Late last week, when it was announced that internet phenomenon Josh Ostrovsky – better known around these parts as The Fat Jew – had signed with talent agency CAA, a backlash began a-brewin’, as his fellow comedians accused him of plagiarism and joke theft.
Some big names piled on, as everyone from Chelsea Peretti to Kunail Nanjiani, Eli Yudin, Paul Scheer and Michael Ian Black offered their choice snark, while Patton Oswalt called Ostrovsky a “waste of a person” and urged his fans to unfollow him on social media.
“Please please please” do not support him, Oswalt wrote in an impassioned blog post, adding “you won’t miss this piece of shit, I promise.”
Much of the frustration was centred around the fact that Comedy Central, the home of Inside Amy Schumer, Key And Peele, Broad City and Workaholics had a pilot in development with The Fat Jew.
Many criticised the deal, urging the network to cut ties with him and questioning whether the alleged joke thief had the chops to create a series’ worth of original material.
The backlash grew so loud that Comedy Central have responded, telling EW that they are not working with Ostrovsky, and actually haven’t been for some time. Per today’s report:
“Ostrovsky had a script deal with the network, but it failed to move forward to the pilot stage “several months ago.” Comedy Central currently has nothing planned with Ostrovsky.”
As @FATJEW once said, “I have a dream.”
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) August 15, 2015
Now that Fat Jew’s been defeated Twitter’s about to be like pic.twitter.com/S4E4jXNPPB
— E-PAX (@eliyudin) August 17, 2015
— Chelsea Peretti (@ChelseaVPeretti) August 16, 2015
Now I kinda feel bad because @FATJEW didn’t steal from me. I gotta step up my instagram game
— Paul Scheer (@paulscheer) August 16, 2015
To me, what makes @fatjew so funny aren’t the stolen jokes he posts, but THE WAY he posts them.
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) August 16, 2015
Ostrovsky hasn’t yet responded to the latest round of plagiarism allegations, and continues posting dank memes as per usual.
Photo: Taylor Hill via Getty Images
