Jerry Lewis & The Unforgiving Left
Posted by Dirty Harry on Saturday, December 13th, 2008
Jerry Lewis has dedicated much of his personal and professional life to the cause of Muscular Dystrophy. Decade after decade with his yearly telethon and other works Lewis has been a one man show in keeping this awful disease in the public consciousness. And yet some on the Left, because in their diseased minds a half-century of charity work is wiped out by the uttering of “fag,” want to deny Lewis the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award:
I also have learned that protests are coming into the Academy about its Board of Governors’ choice of Jerry Lewis to receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The controversy is over his recent repeated and public anti-gay slurs. The Hollywood gay community, joined by much of the showbiz straight community, is already on edge because of Proposition 8 passed last month outlawing same-sex unions in California. So the vote by the AMPAS board selecting Lewis seems like “salt poured into an open wound”, according to one of my sources. Already several prominent entertainment biz gays have questioned the Academy about the selection of Lewis, especially for a humanitarian award. I’m told the AMPAS response has been, “he’s apologized”. My insiders say Tom Sherak, the former 20th Century Fox and Revolution Studios exec who raises money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and has a family member with MS, was primarily responsible for lobbying the board to choose Lewis.
Again and again we’re told by the Left to “understand” and put into “context” the actions of other cultures from another time. Africans kill a baby because it’s not a male child … no problem. Circumcise their women … who are we to judge?
But don’t you dare be an eighty-year, old white male who says ”fag.”
Oh, no, you don’t qualify for any of that “understanding” and “context” stuff.
Filed in General |
Templaron 13 Dec 2008 at 9:51 am 1Sad… and not at all surprising, unfortunately.
Doug Krentzlinon 13 Dec 2008 at 9:57 am 2Thank you for addressing this, Harry. I’ve always thought that Jerry Lewis should have been given the AFI Life Achievement Award decades ago. (They’ve never given it to a comedian.) I can only assume that Political Correctness has prevented the AFI from honoring someone who has brought so much happiness to the world. Nice to see the Academy is finally getting around to him.
Floyd R. Turboon 13 Dec 2008 at 10:15 am 3I’m sure they’ll change it to an ad hoc D.W. Griffith Tolerance Award.
NavyMomon 13 Dec 2008 at 10:29 am 4The homosexual Left is so hypocritical. How many times have I heard homosexual characters on TV shows (Law & Order comes to mind) refer to other homosexuals as “fags”? Those people need to get over themselves. The world doesn’t revolve around their little hissy fits. Give Jerry the award, for cryin’ out loud.
texacaliroseon 13 Dec 2008 at 10:35 am 5Apology, aschmology!! Did Mr. Lewis say this:
http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/clinton-sin.htm
Heck, man. If Mr. Lewis wants that Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, he needs to get a better speech writer.
And Mr. Lewis needs to repent for the long term, irreversible damage his utterance has inflicted upon the thousands of people living with MD, their disease aside.
I’m sure the damage is simply immeasurable!!
Jonathanon 13 Dec 2008 at 10:40 am 6What’s interesting to me is that actors in Hollywood will take on any number of controversial roles — rapist, child molester, pimp, drug seller — and flesh out the humanity that they believe resides deep within that perverted and evil character. Yet this same community will deny the overwhelming humanity of a good and noble man like Mr. Lewis because of something he said.
I bet if he’d been a child molester the Hollywood crowd would have more sympathy toward hiim.
Ohio Wolverine Momon 13 Dec 2008 at 10:42 am 7Jonathan—exactly—what does this say about a community that will champion Polanski?
The inmates are running the asylum
MovieBobon 13 Dec 2008 at 11:15 am 8Not that I don’t think this reaction is overblown and oughtn’t keep him from getting the award (which he deserves a hundred times over) BUT it’d be intellectually dishonest for me not to point out that we wouldn’t be having this discussion if he’d used ANY other similar slur.
maatkareon 13 Dec 2008 at 11:43 am 9Hell, Kazan got his award from the Academy in spite of protests. The Academy is a private club, and will do what it wants. Besides, if there’s a SAG strike, there won’t be Oscars anyway, not that anyone here cares about them to begin with, right..?
