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Lots of people are dragging John Crist for that cringey "cancel culture" video, and justifiably so. But I see something far more nefarious than just a lame attempt at humor from a disgraced Christian comedian who's trying to mount a comeback.
I see the groundwork being laid to discredit his critics by claiming they are graceless, judgmental virtue signalers intent on canceling him over his "mistakes" (which, of course, he will claim he has apologized for, even though his "apology" was nothing of the sort).
There's a key moment in the video where Crist attempts to riff on Orville Redenbacher. "Look at this guy; he definitely made some mistakes in his past. Do you want to cancel him? We can if we want. I'll look up some mistakes that he made in his past and we can cancel him."
Even though Crist then pivots to talk about appeasing "white guilt," the wording in the first part of this bit is telling. To anyone who is knowledgeable about the dynamics of abuse and how abusers operate, the manipulation here is obvious.
Crist is attempting to portray people who make a big deal out of someone's past "mistakes" as ridiculous, unhinged, unforgiving, and most importantly, unbelievable. Who are you going to trust? These bitter, crazy critics? Or me, the lovable comic who's charming and funny?
But here's the problem: what Crist did wasn't just a "mistake." That implies it could have been merely accidental. On the contrary, his behavior was calculated and intentional. It was predatory and abusive.
Accountability for his behavior demands more than a weak non-apology that fails to take specific responsibility for what he did wrong. And until he does take full responsibility, he doesn't deserve anyone's trust. He certainly doesn't need our attention.
A quick and easy rehabilitation is likely to put him right back in a position where he'll be tempted to abuse his influence to take advantage of women, just like he did before. It would be detrimental not only to any potential victims, but also to himself.
For that reason, I'm very wary of the message he's sending in his latest video. I've no doubt it will work on far too many people (I've seen evidence of that already, plus I know enough about abusers to know they always have their defenders).
Those of us with more discernment should be prepared to sound the alarm and state clearly why Crist should not be trusted with influence just yet. It isn't because he's irredeemable. It isn't because we're unforgiving and graceless.
It's because true repentance produces corresponding fruit, and until we see that fruit, we have no reason to believe a real change of heart has occurred. It would be foolish to trust someone before we see the evidence of that change.
By the way, if you need a refresher on what Crist did: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/november/john-crist-comedian-sexual-harassment-charisma.html
