I'm not sure, but was Imus trying to be funny when he made his comment? Or was he being serious?

 

Who cares?

What is at stake here is common decency, of which I have found that too many in today's world do not have.

What if your mother had been the butt of a similiar joke? Would you just let slide? How about jokes about Jews in concentration camps, would that be OK because some bigot finds it funny.

 

If Letterman wants to be funny, he should study the antics of Bob Hope or Red Skelton, guys who could be funny without being trashy.

 

I played high school football. I heard jokes about my grandma, girlfriend, mom etc. You name it...someone insulted them. I knew they were kidding. I did not throw a hissy fit and draw more attention to it...I laughed and let it go.

Or even jokes about the Spanish Inquisition, or maybe one involving a black man dressing up like a member of the KKK or someone doing a musical about Hitler...thank God people don't do anything like that. People who are uptight might go insane if that kind of stuff happened.

 

I recall Ted Danson putting on black face a few years back and people when nuts.

 

Hilter, KKK the Inquisition were at least all evil events in history. What did Palin do, other than being a conservative, white woman? Too many believe the only way to get back at the black spots on our history is to destroy others and the country itself. As if that would make up for past problems, instead of looking at how we corrected those items. Yes it was too late for those who suffered through it, but tearing down individuals or the country does not change anything, it just makes peple bitter on both sides.

Who cares?

 

Obviously I think there is a difference between someone saying something and meaning it, vs. someone who says something to get a cheap laugh (i.e. a comedian who has a talk show on T.V.).

 

And obviously I care, because I asked. Was that not clear?

While comedy is comedy, and to many anything should go with comedy, I would argue that Letterman, Leno, et al. are held to a bit different standard with their routines since their audience is a little more broad than a typical comedy club. They can be provocative but still must remain PG-13 with their work. I feel like the joke was an honest mistake on Letterman's part in not knowing it was Willow at the ball game. Had it been Bristol (that is her name, isn't it?) I am not so sure how far out of line the joke would have been. I caught a quick chuckle from it being as she is the poster child / poster young adult of pregnancey and a public figure herself since she is an ambassador for abstinence.

 

In short, it was sloppy work by Letterman for not knowing it was Willow and teetering on the fine line of joking about a political figure's child, for which he apologized and I am sure he is embarrassed about. The Palin family just needs to move on.

Where were the sexually explicit comments? All I heard was the comment about keeping Spitzer away from her daughter and the "knocked up" comment. Those are not explicit. Did I miss one?

 

A statement like this would not have been allowed on TV 20 years ago.

Think about this, in Gone With The Wind, made in 1939, when Rhett Butler

(Clark Gable) uttered his famous statement (which includes a word that cannot be used on this site) the movie makers were fined thousands of dollars by the Hayes Code. Look at what we allow today . We have certainly allowed ourselves to become a nation that needs locker room jokes to get a laugh. True comedians do not need to resort to such humor.

Obviously I think there is a difference between someone saying something and meaning it, vs. someone who says something to get a cheap laugh (i.e. a comedian who has a talk show on T.V.).

 

And obviously I care, because I asked. Was that not clear?

 

So if he was joking, you agree that he was unjustly fired, correct?

So if he was joking, you agree that he was unjustly fired, correct?

 

I'm not so sure Imus' position is to make jokes in order to get cheap laughs ...so no. If they felt the need to fire him...it was their right. Was "make jokes that could be taken as racist for a cheap laugh" part of his job description? :lol:

I'm not so sure Imus' position is to make jokes in order to get cheap laughs ...so no. If they felt the need to fire him...it was their right. Was "make jokes that could be taken as racist for a cheap laugh" part of his job description? :lol:

 

About the answer I expected...

About the answer I expected...

 

Same here.

 

It was not Imus' job to make jokes, so I don't see how these situations are anywhere near the same.

 

Also, Dave mistakenly made a joke about a 14 year old. Imus knowingly made a racist comment. How are those similar?

Interesting debate and discussion.

 

Here's a link I found that was an article written in '93 concerning not only Chelsea but Aimee Carter.

 

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3138/is_n2_v15/ai_n28622660/

 

I remember SNL lampooning Aimee and her awkwardness in the late teens.

 

I recall some talk show host referring to Chelsea as "ugly."

