What is that deal with men springing unwanted guests on unsuspecting audiences with little or no notice these days? Last week it was Louis CK and the owner of the Comedy Cellar. This week it's David Remnick and The New Yorker. Two days before tickets went on sale for the venerated New Yorker Festival, Remnick announced that none other than Steve Bannon was joining the list of headliners. The vile liver-spotted toad, poster boy for the neo-nazis of America was set to join some of our greatest musicians, writers, actors and activists to be interviewed by the magazine's journalists.
Don't worry, though, Remnick had plans for him. “I have every intention of asking him difficult questions and engaging in a serious and even combative conversation,” he promised. COMBATIVE, even! How very brave of you. Allow me to give you a respectful golf clap.
Yeah. Not okay. Pushback was intense, with a bunch of high profile participants pulling out almost immediately. "John Mulaney, Judd Apatow, Jack Antonoff and Jim Carrey said on social media that they would be pulling out of scheduled events at the festival. Right around the time when Mr. Remnick announced the cancellation of Mr. Bannon’s participation, Patton Oswalt did the same."
It took less than a day for Remnick to rescind his invitation to Bannon because of the backlash, leaving many of us to wonder what the hell led him to think the invitation was acceptable in the first place. We're not talking debating apple sauce versus sour cream on latkes, people.
