Foul from the mouth of Naomi Judd (Calls Black Dancer a "Monkey" on Live National Television)

MSNBC ^ | March 12, 2003 | Jeanette Walls with Ashley Pearson

[Timesink]

Foul from the mouth of Naomi Judd
Plus: Pam Anderson — banned at ball? Crowe goes basilica

With Ashley Pearson
MSNBC

March 12 —  CBS was bombarded with complaints last week after “Star Search” judge Naomi Judd referred to a black dancer as a monkey. “I was stunned,” a source tells The Scoop. “She said it in a way that was meant to be funny and playful, but it was astonishingly racist and insensitive.”

       “I HEARD THAT the [CBS] switchboard really lit up,” the source said.
       Only moments later, after a trio of tap dancers, the un-PC singer announced that she loves it when white people tap dance.        “Totally bizarre comment, but yet another reason to make fun of Naomi,” one poster on Television Without Pity.com commented. “You’ve got to admit, she unintentionally provides comic relief to the show. Every time it’s her turn to vote, I think, ‘What stupid thing is she going to say now?’ ”
       “It’s a real problem,” said another “Star Search” fan who says that the country and western crooner once referred to a dance by three black women as “tribal.”
       Spokesmen for Judd and CBS didn’t return calls for comment.

[Timesink]

Guess we can look forward to a Judds/Dixie Chicks tour pretty soon ... in Europe.

[Illbay]

So you have NEVER seen any of the current crop of "hip-hop" dance acts, and NOT thought "hm, tribal"?

[dead]

Now I wish I watched it. She sounds loopy.

[WoodlandsTXFreeper]

Famous country singers are truly screwing the pooch this week, no?

[pfflier]

Howard Cosell lost his job over exactly that word in exactly that context.

[Moonman62]

Calling the ghost of Howard Cossell.

[ken5050]

No...Jimmy the Greek lost his job..and a few years ago, Billy Packer referred to Alan Iverson as monkey....he apologized about 6000 times on air..

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

So you have NEVER seen any of the current crop of "hip-hop" dance acts, and NOT thought "hm, tribal"?

LOL!

[Double Tap]

LOL!!!

I was thinking the same thing.

[Timesink]

Howard wasn't fired for that, was he? I think he got heat, but since it wasn't really the PC era yet, he just ignored everyone that bitched about it and went on with MNF.

[APBaer]

You dare call me from the Great Beyond to *THIS* thread?

[ServesURight]

Better than watching has-been rock stars on stage after freebasing cocaine throwing feces and urine into a crowd of immature surburban whites full of body piercings.

[Amerigomag]

I always have a problem with articles that don't provide quotes.

Print the quote. Let me be the judge.

[Illbay]

YOU ONLY THINK THESE GUYS ARE "TRIBAL"!

[cajun-jack]

i call my 5 yr old grandson a monkey all the time because of his antics....does that mean i have to tour europe too??

[SamAdams76]

That may be so but Howard Cosell also got in hot water over saying about a black football player: "Look at that little monkey run" or something to that effect. This was back in 1983 on a Monday Night Football telecast. I remember that controversy clearly. Of course, Howard didn't mean anything racist by it. Howard had been a staunch support of black athletes all the way back to Cassius Clay in the 1960s.

[Paul Atreides]

Yet, it was okay, even encouraged, when Harry Belafonte said worse things about Condi and Powell. I guess some people truly are more equal than others.

[katana]

So did Howard Cosell on MNF when he referred to a football player (punt returner?) as a "little monkey". He said it affectionately but the proverbial s**t hit the fan. IIRC he wasn't invited back for the next season.

It was certainly not as funny as when Alex Karras commented on a close up of a defensive lineman's bald steaming head, "Otis Sistrunk, University of Mars".

[L,TOWM]

"Look at that little monkey go!"

I still remember my step dad and I looking at each other and I said "C'ya Howard!" My step dad said "You got that right", and mom said "over that? Don't be ridiculous".

The peculiar part is, my mom used to be a Conservative on Fiscal/Foreign Policy and Liberal on "Social Issues" (abortion). Now she votes straight rat, and is as PC as they come--except for a few rare lapses...

[Rippin]

Right. My daughter's nickname is monkey. But since I don't believe in macro-evolution, it is not an insult.