Fact Check

Did Hulu Cancel Michelle Wolf's Standup Special?

The 'Daily Show' correspondent's appearance at an annual Washington press event left much of the nation abuzz.

Published April 29, 2018

Claim:
Hulu cancelled plans to stream comedian Michelle Wolf’s standup special after her appearance at the 2018 White House Correspondents Dinner.

On 28 April 2018, Daily Show correspondent Michelle Wolf delivered a routine at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner that was variously described as everything from as a "savage takedown of everyone from President Donald Trump to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders to the media" to a "disgrace":

Amidst a national press debate over the tone and appropriateness of Wolf's material the following day, the Daily World Update web site published an article reporting that Hulu subscription video service had cancelled plans to stream the comedian's standup special to their customers:

Michelle Wolf was hoping to use the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to promote her sure-to-be-terrible standup special due to be released on Hulu soon, but her plan backfired magnificently when she attacked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ looks.

Wolf compared Sanders to the monstrously ugly Aunt Lydia on the anti-Christian show The Handmaid’s Tale and said that the Press Secretary’s eyes were “smoky” in appearance — a reference to liberals’ claim that her face is (as Bill Maher put it) “as lopsided as a half-weighted fishing lure.”

A statement put out by Hulu President Irwin R. Fletcher explains that “in light of recent remarks made by Michelle Wolf, we have elected to cancel the standup special” — a huge blow to the former Daily Show writer’s ego and income.

None of this was true. Wolf has a new variety-sketch series called The Break coming to Netflix (not Hulu), and that series is still scheduled to begin streaming weekly on 27 May 2018. Moreover, Hulu has no president (or other executive) named "Irwin R. Fletcher."

This report about Wolf's putative Hulu cancellation originated with Daily World Update, a site that is part of a fake news network which engages in political trolling under the guise of offering "satire." The site's disclaimer notes that "Everything on this website is fiction."

Daily World Update ran another nearly identical (and similarly false) article reporting that Comedy Central had fired Wolf.

Sources

Farrow, Janet.   "Hulu Cancels Michelle Wolf’s Standup Special After Disgustisting Attacks."     Daily World Update.   29 April 2018.

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

Article Tags