Comedian Gary Owen is bringing his personal life on stage yet again regarding a legal dispute with his ex wife Kenya Duke.
The Ohio native posted a video on Wednesday, Sept. 18, of his material during his show at the Helium Comedy Club in Philadelphia.
Wearing a black Patriots-themed shirt and black cap, the clip started with Owen saying, “At one point my ex-wife was asking for $44,000 a month in alimony.”
‘That’s a lot,” he added before the crowd quickly reacted with a bunch of “ooos” chiming throughout the room.
Owen told Shannon Sharpe on “Club Shay Shay” that he filed for divorce from Duke in 2021 in Ohio before she filed shortly afterward in Los Angeles, citing infidelity. Roughly two months later, Duke filed more documents seeking $44,000 in spousal support from Owen to help support her and their children financially.
Responding to his audience, Owen said, “I would never do that. Like if the roles were reversed, and she made more money than me, I would never be like ‘I want $44,000 a month. No.”
Eventually Owen caught on to what some women in the audience were saying because the clip cuts to him addressing one of them. “Why’d you say I was lying?”
Replaying the scenario, he broke down step by step what happened saying, “I heard you say it was $44,000. I would never ask for that much. And you was like, ‘you lyin.’” He then asked the woman “You think I would do that?” to which she said, “Yes. I think a man would do that, yes.”
The clarification that the woman speaking generally about men seemed to bring him some relief. He jokingly said, “A man, yeah — I wouldn’t.”
But another woman challenged Owen further, saying, “Yes you would,” to which he responded, “No, no, no, no I wouldn’t” as they went back and forth.
The father of five ended the conversation by quipping, “Got some bitter-ass women here in Philly. I’ll tell you that sh-t now.”
Addressing the men in the room, he said, “G-dd-mn fellas. What the f-ck is wrong with the females in Philly.” Before signing off he said, “Bitter-ass women over here. Stop being so mad. Go to McDonald’s, take your baby.”
Gary uploaded the short clip to his Instagram and deleted it within two hours. The clip is still available on YouTube, where commentators had a lot to say about the heckler in the audience.
One person said, “how she gonna tell you what YOU would do? …she wild!”
Another said, “Damn she angry at the world.”
The last time Owen made remarks about her or their children, Duke blasted her ex-husband online. However, it’s unclear this time if she encouraged him to delete the post on Instagram.
But it’s clear the “Meet the Blacks” actor will often use his real life as inspiration. At a comedy show back in July, a crowd member asked if he and his ex got along. Owen claimed they were “cordial. But yeah, I wouldn’t say we’re best buds.”
“I just, I need someone to f—king d—k her down. I think that’ll do it,” he said hinting at wwhat would help ease tensions between the two. “Like blow her f—king back all the way out. She’ll probably be like, ‘How you doing, Gary?’”
The former couple were married for 18 years. Since the divorce filing, Owen and his two adult children, daughter Kennedy, son Austin, and Duke’s older son, Emilio, whom the comedian adopted, have become estranged. His ex-wife made numerous claims that Owen was a “deadbeat” who abandoned her and their kids and stopped caring for them financially in April 2021.
#DivestTwitter takes another “L”😭😭😭
Kenya Drake:
Gary Owen is financially abusive and a dead beat father. He used “Us” his “Swirly” biracial family for punchlines.Gary Owen: pic.twitter.com/mZxMJvAyNX
— #FirstThem NEWS🇺🇸 (@FirstThemNEWS) June 8, 2021
Duke has also hinted that the “Think Like a Man” actor cheated on her numerous times, which he admitted and he knows exactly why his kids want nothing to do with him.
But Owen has since moved on and welcomed twin boys, Royal and Rome, with his fiancée, Brianna Johnson.
As for Duke, she seems to have little to no regrets about the divorce with the “Comic View” standup. She told Hype Comedy, “His cheating or whatever he was out there doing, that don’t have nothing to do with me. That’s on him right. So I never felt responsible. Like someone could say ‘maybe you should have left earlier.’”
Duke went on to admit that she could’ve managed her money better as well during the marriage. In the spousal support filings, she said, “Twenty-three years ago, I left my promising career as an account manager to solely support Gary and his career.”
