Gay, ‘bigender’ comedian booed for lampooning trans women at college show—and he hits back at haters

When gay, “bigender” comedian Thomas Dale hit the stage at George Washington University on Sept. 1, he apparently gave some in the crowd a bit more cognitive dissonance than they could reasonably expect to handle.

Opening for Hasan Minhaj, a former correspondent on “The Daily Show,” Dale discussed “being bigender, bisexual, and an Italian-American from New York” during his 45-minute set, the GW Hatchet reported.

But that wasn’t what stirred up woke crowd members. You see, Dale’s jokes also “heavily relied on making misogynistic comments and poking fun at mental illness and marginalized communities,” the school paper added.

And the worst part? The bigender comic actually made fun of transgender women, the GW Hatchet said.

What happened next?

In these days of comedians cutting down on college shows because many audiences don’t stand for jokes about certain groups, sure enough some students “booed loudly” at Dale, the paper said

How did he respond? The GW Hatchet said Dale “chastised” his haters.

“Dale told his hecklers that he could make this joke because he was bigender and because he had a history of mental illness and self-harm,” the paper noted.

What did the writer add?

Renee Pineda — who authored the GW Hatchet op-ed about Dale’s set — noted that “political correctness and comedy” are not “mutually exclusive” and that it’s wrong to use “minorities as a punchline.”

“Even though I am Filipino-American, it doesn’t excuse me from making racist or xenophobic jokes,” Pindea said. “Jokes that rely on a community to be hurt aren’t good jokes.”

She added that some in the audience “applauded Dale when he told his hecklers they were too sensitive. But I guess those students didn’t realize what it would feel like for someone to disregard your identity in exchange for a few seconds of laughter from an arena full of your peers.”