Joel McHale Faces Twitter Backlash for Jokes Made on ‘Tiger King’ Spinoff
Comedian Joel McHale is currently trending on Twitter for the sarcastic remarks and 'bad jokes' he made while hosting the Netflix documentary Aftershow 'Tiger King and I'.
McHale, who is the host of the spinoff show, was called out by netizens for being "condescending" and "mocking" towards the people that he interviewed.
Some indicated that his interview "weren't entertaining but annoying".
And that, they were disappointed with the episode.
Jennifer Vineyard from The New York Times "Anyone in search of a serious critical evaluation of the criminal case against the flamboyant Joe Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic - including his part in the attempted murder-for-hire of Carole Baskin - might want to look elsewhere."
Not everyone is against McHale, however.
There are Tweets in support of 'The Soup' actor.
Some defended him saying that he was simply doing his job.
There were also others who said that they respected McHale for not misgendering Saff.
Kelci "Saff" Saffery, his full name, is a transgender who used to work as an animal keeper and was praised by Refinery29 as the "real hero of the series".
And, some argued that anyone who "defends and celebrates an animal abuser, murder-for-hire" were in the wrong.
There were others who said that the social media hate was dumbfounded since the comedian's whole shtick was to make fun of other people and that this was his typical type of humor.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness: A Huge Netflix Hit
Before McHale's episode, this true crime documentary was a smashing hit.
It was released on March 20, 2020 on the streaming site Netflix.
It was received positively by critics including Brian Lowry, media critic for CNN who referred to it as the "weird docu-series distraction we could use right now."
And as CNN points out, 10 days after it was aired, its views have tremendously skyrocketed.
According to the agency, Nielsen ratings has estimated that about 34 million unique viewers watched the mini docuseries.
This estimate does not cover views outside of the US.
Moreover, those who watched on their laptops, tablets and mobiles weren't counted as well.
And according to Hollywood Reporter, it comes close to Stranger Things, which has a total of 36.3 million views.
Tiger King and I: Spinoff Frustrations
In his article for IndieWire, Steve Greene remarks that, whether he was told to or did it on his own, McHale's episode came off as a reality show that's incredibly sarcastic.
Greene emphasized that this was in stark contrast to the theme of the show, which he described as money's effect on people and how we act in evil ways whenever we feel threatened.
He also adds that there was little effort made and that it was only created as a way to feed off the popularity in which the show was currently enjoying.
Additionally, he mentioned that important show figures like Carole Baskin and "Doc" Antle weren't even present.
This, he stressed, seemed to push McHale to make unbalanced claims about Baskin's backstory, which wasn't the case in the previous episodes.
