Colin Quinn comes out as a white supremacist … or does he?

http://twitter.com/#!/andylevy/status/203234563839893504

So … a few interesting tweets recently appeared in comedian Colin Quinn’s Twitter stream:

Just read white birth rates overtaken by other races in the U.S.? Please let that be somebody's idea of a sick joke! #rightorwrong

— Colin Quinn (@iamcolinquinn) May 17, 2012

Nothing against anybody else but this is kind of..our country. Yes or no?

— Colin Quinn (@iamcolinquinn) May 17, 2012

Nothing against anybody else but this is kind of..our country. Yes or no?

— Colin Quinn (@iamcolinquinn) May 17, 2012

As one would expect, his tweets provoked a bit of an uproar. These are some of the responses he’s retweeted:

@iamcolinquinn OK SO YOU'RE A RACIST THAT BELIEVES IN WHITE POWER.

— Gerald Productions (@GProductionsNYC) May 17, 2012

I think @iamcolinquinn has just terminated his career…

— Malcolm Pollack (@mtpollack) May 17, 2012

https://twitter.com/#!/Rmiller775/status/203235784080375811

@iamcolinquinn Dude?! Again?! What the fuck is wrong with you? Is this a publicity thing, or do you really get off by hurting fellow humans?

— TJ Brown (@RealTJBrown) May 17, 2012

T-Minus 1 hour til @iamcolinquinn says his Twitter account was hacked cause he dun fucked up on a joke that didn't fly well..

— Chris Baldassano (@Baldassano) May 17, 2012

Shame on @iamcolinquinn and his racist rants. And this coming from an Italian immigrant. #ignoramus

— Sy Ableman (@MrSyAbleman) May 17, 2012

https://twitter.com/#!/chelsea_doll/status/203239695327563776

https://twitter.com/#!/davnetdoyle/status/203241989486022657

The thing is, though, retweeting is pretty much all he’s been doing. He tweeted out a few provocative things and then sat back to watch the responses come in. Like a comedian might do when he’s trying to get attention. But Quinn would never do something like that, would he?

If we had to guess, the point Quinn is trying to make is that racists are stupid and say stupid things. Freaking out about an increase in minority births is something a racist would do. And if someone you know said the kinds of things that Quinn wrote, wouldn’t you take that person for a fool? Most likely, yes. And you’d be right.

And not everyone took issue with Quinn’s chosen method of mocking racists:

@NikkiWZPL @iamcolinquinn This is why I got out of the sarcasm racket. I switched to exaggeration. What is it like 200 degrees today in LA?

— Andy Kindler (@AndyKindler) May 17, 2012

I'm hoping @iamcolinquinn rides this one out to it's hilarious conclusion. Colin Quinn is the Jonathan Swift of Twitter.

— Monty Singer (@MontySinger) May 17, 2012

@JoshTurnes @iamcolinquinn I'm a big fan of Tough Crowd and am very familiar with Colin Quinn's humor. It appears that you missed the "joke"

— Mister K (@mrkyll) May 17, 2012

Man @iamcolinquinn is the funniest mofo on twitter. Still dont understand why people dont get his character. Wayy too funny.

— David (@uprise49) May 17, 2012

The only people funnier than @iamcolinquinn are the dumbasses who take what he says seriously. Why follow him if you don't get his humor?

— Dennis Spicacci (@DSpicacci) May 17, 2012

.@iamcolinquinn is the best pot-stirrer ever. It's never unfunny to see how many people take everything seriously. I love it.

— Tony Malfitano (@malf922) May 17, 2012

https://twitter.com/#!/MikeTheTrooper/status/203245742058508288

Seems there are still plenty of people who are in on the joke. This is just how Quinn rolls. But will this kind of Twitter performance art cause problems for him? Judging by the fact that his follower count has held steady, this stunt isn’t likely to hurt him.

Stephen Kruiser, a comedian himself, weighed in:

@AlexaShrugged To highlight the intolerance of the supposed tolerant. Really not hard to figure out. @LisaDeP

— SFK (@stephenkruiser) May 17, 2012

@AlexaShrugged I'm more amused by the fact the no one can plainly see it's an over the top ploy, however offensive it might be.

— SFK (@stephenkruiser) May 17, 2012

@AlexaShrugged My most favorite things to do on stage (& sometimes here) are things that make most ppl say "I don't get it."

— SFK (@stephenkruiser) May 17, 2012

@AlexaShrugged I just do what I do. They come along for the ride & enjoy. If I wanted to pander I'd be a prop comic or a ventriloquist.

— SFK (@stephenkruiser) May 17, 2012

@AlexaShrugged Honestly, there's a chunk of my act that I don't get & the audience does. It evens out.

— SFK (@stephenkruiser) May 17, 2012

Looks like Quinn’s gonna do what he’s gonna do; it’s up to the audience whether or not it wants to go along for the ride.