The thing about Ann Coulter and her latest remarks about John Edwards being a “faggot,” is that to me, viewed in context, knowing it’s a spoof on Isaiah Washington, it actually does play like a joke.
The only problem is that she’s not a comedian, and wasn’t in a comedy club. Guys like Andrew Dice Clay and Nick DiPaolo say shit like that all the time, but they aren’t paraded on news channels as serious pundits and thinkers. If Ann were to ply her trade in comedy clubs, she’d have a following, and people wouldn’t react as viscerally…but the “just a joke” defense just isn’t as workable if you’re going to parade yourself as a serious political commentator. Everyone knows that if, say, Bill Maher appeared at a Democratic fundraiser and said something off-color, the right would be all over it.
I’ve always been amused by how straight-laced religious conservative types gleefully laugh when Coulter makes date-rape jokes about Bill Clinton (witnessed firsthand at the Liberty Film Fest). These are the same people who complain there’s too much sex talk on TV.
Ann has said far worse things than the faggot joke. Wishing journalists dead is fairly unforgivable to me, since many of my best friends are journos.
But if it really is “just a joke,” Ann, and you really follow a capitalist worldview, go out there and promote your stuff as humor. Compete in the comedy clubs. Shit, you can’t be less funny than Ned “Carlos Mencia” Holness, and he has enough of a following to get on TV.
Just don’t try to persuade us that you’re serious. And those of you on the right who enjoy her “humor,” quit trying to pretend she’s serious. I’ll accept her as a humorist when she consistently promotes herself as same.
Did you see Isaiah Washington receiving an Image Award? Did somebody there missed the Golden Globes? Might as well give Michael Richards, best standup comedian…
I’ve always wanted to see bill maher debate dennis miller. Not so see who has the better politics, but to see who’s the more annoying comedian. It would be a photo finish.
Good points by all. She would have had a good point had she left it merely at fact bringing up Isaiah Washington’s “incident”… there’s a million contradictions in how he, Gibson, and Richards can make these bigoted statements, yet still be able to show up on a set for work as usual, and release a film, respectively, just by making a passive “apology” through a PR rep and some kind of “rehab”. It’s not that everyone has to be blacklisted, or that someone can’t truly be forgiven. But incidents like these are more about the protection of assets and drawing press for others than they are about firmly standing for a diverse, evolved society. Washington even gets an award from the NAACP, who *definitely* should know better. Richards wasn’t really working anyway, but the incident was used as control damage to protect the release of the new Seinfeld box set.
What the liberal media – and consumers – tell us (and Coulter both sort of addressed, and now is an example of) is that you can be a bigoted asshole of any kind as long as a. you’re making someone some money b. giving the networks and their rags and awards shows an audience and c. you feign an apology immediately afterward. Paris Hilton has been seen on home video making racist and homophobic statements and she still carries on as before… because she’s got hella cash. I have yet to her anyone with any power to call her out. Ludacris was recently photographed lovin’ up on her at her birthday party, where he performed. Instead of giving Isaiah an award, why aren’t the NAACP doing something about that?
So Coulter had a good point there, except that she used the observation to use a stinging word, as insult both John Edwards and gays, in one fell swoop. No way around it… she called him a faggot, point blank. And in doing so, says that being gay is offesnsive. A three-fer, in all. She’s right not to respond with an apology. In this case, we already knew she was a dirtbag, so what else would we expect her to say? She could apologize, but it doesn’t change that she’s a dirtbag, and she’s still going to get more coverage… she’s smart enough to see the previous examples get away with it, but she’s not going to embarass herself by caving in to whiny comments. Apologizing isn’t what Ann Coulter does… she hasn’t needed to apologize for far worse statements, and she’s still practically a household name… she makes her detractors look like a joke in the process, as she’s playing them and using their resources. She apparently has at least one close gay friend and hangs out sometimes at gay-populated events in private. But she has a public persona to uphold… and liberals let her maintain it. They have on on talk shows, in their rags, because she’s ratings gold of some kind and sells books.
This is one where everyone on either side of the coin is an asshole. If these matters really meant anything to Jews, blacks, gays and white liberals, there would be boycotts of a great magnitude… you hit some corporations in the pocket as we have the power to, and as most great changes in this country have come about… and though it won’t stop or reduce bigotry, you can be sure that we’ll see and hear less of it portrayed as though it’s okay. Less tolerance for intolerance, if you will.
Ooops, that was me, of course… I forgot to erase my “Wally” ID from me poking you the other day.
Bill Maher versus Dennis Miller certainly should happen.
However, I think Mencia’s more annoying than both, but with a much smaller vocabulary, and jokes he stole from other comedians.
Well granted, but who would want to debate him? Better he should have to have a five round Utimate Fighting match with joe rogan to decide who has to leave show business forever.
Jaye is on the money with “…And in doing so, says that being gay is offensive.”
That’s the bottom line…period.
Well granted, but who would want to debate him?
I vote for Cathy Seipp’s frequent commenter “Mark.”