From jokes about gluten intolerance to AIDS to his home city of Detroit, no subject was off limits for conservative comedian Steven Crowder who performed in Graphic Arts (building 26), room 104 on Dec. 2.
“Detroit’s kind of like Lindsay Lohan in that you see it in the news, you feel bad and you really hope it gets its act together,” Crowder said during his performance. “But you know it’s never going to.”
Among other things, Crowder discussed the “rise in political correctness” and the “over-sensitivity of the public” in contemporary America. University Police Department (UPD) officers guarded the doors in light of the current political climate on campus.
“I think you have a generation who’s never had more given to them — afforded to them, who don’t realize that,” Crowder said to Mustang News after his performance.
Crowder also questioned the nature of some of the demands given by SLO Solidarity to the Cal Poly administration this week.
“How many people here could even tell you what the First Amendment is?” Crowder said. “I don’t see demands here being constitutional studies, I don’t see demands here being understanding the Declaration of Independence or a demand requirement to be learning about the Revolutionary War or the Civil War. You get demands about ‘cultural sensitivity training’ again, why is that the value to trump all other values?”
Crowder was presented by Cal Poly College Republicans. Computer science senior Paul Sullivan is the club’s president.
“A lot of it was comedy, a lot of it was intentionally blown out of proportion. But I think he makes some good points too, and I think his points about free speech were really good,” Sullivan said.
Computer science sophomore Andrew Pirondini attended the event.
“I think a lot of it is very biased toward one side, but if you listen to the leftist comedians you’ll hear the same bias,” Pirondini said.
After the stand-up portion, Crowder opened up the floor to a question and answer session. As a former Fox News contributor, Crowder now has a podcast and runs a YouTube channel, both titled “Louder with Crowder.”
“Some people laughed, some people got offended,” Crowder said. “I’m grateful in that I could kind of say what I want.”
Crowder previously visited Cal Poly in 2013.