LAST NIGHT, COMEDIAN Aziz Ansari appeared on Late Show with David Letterman. While sitting on the couch, he got to talking about feminism.
After clarifying that he is a feminist, Ansari turned to the audience and asked if there were any feminists in the crowd.
After the question elicited a relatively tepid round of applause, Ansari had this to say on people’s reluctance to self-identify as feminists:
Now, here’s the thing. There’s a lot of people that didn’t clap, but I don’t believe you. If you look up feminist in the dictionary, it just means someone who believes men and women have equal rights, and I feel like everyone here believes men and women have equal rights. If you do believe that men and women have equal rights, if someone asks if you’re a feminist, you have to say yes.
He then used this Beyoncé/Jay-Z analogy to really illustrate his point.
You’re feminist if you go to a Jay-Z and Beyoncé concert and you’re not like, ‘Hmm, I feel like Beyoncé should get 23% less money than Jay-Z. Also I don’t think that Beyoncé should have the right to vote and why is Beyoncé singing and dancing? Shouldn’t she make Jay a steak? I’m sure he’s very tired after walking and rapping those two songs.’
Genius.
Watch the clip in its entirety below.
