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Comedian Tammy Pescatelli Apologizes for Accusing Amy Schumer of Joke Theft

"It went too far, and for that I'm super apologetic" - Tammy Pescatelli

liam-mathews
Liam Mathews

On Wednesday, a video went online accusing comedy star Amy Schumer of joke theft based an allegations from other comedians that Schumer had used their material in her projects. Schumer denied the allegations on Jim Norton's radio show, and on Thursday, Tammy Pescatelli, the most vocal of the accusers, went on Opie withJim Nortonto apologize.

"I went too deep," Pescatelli said on the show. "It went too far, and for that I'm super apologetic.

"I probably should have just stayed out of it and kept my mouth shut," Pescatelli added. "I shouldn't have accused somebody."

Amy Schumer (pretty obviously falsely) accused of joke theft

Pescatelli claimed that Schumer used a joke in Trainwreck that was overly similar to a joke from Pescatelli's stand-up. The joke is about woman dressing her husband poorly so that other women aren't interested in him. Pescatelli blames the similarity on "parallel thinking," or two people coming up with the same idea separately.

Norton notes that the joke in question is "one of those things that I've been hearing in clubs since I started." He says that the joke is not stolen or even an example of parallel thinking because it's just an ambient idea that a lot of comedians use. Pescatelli is claiming ownership of the joke, but no one person owns clichés.

Pescatelli apologizes for going too far, but if you listen closely, she never retracts her allegation. The video, which Pescatelli says she had no involvement with, was taken down Thursday. Pescatelli also deleted her accusatory tweets.