Michael Che Blames Hackers For Backlash From 'Tasteless' Simone Biles Joke

Do you think Michael Che thrives off negativity?

Source: NBC / Getty

Nothing appears to be off-limits for the SNL Head Writer and when he saw headlines about Biles withdrawing from the 2021 Olympics, he could hardly resist. “Man, I want to make fun of Simone Biles,” Michael Che posted on his Instagram Stories, Thursday July 29.  Millions of people responded with encouragement and understanding when the iconic gymnast pulled out of the competition for the sake of her physical and mental health. Deadline reports that wave of support is now crashing on Che for the jokes he posted about Biles Thursday night.

“I got like 3 mins of simone biles jokes in my head. im going to the cellar tonight to say them into a microphone. as the dorky kids say, im choosing violence,” Che wrote in another now-deleted post.

Che never shared his own material about Biles, but still joined the ranks of Piers Morgan and Charlie Kirk in using his platform for the cruelest hot takes at her expense. He shared his followers’ jokes in subsequent posts with ratings and a bit of critique, making Biles’ situation both a joke and a game.

“Now that’s a good joke. economical. referential. balanced,” Che wrote in response to a “Black don’t crack” joke ranked 8/10. Another joke he posted from a screenshot compared Biles’ withdrawal to the fall of Larry Nasser, her former gymnastics coach who sexually abused her and at least 150 other girls and women for decades until he was sentenced to prison in 2018. Che responded, “goddamn that’s rough, absolutely tasteless 9/10.”

After Che’s equal opportunity offender routine successfully struck a nerve, he later wrote in his Stories, “”maaannnn, i got hacked today. cant believe they got me. yall know i only do jokes about whites and cops. s’all good now, i changed my password and everything .. anyway yall hear about dababy tho.. ? Thats crazy .. iight. see yall at church. imma get there early.”

For Michael Che, everything is a joke (except his actual writing). Between DaBaby getting canceled by everyone from Chris Brown to Elton John and the Texas Deputy Attorney General issuing an apology for calling Biles’ a “national embarrassment,” this week was a perfect storm of controversy for Che to dive right into. He seems to love the idea of the weak and sensitive hiding behind so-called “cancel culture,” but according to comedy legend Katt Williams, that description is most fitting for comedians who refuse to evolve beyond lazy humor for the sake of being offensive and edgy.

“My point is, [people] weren’t all that extremely funny back when they could say whatever they wanted to say. At the end of the day, there’s no cancel culture. Cancellation doesn’t have its own culture. I don’t know what people got cancelled that we wish we had back,” Williams said in a recent interview. “If these are the confines that keep you from doing the craft god put you to, then it probably ain’t for you. Growth is part of being an adult.”

Between SNL, an upcoming show on HBO Max, and amusing himself with internet outrage, Che should be on top of the world. If he wants to stay there, he may not want to dare the internet to cancel him. Maybe Michael Che should take spend more time following Simone Biles’ example. At least she knows how to land consistently.