Things are not looking up for social media star Josh Ostrovsky, a.k.a. The Fat Jew — Comedy Central confirms the channel is no longer developing a show with the notorious Instagram comedian.
Plus, it just came to light that Seamless won't be renewing its deal with him.
Disdain for the Instagrammer is at an all-time high because of a recently inked deal with an A-list Hollywood agency that enraged comedians and writers who accuse him of stealing their jokes.
But Comedy Central tells us that plans for a "Fat Jew" TV show were off the table "several months ago."
"We had a script deal that didn't proceed to pilot," Comedy Central's Vice President of Communications, Jenny Runyan, told Tech Insider. "We currently have nothing in development with Josh Ostrovsky."
She refused to elaborate on why the deal fell apart, but confirmed it wasn't because of recent outcry against Ostrovsky.
Billboard reported news of the Comedy Central deal with Ostrovsky last August:
Ostrovsky says his Comedy Central pilot will tell the story of how his viral social media persona evolved. “It’s Louis-esque,” he says, referencing comedian Louis C.K.’s FX TV series. “You see an Instagram photo of me in a fountain of nacho cheese with Tyrese and a 9-year-old,” he says. “The show will answer, ‘How did we get there?’”
Spurred by the CAA deal, comedians and writers who claim they've been ripped off by Ostrovsky are now banding together to amplify their complaints about him online. The most widely circulated of these seems to be a blurb written by Maura Quint condemning his practices. It's been retweeted 3,500 times.
The complaints have mostly taken place on Twitter. Storify has a list of 50 allegedly stolen jokes, compiled by Kevin Kelly.
Whether or not Comedy Central pulled the plug because of his alleged joke-swiping, it seems like Ostrovsky could probably use a big glass of that rosé he's been peddling.
