However, Getting fired for saying words that offended some people is a ridiculous reason to fire someone who is a "shockjock". Now, Imus is a guy who insults pretty much everyone even if they don't deserve it, especially if they don't deserve it. Obviously the Rutgers Womens Basketball Team didn't deserve to be called "Nappy Hos" It WAS racist because it came in reference to the teams looks in comparison to the team that won the Finals.
Now, first of all, whatever happened to "Stick and Stones"? I mean, yeah it's offensive but they are just words, words that were repeated ad nauseum by pretty much every news reader out there. So if the words were that horrible, why would they be able to repeat it?
It's a tired old man trying to shock, using a 30's term for hair and an 80's bastardizing of the word whore. Bad Joke, Bad Joke. But the way you hear Al Sharpton talk it's like they brought Holocaust Slavery to the black race.
It's just words, one used constantly in hip hop, and the other in one of my favorite Stevie Wonder song "I Wish". I'm supposed to respect the courage of the team and the obstacles they had to overcome if they are blown away by an old fart saying dumb words? And when it's all said and done it was more misogynist than racist. It was mocking their looks and their femininity. To be fair the team didn't seem to mind at first until they got bombarded with phone calls asking for their reaction. I mean, they were hoping to hear from people with their triumph in being in the Basketball Finals or at least sympathy that they lost and missed the opportunity to be only the second team in all of sports to win a championship for the school of Rutgers. It gpot out of hand and take it from me, I've heard worse on your average right wing talk show.
And speaking of Ring Wing Whining Talk Show Hosts, Their recent Cause Celebre has been the Duke Lacrosse team. They were accused of rape in a party that got out of hand. Right from the start the Right Wing News took the team's side. I found it interesting they were quick to NOT judge this time. But I can't fault them, they were right, the kids lives were disrupted immensely by what would be false accusations. Still, these kids were boozing it up illegally, hiring strippers for their party and basically rabble rousing in a way that normally would be unacceptable to these right wing talk show hosts.
Anyway, I'm glad Imus is off the air, maybe something better will replace him, hopefully not Al Sharpton, even though I thought his speech was brilliant at the 2004 Democratic Convention.
So, in the spirit of freedom of speech I'm gonna link to various controversial things I found on the web that I think are funny but cringe worthy.
The first video is an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. As you can see by the frame grab,it's a bit racist featuring a hunter like Elmer Fudd but as a poor, lazy black man. It was typical of the stereotypes of blacks in those days, but the cartoon is pretty funny with a sight gag so brilliant it was used in a promo for TBS's presentation of the Bugs Bunny Show minus the indicator of the race of the hunter. Feel shame as you laugh at this. I saw this years ago on a bootleg tape.
The next one is a Warner Brothers cartoon I had always wanted to see, It's directed by the brilliant Bob Clampett. It's called Coal Black and The Sebben Dwarfs. It's racist, but more in the caricature vein. It's jazzy, makes good use of topical humor in regards to WWII, and So White is hot! It is considered a classic and thanks to Youtube, you can judge for yourself.
The next one is a Lenny Bruce routine made into a cartoon take of the Lone Ranger. It's typical Lenny Bruce wordplay, with some racial, homophobic overtones.
And here's a short that takes episodes of Seinfeld and mixes it with the Michael Richards career killing racist rant with hilarious results. The piece reminds us of how the normally white bread show, had some colorful moments.
And finally a link to
http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2005/associated-words-p1.php
which has the famous SNL clip of Richard Pryor taking an interview with Chevy Chase. You'll hear pretty much every racist epithet used. And you'll laugh.
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