Jeff Dye defends the Sark AI edit, says comedy is political

Jeff Dye spent a post defending the joke behind an AI edit of Texas coach Sark slapping sideline reporter Holly Rowe, then spent a longer one defending joke-telling in general.

The edit was already circulating enough that a player brought it up unprompted. Evan Vieth posted that he asked Arch Manning whether he had seen any edits on TikTok or Twitter after the game, and Manning's answer was that he had seen the AI edit of Sark slapping Holly Rowe. Vieth called the answer gold.

Dye's argument

Dye's defense is the standard dark humor defense, stated cleanly. He wrote that the person behind it is not saying men hitting women is funny, he is saying the absurdity of a man hitting a woman is funny, and that people are pretending not to understand how something can be funny without being something you agree with.

That is the whole first post. It is a distinction people make about jokes all the time, and it either lands with you or it does not, which is presumably why Dye did not stop there.

Then the flag planting

The follow-up is longer and barely about the edit at all. Dye wrote that most people do not have the luxury of speaking their mind about hyper political situations at their job, that he does, and that it kind of is his job to do it because most people cannot. He accepted the cost up front, saying he is out there doing his best at the risk of being wrong sometimes, insensitive sometimes, even hypocritical at times. He said he admits when he is wrong and shifts when appropriate.

Then he closed it out. We live in a hyper political time where everything is someone's trauma or group or culture, so yes, he is political. Comedy is political.

The real story

The two posts are doing different jobs. The first one is Dye arguing a specific bit, the second is him trying to never have to do that again, a general permission slip filed in advance so the next joke arrives pre-defended.

It almost never works that way. The people who object to a joke about a coach slapping a reporter are not going to read a 100 word statement of principle and stand down, and the people who already agreed with Dye did not need the statement. What it does do is tell you where he has landed. Dye is not claiming the neutral comedian position where jokes are just jokes and mean nothing. He is claiming the opposite, that the jokes are political, that he knows it, and that he is going to keep making them anyway.

Jeff Dye

@JeffDye

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Everyone is acting like they don’t understand dark humor and how things can be funny that we don’t agree with.

Jeff Dye

@JeffDye

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So at the risk of being wrong sometimes , being insensitive sometimes, being even hypocritical at times I’m out here doing my best.

Evan Vieth

@EvanVieth

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I asked Arch Manning if he’d seen any edits on TikTok or Twitter after the game, and his answer is gold.