Robin Williams vs. Australia - Williams is right

Australia seems to have less love for Robin Williams of late. The feeling might well be shared in reverse.

Robin Williams actually started all the fuss. He was on the David Letterman Show, and at 4:01 on the video he talks about Australia. It only takes a couple of seconds before he hits the nail on the head.



This goes on for a bit (4 minutes roughly back and forth). He denotes the redneck nature of the people (probably not all of them), the potential for some to drink their own piss, and decribes Australian Rules Footabll as a scene more likely to be found in Caligula than a sports arena. Then he plugs his film Happy Feet 2 (yes the kids will get more animated penguins soon). Then he gets in a dig on Prime Minister Rudd.

Well the Prime Minister of Australia didn't take kindly to the description of his country.

"I think Robin Williams should go and spend a bit of time in Alabama before he frames comments about anyone being particularly redneck." - Prime Minister Rudd

You know, Alabama isn't the greatest place in America when it come to historical (or likely current) events. But I think Prime Minister Rudd thinks Australia's shit doesn't stink.

They are the nation that turned the image of Snow White into a slut. They embarrassed Harry Connick Jr. with their rip-off version of the Gong Show (Hey Hey It's Saturday), which featured a beloved (among Australian Whites only) group called the "Jackson Jive" - 5 White Australians in blackface (interesting how this video got removed from Youtube after it got thousands of hits).

They promoted anorexia with their Australian Miss Universe choice - Stephanie Naumoska. Plus it's the nation where their movie execs (at least one publicly) felt the need to insult Oscar Award winner Forest Whitaker, first on his looks and then on his ability to act and be accepted by audiences.

But let's not forget, most of all, that Australia is a nation renown for their abuse and racial intolerance to the indigenous people of Australia, the Aborigines. In fact they are so well known for it that more than a few of the music entertainers from the nation (that are internationally known) BECAME popular for songs denouncing the racist attitudes in the nation.



Does Alabama still have problems? Sure does. But Prime Minister Rudd, if you don't want Australians called rednecks I can easily come up with a few more salty and far more accurate names to use instead.

Should David Letterman be fired?

When I first wrote about the inexcusable comment that David Letterman made about the daughters of Gov. Sarah Palin, I was firmly entrenched in the thought that it was political. And an insult to all women. It was more than just a “bad joke”.

To say it was merely a bad joke is to say that inferring lewd sexual acts between a young woman and a man 2x her age is occasionally good natured. Which I do not agree with. To also have that joke be ambiguous such that it can be related to a 14 year old minor is even worse.

But that is part of my problem with this whole situation. Letterman continues to insist that the joke is about an 18 year old young woman. As if that excuses the whole thing. As if everyone had understood that he was directing the joke at this young woman, as he now claims, that it would have been ok. No, it does not become ok just because one daughter is of legal age and another is not.

But the people now calling for Letterman to be fired are solely focused on the 14 year old. Because it adds fire to the flame. Inferring that an 18 year old is fair game. Which I beg to differ on.

If the calls for Letterman to be fired were solely based on the repulsive nature of the comment, and the fact that it was driven by Letterman’s barely held back hate of Conservatives and Republicans, then I can see its merit. There is little difference in what Letterman said and Don Imus.

After Don Imus publicly insulted the Rutgers basketball team, I was among those calling for him to be fired. Because he attacked a group of young women, without cause, who were non-public entities. In addition the attack by Imus was the kind of racial commentary that led to lynchings in the (not very distant) past.

A public figure, lashing out at non-public figures in a manner that is solely meant to denigrate the attacked is always wrong. And I support the removal of that public figure for such actions. It doesn’t matter if that person is White, Black, Hispanic, Male, Female, or whatever. The public airwaves are a sacred ground with protections that only mean something if we enforce them.

The Palin daughters are not public figures. The Governor of Alaska is. So just in the same way that attacks against the Obama daughters are insanely wrong, or attacks on college teams, or against your family, to attack the Palin’s is the same thing. Something that I find extreme Liberals like Letterman, and much of the major news media, fail to comprehend.

So that reasoning is worthy of firing Letterman. It is the same reason that Embassy Suites pulled their advertising from his show. Insulting women, because of a political belief of the attacker, just to be cruel and vile is hardly worth defending, or supporting with advertising.

Thus the focus really should shift from the claim that this was about a minor. This was a political attack and an attack that covered ANY young woman in a manner we would like to believe does not exist in the 21st century.

So does Letterman deserve to be fired?

Well this was done on public airwaves. It took a week before enough pressure hit Letterman to force him to make a barely sincere apology. In fact in reading his apology it becomes clear that this is more of a tactic to preserve his job than remorse over what was said, or the motivation for what spurred it.

Given how well this lines up to the reasons that Don Imus was rightly fired, I would have to say yes. David Letterman deserves to be fired. It is a terrible way to end a 30 year career, but Letterman knew what he was doing, and he didn’t care as long as he got to grandstand his hate of Conservatives and Republicans – especially in the case of Gov. Sarah Palin.

Will Letterman be fired? I doubt it. He has a huge following. He is a huge political supporter. He has the general support of Hollywood and the media in this political climate. His contempt of Conservative views is lauded across the internet and major media. He will more than likely weather this storm.

But I say again, David Letterman is the same as Don Imus in this situation. Thus I support the same end result. CBS should fire him now.

Michael Richards - 11.21.2006.2

I wanted to wait a while before speaking about the Mr. Michael Richards incident at the Laugh Factory last Friday. There were a few things I wanted to hear about and understand before forming a comment. Obviously when I heard via the media that Mr. Richards had made a tirade, using the n-word and other equally derogatory words, I was incensed. But I wanted to hear more, to get a full understanding, because we all know the media is hardly above sensationalizing a story, and slow to admit a mistake or retract a commentary. [See my comments about a Fox News comment at Letter to Fox News on Duke rape case news - 10.30.2006.1]

So as I worked today, I had the news on (like usual) and heard as things developed. I did not see the apology on the David Letterman Show last night. I have not heard Mr. Jerry Seinfeld’s comments. But I have heard the comments of Mr. Richards, and portions of his apology.

The news of this came out Monday, the show it happened on was Friday, and Mr. Richards performed another show on Saturday. I have not heard of him apologizing on stage Saturday for the previous meltdown. Mr. Richards was being heckled harshly while doing a stand-up routine. He is not a professional stand-up comedian, nor is he seasoned at it. In trying to go after the hecklers Mr. Richards lost it and hurled racial epitaphs including the N-word and a reference to being a klansman lynching a Black American. As he continued this barrage, the crowd which included many Latinos/Hispanics and African Americans became insulted and walked out. The owner of the Laugh Factory gave everyone a refund of their money, which was the first time he has done so in 20 years (according to his comments on Fox News with Mr. Neil Cavuto A 5:00 pm). According to the owner, speaking with Mr. Richards afterwards Mr. Richards wanted to go on-stage and apologize, he had tears and felt badly on what happened, and was told not to go out as right then it an apology would not be received well.

Those are the facts that I have been able to discern in various media so far.

I do not condone the actions of Mr. Michael Richards. I do not accept the excuse that Mr. Richards is inexperienced at stand-up comedy and had little practice dealing with hecklers. While Mr. Seinfeld’s belief of Mr. Richards not being a racist may be true, it is no excuse. I agree with Mr. Paul Rodriguez and many others in denouncing the manner in which Mr. Richards acted.

To be continued in part 2....