Aziz Ansari Declares His Feminism With a Jay-Z and Beyonce Reference

By
ETONLINE

It seems like everyone is talking about feminism lately, including Aziz Ansari.

The comedian declared himself a feminist during an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, citing his influential girlfriend as "a big feminist." Then he opened it up to the audience, asking the crowd to clap if they too considered themselves feminists.

WATCH: Nasim Pedrad Does a Mean Aziz Impression

Those who didn't clap were then treated to a lesson in gender equality.

"If you look up feminist in the dictionary, it just means someone who believes men and women have equal rights," Ansari said before launching into a pitch-perfect pop culture example.

"You're a feminist if you go to a Jay-Z and Beyoncé concert and you're not like, 'I feel like Beyoncé should get 23 percent less money than Jay-Z," he said. "'Also, I don't think Beyoncé should have the right to vote and why is Beyoncé singing and dancing? Shouldn't she make Jay a steak? I’m sure he's very tired after walking and rapping those two songs.'"

WATCH: Emma Watson's Inspiring U.N. Gender Equality Speech

See the full clip below.

Kudos to Ansari's girlfriend who, according to Jezebel, is professional chef Courtney McBroom, for getting Aziz on board with feminism and vocal about gender equality. (Perhaps Leslie Knope also had something to do with it?) Either way, it’s refreshing to see a male comic speak up on the subject on such a public platform.

But feminism wasn't the only thing on Ansari’s mind during the interview. He also recounted an awkward text message exchange (or lack thereof) with Blake Lively.

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