat an entire 21-inch pizza in one sitting if there’s no one around to stop me. I love it so much, and I just can’t help myself.” Strangely perhaps for a food connoisseur, Denny says his favorite ice-cream flavor is vanilla. Denny says, “I know it’s boring, but it’s just a base. I never eat ice cream by itself.” A blurb on the Food Network website says, “Josh Denny has spent the last decade traveling the country chasing his passion for the best food while serving up heaping portions of funny as a standup comedian.”
3. Denny Said in 2011 That He Got Lectured About Political Correctness After Performing at a Black Comedy Club
In a 2011 interview, Denny talked about his worst experience of “bombing” being at a club in Minneapolis in front of a largely black audience. Denny said, ” I was doing an all black room in Minneapolis that was run at a local night club. I actually had a great open doing material that I knew would work, and I got a little too comfortable, and went off on this bit about hating the phrase “African American.”” Denny said that the bit was taken the wrong way and it wasn’t fully evolved.
Denny continued, “The crowd turned instantly, and I even got a 10-minute lecture from the host on the political correctness of the term. The problem was that I forgot to make it funny. A lot of times when we attempt to make a statement with a bit, or a part of our act, we can get caught up in the message and forget to lace it with well-written jokes. It was a learning experience for me, just as it was probably a learning experience for Tracy Morgan and Michael Richards, and any other host of comedians that put their ideas or feelings out there before they were actually crafted into funny and ready.”
4. Denny Is a Huge Fan of Controversial UFC Fighter Conor McGregor
On his blog, Denny wrote a 2015 post in which he spoke glowingly about UFC star Conor McGregor. Denny writes, “McGregor is Irish. As an Irish kid myself, I always wanted to find Irish fighters to root for when I was younger and watched a lot of boxing with my dad and brother. There weren’t many, so when one comes along, it generally peaks my interest. Most of the Irish fighters I remember were generally very blue-collar, humble, and men of few words. Those words could never be used to describe Conor McGregor.”
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Denny goes on to say that McGregor, “wears extremely flashy suits and jewelry, and then explains “I work very hard for what I have, and I’m proud of my accomplishments. I reward myself to encourage harder work.” When I heard that I thought, “wow, isn’t that the American dream in a nutshell?” Working hard, earning your success and wealth, and being proud about that?” During the same blog post, Denny describes his admiration for Ronda Rousey, in part because, “If you read Ronda’s book, or listen to her talk, you begin to understand that her words aren’t representative of an arrogance, or ego.”
5. Twitter Users Are Trying to Get Denny Fired From the Food Network
After his controversial tweet, Twitter users have been trying to get Denny fired from his role at the Food Network. Denny tweeted in response to this campaign, “People trying to get you fired from a job you haven’t had for almost a year is peak Twitter.” Here are some of those tweets that encapsulate the hatred for Denny’s message:
yo, Food Network, come get ur good sis, Josh Denny. come grab him up quick. cuz Black twitter bout to blaze him. 😂 out here acting like a “straight white male”. 🙄
@NAACP here’s some classic Josh Denny (@FoodNetwork host) material where he makes a tasteless joke about chocolate during black history month, and he compares African Americans to burnt up Jews. @theGrio @TheRoot @ADL_National @jdforward @JTAnews
@DonCheadle He’s very familiar with the use of that word. 🤨
