Katt Williams Hailed As A Messiah
Comedian Katt Williams is being hailed as a messiah on social media for calling out imorality in Hollywood and the general entertainment industry. However, most people only like what he said because it makes them feel good about the various forms of false-morality they’re practicing already.
By now, most of us have probably seen or heard of the infamous Katt Williams rant on the Shannon Sharpe, Club Shay Shay podcast in which he roasted dozens of his fellow comedians as well as a few other entertainers as frauds and Hollywood underworld operatives. The podcast has gone viral, racking up more than 25 million views on social media in only a few days. Everyone is now hailing him as a new messiah in the black community and since messiahs are few and far between, Black people are willing to accept whatever we can get.
Katt Williams has always been considered a rebel in the industry similar to Dave Chapelle. He claims that there are “gatekeepers to success” in Hollywood who require submission and moral indignity from entertainers in exchange for money and fame. There are two reasons why he had taken such a stance. Either; one, because he is bitter and jealous of the success of his fellow entertainers or two, because he has a moral foundation to stand on.
I skipped through about an hour of the podcast and came to the conclusion that while he has dabbled in immoral activity throughout his life, he does have a moral base to stand on. However, I wouldn’t go as far as calling him a messiah. He tells his life story of being born in an ultra-Christian household but left home at 13 years old when his disobedience led to a serious altercation with his father. His blind faith in God helped him to navigate homelessness on the streets for 5 years. He lived among prostitutes and pimps, hustling stolen goods, eventually becoming a teenaged father.
His saving grace was his keen ability to read and write beyond his young age, which led him into writing and performing stand-up comedy. His big break came when he played the pimp Money Mike in Friday After Next. He tells an admirable story of surviving and maintaining a level of success in an industry full of devils who thrive on emasculating Black men. In reality, he is an anti-hero who states that he has never done drugs because he knows the power of addiction, yet he has a marijuana and cigarette addiction. He idolizes pimps and prefers being around toxic women.
Although Katt Williams’s life story puts him above the average Black man in America, he is certainly no messiah. His life story is only relatable to most because of one thing. Similar to him, a lot of Black men in America today start out in religious households but because of the overwhelming influence of poverty and popular culture, must quickly choose between morality and immorality. Ultimately, we all take risks and are happy when someone like Katt Williams comes along and pats us on the back for not doing drugs, avoiding the lure of white women, and didn’t suck another man’s dick to gain money and fame.