(Doug, I’d argue that compared to other AFI recipients, Lewis’ career wasn’t soley film, but equally stage and tv.)
maatkareon 13 Dec 2008 at 11:49 am 10And let’s not forget the Academy recently gave an award to everyone’s favorite child rapist Roman Polanski, so I officially have no dog in this fight whatsoever.
texacaliroseon 13 Dec 2008 at 12:18 pm 11MovieBob:
What are you saying, that if he had said the “n” word or the “c” word and was being denied the award because of it, we on this blog would be saying, “Well, he just shouldn’t have said it, so he has to be responsible for his actions. Maybe better luck next year”?
IOW, becasue we are right wing homophobes, we only take umbrage with Mr. Lewis’s being snubbed because he said THAT “f” word?
Billon 13 Dec 2008 at 12:19 pm 12Personally, I’d rather they give a lifetime achievement award to Maureen O’Hara. As far as I know, she is one of the few old-time celebrities still breathing who doesn’t have any kind of Oscar to her credit. But yes, I understand this particular award is for humanitarian work, which Lewis has a long record of.
But I was also wondering - if Hollywood is so tolerant about gays, why (especially in comedies) are gay men always written as superficial, celebrity & fashion obsessed drama queens? If they want to help the gay “cause”, why not write a character who is more well-rounded than this?
Stephanieon 13 Dec 2008 at 1:10 pm 13Ok when Gays themselves stop calling themselves f*gs then I can get behind this stupidity. And yes I have heard them say that about themselves and their female friends being called f*g hags……..this is just STOOPID! Give the man the award you politically correct nazis.
Campaspeon 13 Dec 2008 at 1:11 pm 14What I want to know is how “the Hollywood gay community” (all of them? do they have a zip code?) and “several prominent entertainment biz gays” have been elided into the entire American left wing, or even a major segment thereof.
Two weeks ago I attended a staged conversation between Peter Bogdanovich and Jerry Lewis, sponsored by the New York Times and attended by a few hundred literary, cinephile and artistic types including actors, writers, directors and assorted curators and academics. When Lewis walked onstage he received a tremendous standing ovation and had his every joke and clip warmly received. When he left (after two hours of giving poor Bogdanovich a very hard time, it should be noted) he got another standing ovation. Afterward I stood in line with cast members of the Sopranos to file into the green room.
Tell me, given the likely political makeup of an artsy-type audience at a Times-sponsored talk in Manhattan, were those the ahistorical, unforgiving, blind-to-”context” lefties you had in mind?
Growltigeron 13 Dec 2008 at 1:12 pm 15Do you know why they deny awards on the basis of political correctness? Because they can. Know why they harass churches, expunge Christ out of Christmas and declare it a secular holiday? Because they can. Indoctrinate our kids to Leftist cant in school? Because they can. We’ve allowed this to happen. In the interests of “playing nice with others” and not confronting the jackasses, we’ve allowed them unprecedented control and power over us. When will it end? When we say ENOUGH!
G-MANon 13 Dec 2008 at 1:13 pm 16Society sure is becoming thin-skinned. Some people can say certain words, BUT NOT OTHERS!!! Tolerance is good when it comes to my ideals but not yours. It’s all about ME! Screw you. MY free speech and MY rights are important, and I’ll stomp all over yours to prove it.
Regulation is the answer.
Government should regulate comedy. I’m pretty sure all comedians have offended someone, somewhere, sometime. I know jon stewart offends me, but only when he talks. And rosie o’donnell…she is a comedian isn’t she?
Maybe obama will set up a regulatory commision for comedy. He could place groups like GLAAD, NAACP, ACLU in charge of it. I’m sure that would put an end to this mischievous comedy stuff. No more offending anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Perhaps comedians could be sent to re-vocational training camps where they could learn to become something real useful to society like lawyers and politicians. I think there’s already one set up in Chicago, but I’m not sure.
