Between films like Bad Moms, as well as Girls Trip and Rough Night, the last few years have seen a significant boom in female-oriented comedies and female comedians in general. The growth has carved out a very specific subgenre of stand-up, but that doesn't mean that these developments haven't come without their fair share of controversy as well. In fact, it now looks like Last Comic Standing winner Iliza Shlesinger is now looking at a lawsuit for gender discrimination after a pair of men was denied entry into a women's only show.
According to a report from EW, stand-up comedian Iliza Shlesinger is being sued for her recent live special. The show is titled Girls Night In With Iliza --- No Boys Allowed, and as you might already be able to guess, it has drawn the ire of men who were barred from the show for perceived gender discrimination. More specifically, the complaint was filed by a man who (along with a friend) paid for a ticket to the show, and was denied entry to the venue when the time came for the show to begin. The plaintiff is now seeking compensation for financial damages, sensitivity training for Shlesinger, and an injunction to prevent the defendants from partaking in this perceived form of discrimination in the future.
For people who have kept up with her comedy, it's not necessarily surprising that Iliza Shlesinger would hold a show like this. Her comedy typically comes from a particular, female point of view, so it makes a certain degree of sense to have a show like that.
This is not the first time that a women-only event has rocked the pop culture landscape. In fact, it's not even the first time that it has happened this year. When Wonder Woman premiered earlier this year, the DCEU solo film similarly drew controversy when exclusively female screenings were planned at theaters across the country. It's becoming increasingly clear that situations such as these may continue to occur (and even happen with the genders switched, which happened with Star Wars: The Last Jedi), so we will just have to wait and see how the conversation evolves after this particular case.
CinemaBlend will bring you more information related to this legal situation as more information becomes available to us. Elsewhere in the world of television, you can check out our fall premiere guide and our midseason premiere guide to see what the next few months have in store, and you can listen to the most recent episode of The Cord Cutter Podcast to get our insight on the world of streaming content.
