Some thoughts about the rumoured Taskmaster s22 line-up under the cut, for the sake of people who want to avoid cast spoilers.
Maaaaany many things to say about Ayoade. I keep thinking about the Vulture interview in which Alex was directly asked (and kudos again to the journalist for how direct he was) about whether or not TM would invite transphobic comedians, and his vague answer about not having people on the show who are not nice. It highlights the fact that, on the scale of UK transphobic comics, Ayoade is small potatoes. Don't get me wrong: endorsing the book of the dude who dedicated his entire life to hating trans people and calling his story brave is transphobic. I'm not saying Ayoade aligning himself with Linehan isn't transphobic. What I am saying, however, is that the wider public (who cares about trans people in an abstract sense at best) does not register this as transphobia. It's already hard enough to get people to see that transphobic jokes are transphobia, so when there AREN'T transphobic jokes? When Ayoade doesn't have a five minute stand-up routine about hating trans women? Mission impossible. We all sound insane. Ayoade has been one of the most requested names I've seen over the years, because most people don't keep track of UK personalities willing to associate themselves with major transphobic figures (and, to be fair: I envy them! I wish I didn't have to know this information either!) and they find him funny and want him on the funny show.
When Alex Horne says the show won't feature people who aren't nice, that applies to like... Ricky Gervais and *maybe* Jimmy Carr. People who are loudly, famously controversial or disliked by the wider public. As much as it pisses me off it does not apply to a guy who has plausible deniability because the book he endorsed was written by the dude who arguably got him his big break in the industry.
And again, not saying trans people (and queer people at large) are wrong for being pissed off at the casting, far from it. It's just that I've seen a lot of people being completely baffled and taken aback by it, saying they never thought the show would stoop that low, when really it's far from inconceivable. Transphobia is already largely tolerated in the UK when it's blatant and violent, so when it's by association? Barely a blip. It's nothing in that landscape. It's really not stooping that low. I wouldn't even be surprised if it never came up in a meeting.
