You can read the full backstory about Patel’s performance here. He has responded by writing a column for the New York Times:
I Was Kicked Off Stage by College Students. Did I Deserve It?I’ve experienced a lot of strange things while performing comedy: Rosario Dawson made fun of me while I was bombing in front of hundreds of Bernie Sanders fans. I once had to tell the crowd mid-show that the venue was closing for an impromptu health inspection. On Nov. 30, I performed stand-up as part of an annual event put on by the Asian-American Alliance at Columbia, and about 20 minutes into the show, my microphone was cut off.It wasn’t because of some fire code violation, or because some violently drunk heckler and I were about to fistfight. It was because three student organizers came onstage and politely told me they were going in a different direction with the next 30 minutes of my remaining time after deciding my material was offensive.This was the joke that prompted their decision, slightly paraphrased:I open by saying I live in Hell’s Kitchen, a diverse area in New York populated by, among others, gay black men who are not shy about telling me they don’t approve of what I’m wearing. I try to learn things from everyone I encounter, and one day I realize oh, this is how you know being gay can’t be a choice — no one would choose to be gay if they’re already black. No one is doubling down on hardship. Then I say, no black dude wakes up and thinks that being a black man in America is too easy. No black dude says, “I’m going to put on a Madonna halter top and some Jordans and make an Indian dude real uncomfortable.” That’s not a choice.The joke bombed — total silence in the crowd of several hundred students — but I didn’t think anything was abnormal.
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