Amy Schumer Shares Perspective

Amy Schumer is sharing her perspective on the controversy that has erupted over one woman’s story of her sexual encounter with Aziz Ansari.

In a new interview with The Katie Couric Podcast, Schumer said that she hopes the incident will teach men and women what “behavior is not OK.”

• “I don’t think anyone wants to see Aziz’s career ruined or his life ruined or anything like that, but that’s where people’s minds go. They go ‘Does he deserve this?’ And it’s really not about that. I think it’s about expressing and showing women that that behavior is not okay and not only can you leave, but you need to leave. Because then the women who come after you, you’re leaving a mark for them too.”
• Referring to the Master of None star as a friend, she added: “I identify with all the women in these situations. Even if it’s my friend, I don’t go, ‘Oh, but he’s a good guy.’ I think, ‘What would it feel like to have been her?’ “
• The 36-year-old actress admitted that there were “so many different levels” of bad behavior, and said women should never be made to feel uncomfortable.
• “If you have a doctor that makes you uncomfortable, or you get a massage, or you have a date with someone and they coerce you in a situation like the Aziz one, I don’t think there’s any sort of criminal charge, but I think that it’s good for everybody to learn that that behavior’s not acceptable,” Schumer said, adding that she herself has been “flat-out raped” in the past.
• After the anonymous 23-year-old woman’s allegations that he did not respond to her nonverbal cues were published on the website Babe, Ansari said that he “took her words to heart” and would try to behavior more thoughtfully in the future.