A Catholic University Cut Hannibal Buress's Mic Over a Joke About the Church's History of Sex Abuse

Last night, comedian Hannibal Buress performed a stand-up set at Loyola University Chicago. But when he cracked a joke about the Catholic Church’s history of child molestation and sex abuse, the university reportedly cut his mic, prompting a slew of boos from the audience.

According to the Loyola Phoenix, Buress told the joke while he showed the audience an email from the Jesuit university’s administration that forbade him from making jokes about “rape, sexual assault, race, sexual orientation/gender,” or “illegal drugs.” Buress didn’t take too kindly to the school’s censorship, however, and according to Consequence of Sound, he told the audience, “Bitch ass old people, I can project. Y’all fuck kids, right?” So, the school silenced his mic.

Apparently, Buress tried to continue his set without sound, but the staff in charge of the set’s sound turned up the music to drown him out, so he took a 15 minute recess. The crowd reportedly booed and chanted for Buress to return, motivating campus security to position themselves in front of the stage. “I literally thought like I was about to witness a riot and I was ready to participate,” student Ally Boly told the Loyola Phoenix.

Luckily, no riot ensued, and Buress eventually returned to the stage to finish the set, to a standing ovation. It looks like the rest of the show went smoothly:

It’s not clear why Loyola University Chicago, which has not yet responded to Jezebel’s request for comment, even booked Buress in the first place, considering he’s not one for sanitized sets. And since his 2014 standup routine calling attention to Bill Cosby’s alleged history of rape prompted the media to revisit the accusations against Cosby, eventually triggering a sexual assault trial (and subsequent retrial), that’s probably a good thing.