In an interview with The Daily Beast before Thursday night’s celebration of South Park’s upcoming 20th season at The Paley Center in Los Angeles, Comedy Central president Kent Alterman shed some light on how conservative pundit Ann Coulter ended up appearing on the network’s roast of actor Rob Lowe, set to air on Labor Day. Alterman said she got gig “the same way as everyone else,” describing those decisions as an “intersection between mutual interests.” Coulter is currently promoting her new book, In Trump We Trust.
Following the event, which was taped this past Saturday, Coulter told The Hollywood Reporter that she has “no idea” why she was invited to be a part of the roast, and said that the decision to turn the show into a roast of her instead of Lowe “probably has something to do with Comedy Central’s corporate decision to move away from comedy.” In response that claim, Alterman said, “Everyone is a target at the roasts so she wasn’t singled out in that regard. Every single roaster comes up and roasts everyone who’s up on the dais.” Perhaps she didn’t know what she was getting into? “We didn’t prevent her from watching any roasts,” he added.
Comedian Jeff Ross, who dressed as Prince for the event, said this week that Coulter was “paid” to be part of the roast and is “full of shit” for alleging otherwise. His jokes about Coulter, which can be seen in the preview clip below, included suggesting that if she “wants to help Donald Trump make America great again” she could “start by wearing a burka” and telling her, “you have a face that would make doves cry.”
—Matt Wilstein
