Comedian Amy Schumer defends herself: ‘I am not racist’

Schumer landed in hot water earlier this year after she made a joke about Latina women being “crazy” at the MTV Movie Awards, an incident that is underlined in a recent piece about her in the Guardian that claims she has a “shockingly large blind spot around race.”

The star of Inside Amy Schumer took to Twitter on Sunday to defend herself.

“Put down your torches before reading this, so you don’t catch fire,” she wrote in the tweet to which was attached a longer memo to sidestep Twitter’s 140-character restriction.

“I am a comic,” Schumer wrote in the memo. “I am so glad more people are laughing at me and with me all of the sudden. I will joke about things you like, and I will joke about things you aren’t comfortable with. And that’s ok. Stick with me and trust I am joking.”

“I go in and out of playing an irreverent idiot. That includes making dumb jokes involving race,” she continued. “I enjoy playing the girl who time to time says the dumbest thing possible and playing with race is a thing we are not supposed to do, which makes it so fun for comics. You can call it a ‘blind spot for racism’ or ‘lazy’ but you are wrong. It is a joke and it is funny. I know that because people laugh at it. Even if you personally did not.”

Schumer rejected the idea of resigning herself to joking about “safe” subjects in an effort to avoid offending people.

“I am not going to start joking about safe material. And don’t ask that of me,” she declared in the message. “I love what I do and won’t let anyone take that away. I ask you to resist the urge to pick me apart. Trust me. I am not racist. I am a devout feminist and lover of all people. My fight is for all people to be treated equally. So move on to the next person who is more deserving of your scrutiny and not the girl in your corner. Sincerely Amy (a dirty half Jew).”

(h/t USA TODAY)