Perhaps one of the most polarizing comedians currently on the scene, Amy Schumer has once again come under fire. This time, it’s thanks to a video that was uploaded that shows Amy Schumer bits side by side with similar bits from other comedians — from years ago.
From a Tammy Pescatelli joke about women dressing men up “stupidly” in order to ward off other women, which was echoed in Schumer’s Trainwreck, to Kathleen Maddigan’s joke about Oprah having enough money to pay somebody to slap food out of her hand (or, at least, to workout for her), which an Inside Amy Schumer skit called “Slap Chef / Sleep Gym” seemed to copy, some of Amy’s material does appear to be remarkably similar to that of earlier comedians. There is even a Wendy Liebman bit from the 1990s, where the legendary comic says, “Maybe I’m old-fashioned but I like it when the guy pays…for sex,” which is shown right before a 2015 Schumer bit where she says, “I’m very old school. I think the guy should always pay on the first date…for sex.”
Responding directly to the allegations, Schumer has insisted that she had never heard these bits before seeing the video. Tweeting on Wednesday, Amy made it clear: “On my life, I have never and would never steal a joke.” Schumer also appeared on a Sirius XM radio show to address the claims, this time promising to air an unedited polygraph test on Inside Amy Schumer in an effort to clear her name. Referring to joke-stealing as “so stupid” in the interview, Schumer mentioned that both Kathleen Maddigan and Wendy Liebman knew her and “don’t believe that [Amy] would do that.”
Later mentioning that she had previously blocked Tammy Pescatelli on Twitter after the comedian mistreated Schumer’s best friend Rachel Feinstein, Schumer claimed that Pescatelli might be “trying to get something going.” Pescatelli later took to Twitter to deny being a “mastermind.”
Watch the original video below.