Josh Ostrovsky, aka The Fat Jew, responded to the many accusations of joke theft aimed at him by the comedy world in an interview/interrogation with Vulture. The “curator”-and-“commentator”-and-“White Girl Rosé”-entrepreneur-and-not-comedian — as he self describes — had recently slipped into a maelstrom of “career”-damaging criticism over his unattributed Instagram posts and Tweets of jokes, memes, etceteras from outside sources. This all came about when other comedians — including Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani, and Michael Ian Black — got news that he’d signed with CAA, and spoke out against his appropriative tendencies, potentially leading to the ultimate cancellation of his Comedy Central pilot project.
In his Vulture discussion (yes, let’s again note: another website, Vulture, first posted this interview), he oscillates between trademark ridiculousness, flailing excuses, and occasionally, a sudden desire for integrity. But, just like his social media presence, his newfangled quest for such integrity would be helped along by his “army of interns working out of the back of a nail salon in Queens.”
And thus, below are some highlights from the very strange, very long interview. Here’s Ostrovsky promising to be a more moral Instragrammer, to help others “shine”:
I’m working to add attribution to every one of my posts, and will continue to do so. My email address is up. I urge people to reach out and say, “That’s my thing.” I would love to give credit. I want people to shine on social media, I always have.
Here’s Ostrovsky discussing what attributing posts would have gotten in the way of:
We have so much stuff going on: I’m writing a book, I’ve got rosé… It just didn’t seem like something that was extremely dire.
Here’s a list of his original works:
I made a video about teaching homeless people to take spin classes. I do rapper interviews. I’ve been sitting in hot tubs of guacamole for years.
Lastly, here’s Ostrovsky deciding to take action to ensure people get deserved credit and giving “a lot of fucks” :
If I can be someone who eventually helps this problem get solved, then I’m so fucking down for that. While I am ridiculous and almost purposely antagonistic at times, and over-the-top and not giving a fuck in many ways, I give a lot of fucks and I’m very cognizant of what is going on. I want what’s right.