The first teaser trailer for the new The Naked Gun movie dropped last weekend. The reboot of the 1988 film will replace Leslie Nielsen, who passed away in 2010, with Liam Neeson as the film’s lead. The trailer shares a comedic identity with the original franchise as both are a spoof of the action movie genre. Some have resisted the new film, claiming that Leslie Nielsen’s iconic performance can’t be matched, even by a talented actor such as Neeson.
Others have attacked the film for being another reboot, amidst a surplus of low-quality, tiresome remakes such as Disney’s recent Snow White flop. Critiques of these movies center around the accusation that audiences are being nostalgia-baited. They are being drawn in through easily recognizable intellectual property, only to be served a bland interpretation that can’t justify its own existence. The actual comedy found within the new Naked Gun trailer has also garnered a few eye rolls, as it strays a bit from the grounded, deadpan personality of the original.
The controversy worth paying attention to comes in the last few seconds of the trailer, as it closes with an O.J. Simpson joke. Without being lewd or distasteful, the teaser offers up a bite-sized piece of indelicate, edgy humor. The joke prods at the viewer, prioritizing a silly moment above an otherwise serious matter. It’s a brief moment that makes the audience question whether or not they should have laughed at that. The snicker has already escaped, and there’s no putting it back.
Since the rise of at-home streaming services, middle-budget comedy movies have become a rarity. Comedy films don’t ensure the same box office success that can be guaranteed by big-name blockbusters. As a result, most new comedy films are ushered straight onto streaming platforms without any theatrical release. Apart from a few rare occurrences, these often debut to little or no fanfare and fall to the wayside within the week.
Fueling the fire of the genre’s disappearance is a cultural resistance. The rise of inclusive, equitable, and safe ideologies has severely limited what is considered “socially acceptable.” What was once considered tongue-in-cheek is now subject to ethical judgement of leftism. Absurdity can’t be pointed out because it might hurt someone’s feelings. For the sake of parody being too close to reality, humor has been shuttered away, hidden from the vengeful eye of public scrutiny.
In October of 2024, at one of the most crucial moments in Donald Trump’s pursuit for re-election, he held a rally at Madison Square Garden. Among the rally headliners was comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian well known for his podcast Kill Tony. During the rally, Hinchcliffe made a now-infamous joke about Puerto Rico that received a tremendous amount of backlash. Many political experts were preemptively blaming his joke for being the deathblow to Trump’s campaign.
Yet, November 2024 happened, and Trump walked away from the election with an overwhelming margin of victory. Clearly, the off-color joke hadn’t soured voters to the extent that mainstream media had accused. The joke that launched a thousand angry think-pieces didn’t move the needle for Kamala. Jon Stewart even defended Hinchcliffe, claiming that it was on par with that comedian’s style of humor. As public figures unclenched their pearls, the door to comedy was opened. Straying from the liberally ordained moral compass hadn’t resulted in social annihilation.
Shane Gillis saw a similar trajectory when he was fired from NBC’s Saturday Night Live only four days after he was hired. The show booted Gillis after an older clip of him emerged in which the young comedian used a term that was deemed racially insensitive. In March of 2025, Gillis’ remarks were forgotten, and he was invited back to host SNL. Apparently, the jokes previously stalled his career were no longer significant.
Even well-established comedy legends were unable to escape the corporate media’s outrage. When Dave Chappelle released a special in late 2023, he was widely criticized for joking about hot button issues such as transgenderism and disabled people. Upon its release, the special was considered catastrophic, only for all the controversy to have fizzled out within a few weeks.
The new Naked Gun movie will be one of the first theatrically released comedies since Hinchcliffe escaped a cultural death sentence. His evasion of cancel culture is an indicator for comedy writers that their work might have more leeway to be controversial. Movies that held back humorous punches for fear of being too offensive may now have the freedom to push those boundaries. The Naked Gun’s O.J. Simpson joke is an indicator that they may be willing to start testing those bounds again and reinvigorate the genre.
The term “free speech” is often used in reference to utterable truths, and comes up in the context of politics, judicial hearings, and rights. However, it is frequently overlooked with respect to being witty, jocular, and outright silly. A society that is afraid to laugh is also afraid to be honest.
Although many are cautious about rebooting The Naked Gun because of the hilariously high position it holds in comedy history, perhaps it is the perfect film to bring into the Trump era. Leslie Nielsen was fearlessly deadpan in his performance, making his one-liners land with an effective wallop. He inverted audiences’ expectations with ridiculous gags, allowing nonsensical situations to be laughed at for their foolishness. It was forthright and sincere. It poked fun at reality.
For a long time, the liberal worldview demanded that people deny reality in favor of identity politics. As the punishments of cancel culture become inconsequential, their threat is diminished. Donald Trump didn’t just win the presidential election, he also won back the freedom to be earnestly funny. In the words of Leslie Nielsen: “It’s a topsy-turvy world, and maybe these problems don’t amount to a hill of beans. But this is our hill. And these are our beans!”
Brooke Brandtjen is a writer and journalist from Wisconsin who focuses primarily on culture, politics, and religion. She is extremely passionate about the arts and history, and is honored to write for a variety of distinguished publications.
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