For 32 years, comedian Chonda Pierce has made crowds laugh at the puzzling things of life, idiosyncrasies within the church, and her unique perspective of the world. And now, she stars in her own movie, “Roll With It,” hitting theaters May 9, 11, and 13.
Pierce recently sat down with CBN’s Faithwire for an interview. When asked about comedy, she responded, “You have instant gratification or instant rejection. And, I’ve had both.”
The comedian remembered multiple times that preachers, nervous to introduce a comedian to their congregations, would quote Scripture endorsing laughter. Pierce embraces the arts—especially that of comedy—and the emotions surrounding life. “God created every one of our emotions and allows us to use every one of them, even anger,” Pierce said.
Pierce recognizes her style of comedy isn’t for everyone. And, she admitted, she doesn’t resonate with all of the comedy out there either. But, she said, the “art of comedy” is a “sweet gift” from God.
Chonda Pierce Addresses Those Who Cancel Comics
Chonda Pierce gave a her assessment of the bottom-line effect of cancel culture, saying, “You’re shooting yourself in the foot,” and noting that comics can provide a robust picture of the current culture. “In 25 years, there will be no reality of what was really going on in 2023.” She continued, “First of all, there’s free speech, and second of all, you’re missing some great laughs. The world today is so crazy.”
Catholic League president Bill Donohue says that “cancel culture” is different than censorship in that the government has the only power to actually censor, that is, to stop a message before it’s heard or to stop writings from being circulated.
“Today we are faced with a cancel culture, a condition whereby some controversial ideas are being canceled; in effect, they are being censored,” Donohue told Movieguide. “But the censor is not government: it is the private sector. The social media corporations—Facebook, Google, Twitter—are the major culprits. These Silicon Valley behemoths are not interested in canceling all controversial ideas, simply the ones they dislike.”
“I would love to be canceled. It would be so cool — and great publicity,” Pierce joked.
She admitted to the Christian Post, “I’m not politically correct. I’ve been crafting a long letter to Dave Chappelle because I want to tell him welcome to the family.”
Pierce referred to the incident where Chapelle was canceled by the LGBTQ+ community after he made comments within his special, “The Closer.”
“Every night I have to please the Baptist, the Presbyterians, the Catholics, the believer and the nonbeliever. It’s really hard, so I want to tell him, ‘Look, you’re not the only one out there that gets beat up every now and then,” Pierce said. “I think Dave Chappelle is absolutely brilliant. I tell my audience, ‘He’s not a Christian; he’s a Muslim.’ That’s his right. I would love to talk to him about Jesus because I want to see him in heaven because he’s absolutely brilliant.”
She went on to say that supporting or boycotting ideals and companies comes down to money. “More than your picketing, your dollar speaks so much more,” said Pierce.
