Pakistani-American comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani believes that racism has recently become “far more acceptable in mainstream circles.”
Two decades after making his stand-up comedy debut in America, the 44-year-old actor, who was born in Karachi, highlighted that racial sentiments still exist in the country.
Nanjiani said, “By and large, it was still unacceptable to be racist in the public sphere back then. George Bush even quoted the Quran in a speech – could you imagine (Donald) Trump doing that?”
“Now, I feel like racist rhetoric has become much more acceptable in popular circles,” Kumail Nanjiani continued. The majority of people still perceived me as an American, I assured myself at the time. Now, I’m not so sure.
After three years without any stand-up comedy shows, Kumail is unsure of what his audience wants to watch. The actor-comedian is also conscious of the demands placed on him today.
He revealed to a media outlet, “I really want to do more comedy, but I’m not sure what topics people are interested in anymore. Do they desire personal jokes about me? Will the jokes I told before the break still be funny? Because there is already an expectation because people know me, I can’t exactly go to a small open mic to test it out.”
