Comedian Tim Dillon pushed back on the claim that comedians have undergone a “rightward shift” in recent years and questioned why core American values, such as free speech, are being rebranded as “right-wing.”
In a sit-down interview with Fox News Digital, Dillon was asked about the perceived shift to the right in comedians’ political views, with figures such as Joe Rogan endorsing President Donald Trump in the last election.
Dillon took issue with the observation, arguing that values comedians typically support today — such as free speech and advocating for the middle class — are not inherently right-wing.
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“You know, when people call it a rightward shift, my pushback to that is: were these statements rightward in 2015 or 2005? When did they become right-wing statements? When did it become a right-wing statement to say, ‘I should have the bodily autonomy to not take an experimental vaccine?’” Dillon questioned.
The comedian continued: “When did it become a right-wing statement to say, ‘I don’t think the United States should be in wars?’ I remember these were left-wing statements. When did it become a right-wing statement to say that the United States should look after the middle class and workers instead of importing cheap labor so that the profits on Wall Street could go up? These are right-wing points? This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
Dillon also addressed freedom of speech and the controversy surrounding the possible deportation of anti-Israel immigrant protesters on college campuses.
“Freedom of speech, is that right-wing? None of it feels right-wing to me. I’m against people being deported for criticizing Israel because I think that they have the freedom of speech to do it,” he asserted.
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Although the Republican Party is seen by some as the party of free speech, the comedian warned that this sentiment could quickly change, with the pendulum potentially swinging back towards the Democrats.
“I think the parties flip, but I think they might flip again. They might flip it again. You know, this could happen again, where the Republican Party becomes anti-free speech and the Democratic Party becomes pro-free speech. It could happen again,” Dillon said. “It’s certainly flipped during the last election cycle where the Democratic Party was the pro-war, you know, kind of anti-speech, seemingly pro-corporate party. But if we go to war with Iran and start deporting people that wrote op-eds critical of Israel, then you’ll see the Republican Party is now the pro-war, anti-free speech party.”
Dillon emphasized the importance of sticking to personal principles in an environment where party ideologies are constantly evolving.
“So you actually have to just believe in principles, and you have to hold the people that you’ve elected to account. You cannot follow the people you’ve elected, otherwise you’re just in a personality cult, you’re not a free-thinking person. You have to say, ‘I have a belief. The belief is that we shouldn’t do this.’ And if we do that, whoever does it, Kamala, Trump, Bernie, whoever, you have to hold them to account and say, you know, ‘I don’t think this is good for America.’
Dillon’s new stand-up comedy special “Tim Dillon: I’m Your Mother” debuted on Netflix on Tuesday.
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