Rickles was still going strong in June 2012 when, during the American Film Institute’s tribute to actress Shirley MacLaine, he joked that he “shouldn’t make fun of the blacks. President Obama is a personal friend of mine. He was over to the house yesterday, but the mop broke.”
Yeah, he was the last guy on earth to be able to say something like that without a huge backlash.
Was it because he could poke at his own jewish self too?
I don’t know, but the guy was a laugh riot to someone like me who despises PC.