Dan Aykroyd weighs in on cancel culture: Offensive material "should be rightly canceled for its hurtfulness"

The Hollywood Reporter

"There is enough range in humor where you don’t have to go scatological and you don’t have to go pulling any divisive cards to get a laugh," the SNL and comedy icon tells The Hollywood Reporter when asked to weigh in on the controversy over cancel culture. "There is so much in the world to comment on that is outside the realm of offensiveness. As a writer, you can go to other areas and have successful creative endeavors. Scatological humor is fun. It’s easy laughs. But there is more intelligent writing that can happen if you stay away from the offensive material that should be rightly canceled for its hurtfulness. Who can be the subject of an impression today? That’s an area of discussion. Can I do my James Brown imitation? He was one of my best friends. I do his voice pretty good. But maybe I shouldn’t anymore." Meanwhile, Aykroyd also offered his opinion on new SNL cast member James Austin Johnson, calling him "outstanding" "That’s the best (President) Biden I’ve seen," he says of Nichols.