OK. Tirade over. I hope I didn’t offend anyone….
miles archeron 13 Dec 2008 at 1:20 pm 17Just to be clear. Obama speechwriter hugs cardboard Hillary. End of civilization as we know it. Jerry Lewis uses the word ‘fag’ in a sentence? Protected speech.
And jftr, I could care less about either.
Doug Krentzlinon 13 Dec 2008 at 1:42 pm 181. Maatkare, the fact that Jerry Lewis has also done extensive work for stage and TV is irrelevant. He will always be best remembered for his films. Besides, he invented (and holds the patent on) the use of video motiners for filmmaking, which was certainly a major contribution to the medium.
2. As I said before, the AFI has NEVER given the Lifetime Achievement Award to a comedian. That could have given it to Groucho, Danny Kaye or Bob Hope, but they snubbed them all. I just think Lewis would be perfect candidate to be the first comedian to be given the honor. (The AFI won’t give the award to Woody Allen because he probably wouldn’t show up to appear on the TV special, which is the absurd reason they wouldn’t give it to Katherine Hepburn.)
3. In “Four Rooms” (terrible film, by the way), Quentin Terrantino said what everyone knows is true: the minute Lewis dies, all the people who never had a nice word to say about him when he was alive will be crying crocodile tears about how we lost a great clown and humanitarian. Let’s honor him while he’s still here!
Campaspeon 13 Dec 2008 at 2:01 pm 19Doug Krentzlin, I completely agree with your #3. To quote Orson Welles, “Oh how they will love me when I’m gone.”
Actually, I agree with the rest of your post too. The AFI is working my last nerve, with their constant recycling of irrelevant lists naming and renaming the same white elephants. An award to Lewis, that would be the shot in the arm in the organization needs. Some daring, and some integrity.
texacaliroseon 13 Dec 2008 at 2:01 pm 20Doug Krentzlin:
I am trying to find out more about the invention you mentiond above, “video motiners,” with negative results.
It looks like it might be a typo. If so, please clorrect so I can research more. We who are lousy typists must untie and stick together.
If it’s not a typo, please elucidate. And please, a KISS explanation geared for a layman, laywoman, and/or layperson (I do not want to offend).
maatkareon 13 Dec 2008 at 2:23 pm 21Good points, Doug, but after googling the list of past AFI winners,
http://www.afi.com/tvevents/laa/laalist.aspx
I’d have to say I appreciate their bodies of work a lot more than Lewis’ oeuvre, but I will freely admit I’m one of those people that never found him that funny, but he’s had an amazing career, and his philanthropy is unparalleled. I do find it amusing, though, that after reading many a screed on this site about how out of touch and unimportant the Academy is, folks here are now passionately defending it. And gays using the f-word amongst themselves is like blacks who use the n-word affectionately amongst themselves. (It’s just one of “Those Things You Wouldn’t Understand.”) It’s funny to hear people here write so passionately about the injustice of Lewis’ getting criticized for using a slur they generally (I assume) wouldn’t use in polite society.
Stephanieon 13 Dec 2008 at 2:26 pm 22And Archer quickly checking the lefty talking points from their afternoon session chimes in.
Doug Krentzlinon 13 Dec 2008 at 2:40 pm 23Sorry, my bad. It should have been “video monitors.” Actually, the name Lewis gave it was “video assist.” In other words, Lewis was the first filmmaker to attach a live video camera to the movie camera so that, instead of looking through the viewfinder to see what the camera was seeing, he could just look at one of the many video monitor screens posted on the set. He invented this technique for “The Bellboy” (1960) because he had never directed himself in a movie before and was nervous about pulling off both the directing and acting at the same time. Thus, the “video assist.” Peter Bogdanovich quotes Lewis’ mentor Frank Tashlin on the set of “It’$ Only Money” as saying: “There’s a side of Jerry Lewis you probably don’t know about. He’s really an electronics genius. You see those television monitors over there? That’s a marvelous thing Jerry made. At the side of the movie camera he mounted a small-size TV camera. It’s lined up with the movie camera so that when you’re shooting a scene you don’t have to look through the viewfinder; you just look into one of the monitors and there’s the shot just as it’ll appear on the screen — it’s like seeing your rushes as they happen. Jerry’s used it since “The Bellboy,” and when he told me about it I said I didn’t want to bother with it. He begged me to try it just one day on this picture. Well, the first day I didn’t take my head out of that thing.”
