Parkland dad who slammed Louis CK in stand-up set to attend State of the Union address
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Manuel Oliver doesn't have time for Louis C.K.'s jokes, especially if they involve quips about mass shootings — and he wants the disgraced comedian (and the public) to know it.
Oliver, the father of teenager Joaquin who was among the 17 students and staff members gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last February, fired back at Louis C.K. in his own stand-up comedy set roughly a month after the 51-year-old comedian was overheard mocking Parkland shooting survivors in leaked audio from a comeback comedy set. In the clip, Louis C.K. reportedly slammed Parkland students for being too politically correct and said they "weren't interesting cause [they] went to a high school where kids got shot."
"Recently, I heard this great line from a comedian," Oliver said in a video posted by the non-profit Change the Ref, referring to Louis C.K., "He said, 'If you want people to forget that you were jerking off, just make a joke about kids getting shot.' And I thought, 'Jokes about kids getting shot?' I can do that."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"You guys ever heard dead baby jokes? I got a dead baby: his name was Joaquin Oliver, he was gonna be 18. But now he's dead. And that's not a joke," he added.
PARKLAND VICTIM'S FATHER SLAMS LOUIS C.K. IN STAND-UP COMEDY SET
Now Oliver's taking his serious message to the nation.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Warning: Video contains explicit language
Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., announced Oliver would be his guest to President Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday.
"I’m honored to have @manueloliver00 as my #SOTU2019 guest. Manny & Patricia carry on their son Joaquin’s memory & the 16 others lost on 2/14 through their artwork, activism & unyielding commitment to change. We need to make this a #SOTU2EndGunViolence," Deutch tweeted on Monday, garnering more than 3,000 likes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Like Deutch, Oliver also hopes Trump tackles the issue of gun violence plaguing the country in his second speech to Congress.
LOUIS C.K. MOCKS PARKLAND STUDENTS IN NEW STAND-UP SET
"I’ll be at the sotu tomorrow. I wonder if Trump will address the real national emergency—the 40k gun deaths that take innocent lives like my son, Joaquin’s #SOTU2019," Oliver tweeted, taking a jab at Trump's recent threat to declare a national emergency over his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Oliver isn't the only Parkland parent who will be among the State of the Union crowd Tuesday night. At least two others — Fred Guttenberg, a guest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Andy Pollack, a guest of Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican — will be in attendance, according to The Washington Post.
“As a father, I need to protect my son no matter what. Anybody who fools around with the memory of my son, I will stand up against anyone. I don’t care. It’s not a funny thing,” Oliver told the newspaper.
Guttenberg joined Oliver in denouncing Louis C.K. in December after hearing his Parkland-related commentary.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"To anyone who knows Louis CK, please deliver this message for me. My daughter was killed in the Parkland shooting. My son ran from the bullets. My wife and I deal with loss every day. Why don't you come to my house and try out your new pathetic jokes?" Guttenberg, the father of 14-year-old Jaime, asked in a tweet at the time, receiving more than 60,000 likes.
Following backlash from the set, Louis C.K. later explained himself to a crowd in San Jose, California.
“The whole point of comedy is to say things that you shouldn’t say. That’s the entire point,” he said in mid-January, according to The Daily Beast.
Fox News' Jessica Sager contributed to this report.