Netflix Insider Disputes Rogansphere Comedian’s Claim Execs Called Muslims ‘Dangerous’

Screenshot via The Joe Rogan Experience

A Netflix insider denied comedian Mark Normand’s claim that executives said Muslims are “dangerous people” when convincing him not to promote a joke.

Normand’s stand-up special, None Too Pleased, debuted on Netflix this month. The comedian is arguably best known for his numerous appearances on Joe Rogan’s podcast, the most recent of which was on March 20. On the Tuesdays with Stories! podcast, Normand told co-host and fellow comedian Joe List that Netflix executives told him not to promote a joke about Muslims on social media because it could be dangerous.

Normand said:

We got to do a conference call. There’s 18 Jews on there with a speakerphone… And they go, ‘Yeah, bad news. We reviewed the special again, we’d like you to take out the Muslim joke.’ I go, ‘Oh, why?’ And [they] go, ‘Well, the last time a comic did a Muslim joke, we got bomb threats. We got death threats. They said they were going to kill us. They ruined the whole studio, blowed the place up to smithereens. So we’d like to not use the Muslim joke.’ So I was like: I gotta fight for the joke here.

According to the comedian, it was later clarified that they did not want to completely cut the joke, but they simply wanted to avoid specifically promoting it.

“I was like, ‘Okay, okay, I don’t love it, but okay. I will take it off on one condition: I want you to admit on this call they’re a dangerous people. You gotta admit it, or I’ll post again.’ I mean, I’m half joking,” he said.

Normand added that the executives were hesitant and thought saying such a thing would be “offensive.” He argued he was trying to make the point that they were scared to admit what they were actually saying.

“We’re all signaling, we’re all virtuous, but you don’t actually act that way, right? And I think this is a perfect example of that. ‘Hey we’re scared.’ Why are you nervous? That’s what I was getting at. So they admitted it,” he said.

The Hollywood Reporter shared on Tuesday, however, a statement from a Netflix “source” who denied Normand’s description of the conversation.

The source admitted Netflix did warn Normand that they are a “global company” and need to be mindful of what they promote on social media. The source disputed Normand’s claim that any executive openly agreed to admit Muslims are “dangerous,” saying it’s “not true, not correct, completely false.” The source further claimed Normand’s reps were on the call, not the comedian himself.

After the joke in question, Normand told the audience, “Uh-oh, a Muslim joke! You laughed at the Jew shit, just trying to keep it even.”

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