Comedian John Crist Minimizes Sexual Predation Allegations ‘I was just being a 35 year old single comedian on the road’ +’He Said/She Said’
Comedian John Crist continues to express his disapproval for the way he was ‘canceled’ four years ago following multiple allegations of sexual predation, telling political commentator Dave Rubin that he feels like he poured fuel on the fire by ending his tour after these claims came out and in retrospect, probably wouldn’t have canceled it.
Four years ago, Crist was at the apex of his career, poised for significant success with a Netflix special and a book deal until his reputation tanked and burst into flames after allegations of sexual misconduct came to light.
A popular Christian entertainer known for his comedy routines and hip ethos, Crist’s life came to a grinding halt in late 2019 after Charisma News broke the story that a plethora of women were alleging some very unsavory things about him going back nearly a decade, including harassing and manipulating young women, sexting multiple partners at the same time, committing unrelenting acts of adultery and fornication, bragging about his conquests, and bribing women with tickets to his shows in exchange for sexual favors. Charisma did some excellent reporting; they had the pictures, texts, and receipts to prove it, sharing that many people knew about it but said nothing and kept promoting him, including folks like Jon Acuff.
In response, Crist canceled his tour, said in a public statement ‘“While I am not guilty of everything I’ve been accused of, I confess to being guilty of this — I have treated relationships with women far too casually, in some cases even recklessly,” went to rehab, got “healing” for sex addiction, and then emerged more popular, where he has consistently downplayed and minimized his actions with these women while well co-opting the language of ‘cancellation’ -language Rubin uses in describing the situation that happened to him:
Rubin: Can you tell everybody your -for the people that don’t know the Netflix cancellation story that you went through? Because I think it’s pretty interesting in that like most people that get cancelled unjustly you came out the other side in a better position.
Crist: Yeah. So I was touring a bunch in 2019. And we had a Netflix special planned for it. There was gonna come on Thanksgiving. I was like drinking a bunch. And I would say behaving like a comic that was working at the comedy club you grew up in..
But I was also working at a bunch of churches. So I mean, I took all those gigs knowing that my personal life was not aligned with the values that those churches stood for. And I -they ended up making an article about me about some relationships I had with women and drinking and things like that. And what’s funny is it was kind of like tabloid ish type information, but we were so-if you look back at that time, people were quitting their jobs proactively for that. Remember that?
And looking back at it now. I mean, obviously, we would probably just continued touring. But we kind of put fuel on the fire by canceling our tour. So the headlines that ended up coming out was ‘comedian cancels tour amidst allegations’ which made us look-I mean, hindsight is 2020, obviously, but people don’t remember about that time. It was, I think you’ve seen a lot of like, with Johnny Depp and Dave Portnoy, and the kicker for the Bills, and then the baseball player for the Indians that are like, have been, people have said things about them and they’re like, ‘dude, these things are not true.’
He continues:
And people now kind of have a voice to be like, ‘Yeah, I made some poor choices but here are the DMS’ But back then in 2019, it was so scary. And it’s just not scary anymore to like, everybody’s coming after everybody. And it kind of has diluted the whole movement.
You know, I was like just being a 35 year old single comedian on the road. Now was working at church, I understand that but like, so they removed my Netflix special and you’d be like, alright, Netflix…. what are the rules to be on your platform? Because there’s people convicted in court of law for way worse things that my, ‘he said/she said,’ ‘I heard from a friend of a friend that John was doing XY and Z,’
…So it’s kind of like, Well, what exactly are the rules? And that’s why people get frustrated a lot with society. You go ‘I heard about this.’ And then it turns out not to be true, or some parts of it are true, and some aren’t. But it’s like, well, it’s too late. We’re gone. But luckily, we can make jokes about it now because my career has obviously flourished bigger than it was before. So.
It’s all excuses and minimizations. Of course, this is not Crist being ‘canceled,’ as much as he may want to appropriate that label for clout and sympathy. Instead, churches disinviting him in light of multiple allegations of gross sin over a decade is a just consequence and a proper response to a professing believer playing the part of a pagan while engaging in sexual hedonism.
Previously, Crist has denied that his actions towards those women made him a ‘trash dude’ and complained how everything went down, saying “I don’t agree with the way it was done.” With the way his narrative is progressing, we expect soon he’ll deny it all together.
About Author
A good thing for everyone to think here is, “why are we having comedians at church?”
Some might think of it as evangelistic, but if that is the case, the church should make sure that the comedian is doing this for more than comedy. If the entertainer is not there for evangelism, do not use him for evangelism. There are some Christian comedians out there that want to use their talent for the gospel. That is not Crist. He is just a comedian. Unless you are planning a circus, do not invite a dancing bear.
“So it’s kind of like, Well, what exactly are the rules?” Okay, what exactly did you do that was wrong, and what, exactly, are the false allegations?
If you are asking for specificity, then take the lead and give everyone the truth about your innocence, and your guilt — and then fully own up to it, and deal with the consequences. Instead, it seems like you are hiding under the cloak of ambiguity.
So, one of the things he was punished for was for accepting a bribe of sex in exchange for free tickets to his show. Remember there are two ways to look at everything. Takes two to tango.
He stumbled a beloved of God, and worst of all brought reproach to the Gospel. Proper repentance is not followed by excuses.