He called 62.9M voters
“stupid assholes.”
On election night 2016, Patton Oswalt tweeted he was “shitting things he didn’t eat into pants he wasn’t wearing.” That was the measured take. What followed was nine years of escalating commentary — “racist scrotum,” “18-wheeler of monkeys on PCP,” calling 62.9 million voters “stupid assholes” — a groveling public apology to trans activists for knowing Dave Chappelle, a flopped Netflix special, and a 2025 public dressing-down from Bill Maher. All documented. All still searchable.
Election night 2016: the pants tweet.
November 8, 2016. Results are coming in. Patton Oswalt — comedian, stand-up headliner, voice of Remy in Pixar’s Ratatouille, Spence Olchin on nine seasons of The King of Queens— takes to Twitter. His summary of the evening: “Election update: I am shitting things I didn’t eat into pants I’m not wearing.” HuffPost reported it the following morning as the definitive celebrity election night reaction. It was widely agreed to be accurate.
Also on election night, Oswalt tweeted: “What I’ve learned so far tonight: America is WAAAAAAAAY more sexist than it is racist. And it’s pretty fucking racist.” The tweet is still live. The analysis — that 62.9 million people chose Trump because of sexism and racism — would not be his final word on the subject.
“Election update: I am shitting things I didn't eat into pants I'm not wearing.”
Patton Oswalt — Election night, November 8, 2016 · Reported by HuffPost
From “racist scrotum” to “stupid assholes.”
The election night tweet was an opening bid. Over the next three years, Oswalt iterated on his Trump commentary with escalating creativity and diminishing returns. Each statement is documented. Each is still findable.
Interview with The Daily Beast. Oswalt argued Trump was 'jumping on something retroactively' by claiming victimhood over political correctness. 'No, you were always horrible.'
Oswalt described the 2016 election as a choice between 'this insanely qualified woman and then a racist scrotum dipped in Cheeto dust.' He called Trump's election proof that America 'isn't as progressive as it thinks it is.'
BuzzFeed News Facebook Watch interview. Oswalt's description of the Trump presidency as a unified concept. A high-water mark of the genre.
After Trump mocked 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter, Oswalt called both Trump and his supporters 'a--holes.' When a follower said the characterization was 'presumptuous,' Oswalt replied: 'Oh no my career what have i done.' He then doubled down with the explicit version.
He apologized to activists for knowing Dave Chappelle.
In January 2022, Oswalt posted a photo of himself with Dave Chappelle — his friend of 34 years. Trans activists objected, citing Chappelle’s Netflix special “The Closer,” which had contained jokes about transgender people. Oswalt deleted the photo and issued a public statement explaining he was “hearing” the concerns of those harmed.
Gutfeld covered the incident in detail, calling Oswalt “the friend from hell” — a man who had spent years publicly condemning Trump for intolerance had just publicly thrown a 34-year friend under the bus to appease the most intolerant corner of his own political coalition. Chappelle was not consulted. The apology was not retracted. The friendship reportedly survived; the photo did not.
“We All Scream.” The audience gave it a 5.9.
In 2022, Oswalt released his fourth Netflix special, “We All Scream.” IMDB audience rating: 5.9 out of 10 — well below his earlier work. His 2016 special “Talking for Clapping” had won both a Grammy and an Emmy. “Annihilation” (2017) was praised as one of the year’s best comedy specials. The political installment was reviewed charitably by The Daily Beast as “toothless.” Audience reviews used words like “preachy” and “not funny.”
Annihilation (2017): Critically acclaimed. Called one of the best comedy specials of the year.
I Love Everything (2020): Mixed response. Lighter material.
We All Scream (2022): 5.9/10 IMDB. Audience reviews: “preachy,” “toothless,” “repetitive.” The Trump material did not land. Oswalt did not adjust. He phone banked for Kamala Harris in swing states two years later. She lost all seven.
Then Bill Maher told him he was the problem.
In November 2025, Bill Maher — who is not a conservative — invited Oswalt onto his “Club Random” podcast and told him directly that he was living in a bubble. Maher’s argument: the left had gone too far on gender, race, schools, homelessness, crime, and the border, and figures like Oswalt were part of the reason voters had rejected Democrats twice.
Oswalt pushed back, claiming the left had “stayed scientific.” Maher contradicted him directly on transgender policy in schools. The exchange was covered by The Wrap and Daily Caller as a vivid example of left-on-left friction — and evidence that even Oswalt’s own side had started to notice what 62.9 million voters had been trying to communicate since 2016.
“What I've learned so far tonight: America is WAAAAAAAAY more sexist than it is racist. And it's pretty fucking racist.”
Patton Oswalt — Election night, November 8, 2016. Still live on X as of April 2026.
Nine years. Six incidents. Zero adjustments.
Patton Oswalt is a genuinely talented comedian. He won an Emmy and a Grammy for stand-up. He voiced a beloved Pixar rat. He wrote a memoir. He is not a stupid person. And yet: between 2016 and 2025 he called Trump an “ignorant, racist asshole,” called him a “racist scrotum dipped in Cheeto dust,” compared his presidency to a truck full of monkeys on PCP, called 62.9 million voters “stupid assholes,” apologized to online activists for posting a photo with his closest friend, delivered a Netflix special that audiences rated lower than a C+, phone banked for a candidate who lost every swing state, and was publicly lectured by Bill Maher for being out of touch. He has not indicated any awareness that this arc is notable.