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Loyola Chicago Cuts Hannibal Buress' Mic 5 Minutes Into His Show Because He Made A Joke About The Catholic Church

CHICAGO TRIBUNEThe weekend was not entirely sweet at Gentile Arena for Loyola University Chicago students. Hannibal Buress’ Saturday night show at Loyola, a Jesuit Catholic university, was almost cut short after the 35-year-old Chicago comedian made a joke referencing sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church, attendees confirmed to the Tribune.

Buress was to perform a standup set as part of Loyola’s annual Colossus show, put on by Loyola’s student-run Department of Programming in the Gentile Arena, home of the school’s basketball teams. He made it a few minutes before his microphone shut off.

Buress opened the set by projecting an email from Loyola about guidelines for the performance, including content restrictions regarding rape, sexual assault, race, sexual orientation/gender and illegal drugs. He then made a joke connecting the rules to the Catholic Church’s history of child abuse. And the mic went out.

“We didn’t even realize that that happened for a few seconds because everybody was still laughing about the joke,” said Samantha Nieto, a Loyola graduate student in attendance.

I feel like it’s been sooooo long since we’ve had a good pussification of college campuses story.  Maybe it’s just because it’s so the norm now that people don’t even notice?  Feel like ever since the whole Mizzou fiasco it’s just globally accepted what college has become PC-wise.  So it’s nice and refreshing to get back in the mix with administrators cutting the mic of a stand up comedian that they paid to do comedy because he did comedy.

According to attendees, Buress tried to then perform without a mic, but background music in the arena was turned up and the lights went on. He eventually left the stage. Boos and calls for refunds from the audience followed. Campus safety officers took up places throughout the arena.

“They pretty much shut it down,” said William Hansberry, a Loyola freshman.

It’s not Loyola’s fault that Hannibal Buress does not have any of his material available for free previewing on any open source network such as the internet.  How the hell were they supposed to know the guy would make an offensive joke?

A place so obsessed with not saying a bad word about the Catholic Church or priests having Hannibal Buress come perform at their school is almost funnier than any standup I’ve ever seen.

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William Hansberry, preach it to me!

Buress returned after a break to finish his set, continuing to joke about the content restrictions. According to attendees, he also made a joke about his paycheck for the performance already clearing.

“I just thought it was kind of ridiculous how Loyola encourages us to think in a critical manner, that critiques institutions, and then they’re an institution that can’t handle the critique,” said Hansberry. “The comedian before Hannibal was swearing just as much and had no problem.”