Aziz Ansari had no problem getting serious about his sexual misconduct allegation in his new Netflix comedy special.
The Spike Jonze-directed project, titled Aziz Ansari Right Now, dropped on Tuesday morning, more than a year after the Parks and Recreation star was accused by a nameless victim of being inappropriate after a date.
Related: Nicholas Sparks Apologizes To LGBTQ Community After Anti-Gay Allegations!
The comedian wasted no time discussing the highly-publicized #MeToo story before kicking off his actual set. He dove right into the controversy after greeting the massive crowd, saying:
“You know, I haven’t said much about that whole thing, but I’ve talked about it on this tour, ’cause you’re here and it means a lot to me. I’m sure there are some of you that are curious how I feel about that whole situation.”
Aziz’s alleged encounter was definitely one of the more curious cases to go public at the height of the #MeToo movement.
As we reported, the accuser told Babe.net she agreed to go back to Ansari’s place after the two went on a date. She claimed she felt pressured by the actor into performing oral sex, and texted him the next day to explain how she was uncomfortable.
Related: Lena Waithe Weighs In On Aziz’s Misconduct Allegations
Shortly after the story broke, Aziz said in a statement that he felt awful about it. However, their alleged encounter sparked a fierce debate over what actually qualified as a #MeToo accusation, which previously highlighted more black-and-white cases of unwanted sexual assault.
For his part, the Master of None star said he was severely impacted by the accusation, explaining:
“There’s times I felt scared, there’s times I felt humiliated, there’s times I felt embarrassed, and ultimately I just felt terrible that this person felt this way. After a year or so, I just hope it was a step forward. It moved things forward for me, made me think about a lot. I hope I’ve become a better person.”
Ansari went on to reveal that being accused changed him for the better, as he spent the next year re-evaluating other dates he went on with a new awareness:
“I always think about a conversation I had with one of my friends where he was like, ‘You know what, man? That whole thing made me think about every date I’ve ever been on.’ And I thought, wow! That’s pretty incredible. If this made not just me but other people be more thoughtful, then that’s a good thing, and that’s how I feel about it.”
He also admitted that talking about the situation was “not the most hilarious way to begin a comedy show, but it’s important to me that you know how I felt about that whole thing before we share this night together.”
Hey, it’s much better than fellow accused comedian Louis C.K.’s comeback technique; making weird jokes about the Parkland shooting survivors.
The 36-year-old’s comments garnered large applause from the crowd before he segued into his material on the state of the country — which included a riff on why white people are so obsessed with the movie Crazy Rich Asians.
Watch a clip (below) to see one of the lighter moments from his special.
Has he earned your forgiveness yet?
[Image via FayesVision/WENN]
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