Posted on 09/04/2007 10:24:22 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
US comedian Jerry Lewis apologised today for his use of an anti-gay slur during the weekend broadcast of his annual Labor Day Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
The controversial remark came yesterday in the 18th hour of the live national telecast, when a visibly weary Lewis, 81, was joking on stage, pretending to introduce members of someone's family as he mugged for the camera.
"Oh, your family has come to see you. You remember Bart, your oldest son, Jesse, the illiterate fag ...," Lewis said, as he apparently caught himself and ceased the gag in mid-sentence, turning on his heel away from the camera.
A clip of the incident surfaced on a number of Internet sites today, including TMZ.com, drawing a condemnation from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
"Jerry Lewis' on-air use of this kind of anti-gay slur is simply unacceptable," GLAAD President Neil Giuliano said, adding that the comic's remark "feeds a climate of hatred and intolerance" that could incite anti-gay violence.
GLAAD urged Lewis to apologise for the comment and asked the entertainer to meet with members of the group "to help him understand why these words are so hurtful".
Lewis issued a statement later in the day through organisers of the telethon saying he was sorry "to anyone who was offended".
"I obviously made a bad choice of words. Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard," he said.
"The success of the (telethon) and all the good that will come from it shouldn't be lost because of one unfortunate word. I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses. I am sorry."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Jerry Jerry Jerry, love ya man, but there was no need to apologize.
Since when did we have the right not to be offended?
I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THESE FRIGGIN PROFECIONALY OFFENDED HOMOSEXUALS.
k, deep breath...
This sort of apology will likely not be enough to appease the homo-Nazis. He will most likely be required to go into rehab and ‘donate’ a huge sum of money to a ‘gay cause’.
Good luck Jerry, you’ll need it.
“Gay”? What does the word “gay” mean? A totally innocuous word snatched by homosexuals who have anal sex.
I always understood that “faggot” came from “flaming” which came from “flamboyent.”
My wife and I were discussing “faggot” in terms of the movie “Birdcage.” Wasn’t “faggot” used in that movie without repercussion....and as an acceptable description of Robin William’s character?
For what? The guy is like 250 years old now-does he have to take drastic measures to save his career?
In a kinder, more gracious and congenial era, it meant "happy and lighthearted."
The professional homosexual activists don't strike me as being happy and lighthearted at all.
Dean Martin would smack them around.
C’mon Jerry, we’re rooting for ya.
GLAAD must’ve been on vacation when Chrissy Matthews called Senator Craig a sexual deviant.
And Jerry, don’t let them confuse you with associating skin color with sexual activity, as in riding on the civil rights movement coattails.
Remember, sex = behavior
Skin color = ethnicity
For what? The guy is like 250 years old now-does he have to take drastic measures to save his career?
And he's sick as well, I believe from diabetes as I recall.
As to taking drastic measures to save his career, that's been the typical pattern in this sort of scenario.
The fact that he is an icon in the entertainment industry only means that he has deep pockets to the professional activists.
There’s a tape recording of Dean Martin singing a parody for a crowd where he uses “the word”.
Then again Barbra(sic) Streisand used the same word Jerry Lewis used on the set of Indiana Jones In The Temple of Doooooom (it is in the blooper reel as she’s whipping Harrison Ford with a limp wrist). Never seemed to be a problem for her career.
Nah, Frank would’ve smacked ‘em. Dino would’ve laughed at ‘em.
I seem to recall the word “faggot” to be the name for cigarette in England. Basil Rathbone in one of his old Sherlock Holmes radio shows says it...I’ve got every SH radio show in my collection and frequently listen to them especially when I want to remember what english sounds like and how it should be spoken.
Depends on if you are spouting their party line enough.
I have a friend who objects to describe them them as “gay” and insists that they be called homosexual. On the other hand, I like the biblical term “sodomite”.
The only time I hear “English” on the radio is when some smarmy liberal “hostess” is advertising something (like the Ethiopia exhibit at the museum or the wasteful “energy hog”).
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