I love comedy that pushes the envelope. I was buying George Carlin albums in the early 1970's when I could save up my allowance. Brilliant guy, and always pushing comedy boundaries. Ditto for Richard Pryor.
There are very few topics or ideas I would consider shockingly un-funny. However, I was confronted by a trailer for Amy Schumer's latest comedy show [on Netflix] and felt like I had to publicly call her out. You can see the trailer for "Growing" here.
In regard to her being pregnant, she says: "You don't stop being you. You don't stop working, or drinking."
Um.... WHAT?!? I thought, surely I must have heard wrong. So I re-played it. Several times.
Then I got furious.
"You don't stop working, or drinking."
See, I belong to a large community of people who adopted children from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, etc. Many of us are raising children who fall into the FASD [Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder] category. Most of us had no idea when we adopted that our children fit that category. I was told specifically that mine did not have it. Many other parents were told the same thing, but in many cases that was a flat-out lie.
I posted this on Facebook:
Buckle up. Rant loading in 3, 2, 1... Amy Schumer - who has never said anything I found funny - has a new comedy video out. The first big laugh she gets is when she says you don't stop drinking just because you are pregnant. WTF?? Amy, I invite you to spend a week with a child who is brain damaged because the mom drank while pregnant. It's so funny to see your child struggle to remember basic math from one day to the next. It's hilarious to see your child unable to comprehend cause and effect -- as in, leaving the stove on might burn the house down. I have a friend whose adopted 18 year old can't remember to take a shower or brush his teeth from one day to the next because his birthmom drank. Amy, YOU should experience the heartbreak of telling your sweet beautiful child she will never be able to hold down a job or live independently because birthmom liked to get drunk while pregnant. Maybe THEN you would not joke about drinking while pregnant. It's the only birth defect that is 100% preventable.. shame on you, Amy. #boycottamyschumer #FASDisnotfunny #amyschumerisahorribleperson
Amy, I'd love to see you trying to get your child an IEP in school because of FASD. I'd love to see you trying to survive on a middle class income and frantically scrambling to get services for your FASD children. In Canada it's a disability. Here in America, it's not.
I have a friend who has three children with FASD. I have another friend who has adopted more than 10 children with FASD. Both moms have had to homeschool because no school will teach their children appropriately and make allowances for the disability.
Here's what one of those moms wrote:
"An individual with FASD has to be taught differently, has to have allowances made for days that function is too low, and has to have ongoing regular support in order to succeed. They scramble information too often, their brain freezes under stress, they need constant repetition and someone working with them who won't get frustrated with brains that seemingly work really well one day, and the next have to be retaught everything they learned."
What happens when your child with FASD becomes an adult?
"There are no programs they qualify for, as they literally fall through the cracks with function that is too high, and yet... That is the problem for most people with FASD in America, and why most individuals with FASD end up homeless and/or in jail, because of the complete and utter lack of services available to them. After all, they LOOK "normal", right? Without the awareness and pro-active support that countries like Canada offer those with this disability, the outcomes for those with FASD are abysmal."
Amy Schumer is pregnant with her first child and apparently vomiting a lot, and is quite ill. I am sorry about that. Pregnancy should be a joyful time. I don't wish ill on that child. That child is innocent. I hope that child is born healthy and has a great life.
But what about young women who think Amy is hilarious, and are easily influenced by the comedian? What if they think Hey if Amy says it's okay to drink while pregnant, I'll just go ahead and drink!
Chances are that those young women have NO IDEA of the irreversible brain damage they may be causing to their child.
Children with FASD don't ask to be born with a horrifying disability.
What makes me most angry is that even today, doctors sometimes tell women it's ok to have a glass of wine at night. Women drink to excess sometimes before they even know they are pregnant.
Here's the terrible truth: doctors have NO IDEA how much alcohol is too much while pregnant, or when it's "safe" to drink while pregnant. The only way to guarantee your child will not have FASD is to abstain from ALL drinking even when you are trying to get pregnant.
FASD is the only birth defect that is 100% preventable.
Joking about damaging your child before it is even born is not funny. It's irresponsible, insensitive, and ignorant. It's also in very bad taste. You wouldn't joke about your child being born with spina bifida? How about cerebral palsy? Muscular dystrophy?
Of course not.
I read stories about her new comedy special in The Hollywood Reporter and UK's Daily Mail. Both mention her jokes about drinking while pregnant but neither publication points out what I am pointing out here. Shame on them.
I have never really found Amy Schumer to be funny, but my 22 year old son thinks she is funny, so we watched some of her standup a few years ago. I was confused as to what he thought was funny. I guess it's a generational thing.
If she wants to joke about sex, fine. We have guaranteed free speech in this country. Joke about weed. Joke about whatever. Just don't joke about drinking while pregnant, Amy. That's going too far.
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