 

I will not debate the truthfulness of the above.

 

However I too thought the joke was about the older daughter until I read on this thread that a younger daughter was who came to NY. I watched the Letterman piece that was linked before I read that and the whole while believed it to be the older daughter for whom the brunt of the joke was aimed.

 

I think Palin knew it was aimed at her older daughter but once more is using the situation to stay in the public eye.

 

I too would defend my children, however I would also not bring my children into the public arena to be held up for others to see (good or bad). On a smaller scale, my children have long been known for who their father is as much as who they are. However, I never bring them into my work and divulge their private stories for others to know. :thumb:

A statement like this would not have been allowed on TV 20 years ago.

Think about this, in Gone With The Wind, made in 1939, when Rhett Butler

(Clark Gable) uttered his famous statement (which includes a word that cannot be used on this site) the movie makers were fined thousands of dollars by the Hayes Code. Look at what we allow today . We have certainly allowed ourselves to become a nation that needs locker room jokes to get a laugh. True comedians do not need to resort to such humor.

 

I agree. Women wearing pants and shorts used to not be permitted either. Times change, whether for the good or bad. But is this the point?

While comedy is comedy, and to many anything should go with comedy, I would argue that Letterman, Leno, et al. are held to a bit different standard with their routines since their audience is a little more broad than a typical comedy club. They can be provocative but still must remain PG-13 with their work. I feel like the joke was an honest mistake on Letterman's part in not knowing it was Willow at the ball game. Had it been Bristol (that is her name, isn't it?) I am not so sure how far out of line the joke would have been. I caught a quick chuckle from it being as she is the poster child / poster young adult of pregnancey and a public figure herself since she is an ambassador for abstinence.

 

In short, it was sloppy work by Letterman for not knowing it was Willow and teetering on the fine line of joking about a political figure's child, for which he apologized and I am sure he is embarrassed about. The Palin family just needs to move on.

 

As reasonable a post that I've read in this thread.

 

Re. the last sentence, we will see. There seems to be a sizable demographic that would prefer that doesn't happen.

A statement like this would not have been allowed on TV 20 years ago.

Think about this, in Gone With The Wind, made in 1939, when Rhett Butler

(Clark Gable) uttered his famous statement (which includes a word that cannot be used on this site) the movie makers were fined thousands of dollars by the Hayes Code. Look at what we allow today . We have certainly allowed ourselves to become a nation that needs locker room jokes to get a laugh. True comedians do not need to resort to such humor.

 

Selznick paid a $5,000 fine for the "vulgarism" you mention. But it's apples and oranges because the dialogue for that scene was taken straight from Margaret Mitchell's book which had been in print for the public (and they read it based on sales) some years before the film.

 

As to 20 years ago (1989) we had Night Court, Cheers, LA Law, etc. You really need to go back maybe 40 years for your illustration. :thumb:

 

FWIW, I remember Red Skelton being the one show my Mom could get me to take a nap in the afternoon for. "If you don't take a nap, you can't stay up and watch Red Skelton tonight." Man, I'm getting old.

A statement like this would not have been allowed on TV 20 years ago.

Think about this, in Gone With The Wind, made in 1939, when Rhett Butler

(Clark Gable) uttered his famous statement (which includes a word that cannot be used on this site) the movie makers were fined thousands of dollars by the Hayes Code. Look at what we allow today . We have certainly allowed ourselves to become a nation that needs locker room jokes to get a laugh. True comedians do not need to resort to such humor.

 

 

Or we once lived in a country that was so uptight with Victorian-era puritanical mores that anyone who said anything even slightly off color was considered the height of offensive. I would rather live in a society in which anything is worthy of a joke than a Milltown-induced Donna Reid world in which nothing is ever talked about.

 

I find fart jokes and other things that are gross for the sake of gross unfunny, but outside of looking down on those who laugh at them intellectually I have no problem with them being used for the sake of a laugh.

 

This isn't and will never be 1950's era America and I am quite happy that is the case. True social satire, which this joke was not I am just getting on my soapbox, should never be censored for the sake of "decency." If you have a problem with it, don't watch it. If you don't want you kids to watch it, don't let them watch it. If you don't want your kids associating with kids whose parents let them watch such things, then don't let them. Don't preach censorship for your own narrow minded morality that not everyone else follows.