Comedian cancels shows at Florida & Utah venues that failed to mandate vaccines, earns sarcastic rebuke from Ted Cruz

Comedian and actor Patton Oswalt has announced the cancelation of multiple upcoming shows because the venues would not mandate that patrons be vaccinated against Covid-19 or produce proof of a negative test.

Oswalt made his announcement this week in an Instagram video, and said he was axing the tour dates to keep people “healthy” and “safe.”

“This difficult decision was made due to the rising numbers of Covid cases and also because I have an ego, but my ego is not big enough to think that people should die to hear my stupid comedy,” he said. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has banned ‘vaccine passports’ or any kind of proof being required to prove that one is vaccinated. Oswalt’s gig in Salt Lake City was to have been held at Kingsbury Hall, which is part of the University of Utah, but similarly does not mandate vaccines among gig-goers.

“The university has a vaccination requirement for students and health care university employees, but cannot extend that to patrons at campus venues for experiences presented by the University of Utah,” Brooke Horejsi, executive director of Kingsbury Hall’s UtahPresents concert series, told Deseret News, adding that the venue looked forward to rebooking Oswalt at sometime in the near future. 

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According to Oswalt, all other venues on his tour have complied with his requests. His cancelations quickly attracted attention and caused backlash online, however, as the debate about vaccines and proof of vaccination grows more and more heated.

“Both of his fans were disappointed,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted in reaction to Oswalt’s announcement, to which the comedian threw back a barb referencing Cruz’s infamous trip to Cancun amid a historic winter storm that knocked out power for millions in his state.

Ted, you Tweeted this at 1am. Put the phone down and return to liquid form for a few hours

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) September 9, 2021

Others, however, joined Cruz in mocking Oswalt for his absolutist stance.

Patton Oswalt actually cancelled the shows because nobody bought tickets https://t.co/9NwNXia8mL

— Dr. Johnny (@drjohnny__) September 9, 2021

Meanwhile, Oswalt retweeted posts by commenters, including a fellow comedian and a healthcare worker, who had praised him for canceling the shows.

Bookers don’t care if I refuse to perform without mandatory vaccines or negative tests from audiences.

But @pattonoswalt refusing to perform is the catalyst needed to change the way comedians are treated around the U.S.

Bravo ????

— Adrienne Airhart (@craydrienne) September 9, 2021

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/IzVbdhGqBp

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) September 9, 2021

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