Was there any sort of real backlash against Sam Kinison?
Even if a lot of his material has admittedly, not aged well.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/remarks.php?trope=Main.CondemnedByHistoryshare
Sam Kinison was highly popular in the 1980s, helped by being taken under the wing of Rodney Dangerfield who opened a lot of doors for him in the standup world. His style of insane screaming inspired by his prior career as a Pentecostal preacher was unlike anything else in comedy at the time, and his tragic death in a car accident just increased his legend. Unfortunately, even at the time his act came under fire for its undeniable misogyny, racism, and homophobia, which like the above-mentioned Andrew Dice Clay was very hard to tell if it was part of a staged character or his actual opinions. As society keeps moving on from this kind of material, it becomes harder and harder to admit you were ever a fan.