Ari Shaffir is watching some distasteful comments about the death of Kobe Bryant come back to bite him. According to reports, Shaffir was dropped by his talent agency after sharing a video on social media hours after Bryant’s death where he rejoiced about the NBA legend being killed in a helicopter crash.
Aqua Talent Agency officially dropped Shaffir from their roster on Monday, according to the Jewish Journal.
Shaffir also saw his performance at the New York Comedy Club canceled and the club will reportedly no longer work with the comedian moving forward a club representative told The Hollywood Reporter.
After the fallout began, Shaffir characterized his comments as “dark comedy” and “moronic inappropriate posts I make for the fans who signed up to see them” which are part of an “act” that he plays. Shaffir continued to attempt to explain his comments in a statement on Instagram.
“Every time a beloved celebrity dies I post some horrible shit about them,” he wrote on Instagram. “I’ve been doing it for years now. I like destroying gods. And right when a famous person dies they’re at their most worshipped. So as a response to all the outpouring of sympathy on social media, I post something vile. it’s just a joke. I don’t really hate any of the people.
“Kids dying like that, it’s horrible. All the other people dying, that [sic] horrible too. It’s horrible he died. Really really sad. What a terrible thing that was that happened.”
You can see the original comments made by Shaffir in front of the Charlotte Hornets’ home arena hours after Kobe’s death below.
Our deepest condolences continue to go out to the Bryant family, and the families of the other 7 victims — John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli and Alyssa Altobelli, Christina Mauser, Sarah Chester and Payton Chester, and pilot Ara Zobayan — who tragically lost their lives.
