An Ojibway woman says she was among at least 30 people who walked out of Rumor's Comedy Club in Winnipeg on Friday due to a number of racist and homophobic comments they heard from the stage.
Kelsey Lenaghan says she was almost immediately turned off by comedian Rich Vos's set, which included what she called targeted harassment toward a table of Indigenous women.
"One of the things he said was, 'Listen, lady, I'm not your sponsor. You need to go to your next AA meeting.' ... He was making a joke about a talent show and saying that, you know, these ladies would likely come up and make dreamcatchers," she said.
The American comedian also made a joke about hoping the women would get ticketed for driving under the influence on the way home, she recalled, which perpetuated offensive stereotypes.
Lenaghan, who is from Pinaymootang First Nation, says the table of women left in the middle of his tirade, and she left the club to follow them to make sure they were OK. When she reached them, she said they were upset.
"Why can't we be able to come out for a fun night out without our Indigeneity being brought up — without that being the centre of his jokes and attacks?" Lenaghan said. "To see my sisters and my relatives to be treated in this way, you get this sense of protection."
Although she was outside the auditorium for part of his set, Lenaghan says she could hear Vos continue his comments about the women.
"It completely ruined the evening and … is hanging over our heads for the weekend. It's disgusting," she said.
Shelly Lavallee, one of the women who was directly insulted by Vos, said in a statement to CBC News that she left the show feeling spiritually wounded.
"It should not be up to us to be prepared to toughen up our hearts and be equipped to laugh at the traumatic events," the Métis woman said in the statement. "Rumor's night club has an ethical responsibility to ensure that all people are safe from insensitive racial ambushes."
"In a culture that's so quick to try to cancel people and jump on their megaphones on social media to try to cancel people, we believe in educating people," Schultz said.
"We don't want to censor our comics, but if that type of stuff happens, we definitely don't condone racist remarks like that."
"If we have comedians come here, these are certain things that you can't touch base on. These are areas that shouldn't be talked about. I think that code of conduct would be a good place to start," Lenaghan said.
"If you're going to come to Canada, learn about the people that are from this land, be willing to treat people with respect so we can go to a comedy show and we can have a lot of laughs together."
