Comedian/host defends abortion stance after Food Network cuts ties

Article content

Freedom of speech has gotten increasingly tricky for celebs in the wake of the current cancel culture.

Article content

The latest victim: Josh Denny.

The comedian and former TV show host’s controversial tweets landed him in hot water with his former employer, the Food Network.

Denny took to Twitter to share his thoughts on Texas’s new law that bans abortions. He used a slur to describe women, disagreed that many women wouldn’t know they were pregnant within six weeks of conception, and brought in the Black Lives Matter movement, just for kicks.

Denny’s comments prompted many on Twitter to tag Food Network, where the comedian hosted the 2017 series Ginormous Food.

Article content

Food Network responded on Friday, tweeting, “For those asking: Our working relationship with Josh Denny ended years ago, and we removed all episodes he hosted at that time. His views do not reflect our company values, and we regret giving him a platform.”

Article content

Denny fired back, tweeting, “You knew my views and my style of comedy when you hired me. My views represent the beliefs of half of this country.”

Article content

He later added that he will continue to “use whatever mean language I want to make jokes or express my thoughts.”

Article content

Ginormous Food, which followed Denny as he searched for the biggest and tastiest foods in America, hasn’t aired on the Food Network in three years.

We reached out to Food Network Canada, which still listed the show as of Tuesday morning, but did not get a response.

By Tuesday afternoon, however, the page for Ginormous Food was no longer up.