Christian Totoon 13 Dec 2008 at 3:15 pm 24For what it’s worth the pic posted here is of Jerry and Mattie Stepanek, an amazing child who wrote the popular “Heartsongs” poem books. I had the privilege to meet him a few years back — he died in 2004. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. He was so sweet, sharp and intelligent — I’ll never forget interviewing him.
Jack Marinoon 13 Dec 2008 at 3:48 pm 25Jerry should tell them to stick it, he shouldn’t show up at all for the show. He doesn’t need this useless award given by people with a nazi mentality. We all alive today know what Jerry has done, he knows what he has done. Jerry’s kids know what he has done, this alone is his award and he will take this with him when it is his time to go. This is as meaningless as the assholes that run the Academy. Jerry should go on a long trip, relaxing trip with a few people that he loves and love him and enjoy himself the week if this nothing, meaningless, overblown, boring show. Jerry has NO peers in this industry that can honor him, he stands all alone as all greats do.
Johnny Ed's Babyon 13 Dec 2008 at 3:55 pm 26Liberals = “We believe in diversity; We believe in tolerance. We will screw with anyone that does not think the same way we do.”
Yet we conservatives are the closed minded intolerant knuckle-draggers.
Floyd R. Turboon 13 Dec 2008 at 4:05 pm 27Miles… exactly who has been making a big deal of the grope of Hillary’s cardboard cut out? The only conservative chatter has been the obvious double standard. Jerry Lewis says “fag” and many — not all of course (and maybe not even most, but a sizable minority) — on the Left would snub him.
I bet the Warren Beatty crowd could give a fig either way. Besides the proper adjective is queer — from which they’ve created academic “disciplines” — which sounds vaguely S&M.
v.on 13 Dec 2008 at 5:50 pm 28What, no one wants to play with Campaspe? Sad.
Also, as a card-carrying member of the evil hypocritical intellectually dishonest etc. left, I have to say I’ve NEVER heard anyone EVER do anything other than decry African circumcision practices. I don’t know why this is the example chosen (did something like this actually go down in the ’90s culture wars?), but it’s pretty nutty. Stick with the Polanski example, I think.
I’d have to agree with Harry’s most basic point though. I’m just as shocked by what Lewis said as, uh, Mickey Rourke. Shocker.
JohnFNWayneon 13 Dec 2008 at 7:15 pm 29This goes to show that the gay movement and the Hollywood left is incapable of looking past anything greater than themselves. It’s always about their cause du jour - screw a man who has given more of his life to the betterment of his fellow man than any of them.
Find me one Hollywood actor alive who will be remembered as fondly as Lewis. There isn’t one.
There’s probably a lot of jealousy involved and a little bit of grief over Lewis having no qualms about appearing on the O’Reilly Factor.
miles archeron 13 Dec 2008 at 7:31 pm 30Floyd,
Well for one, and the one I was referring to, you have Dirty Harry, who dedicated an outraged post and picture to it. On this site. Here’s a link: http://dirtyharrysplace.com/?p=6111 –
To the outraged post. That appeared on this site.
I find the hypocrisy galling, if only becuz it is what I consider to be the worst kind: that which comes from political ideology. As I’ve already said, I don’t care about either indiscretion. And yes, one is about public utterance and the other about private prank. But the notion that in one case the young man deserves not only our opprobrium, but to lose his job*, and in the other case, the man deserves our deepest sympathies…?
Feh.
*Dirty also mentioned that in his case, he’d give the offending prankster a well-deserved beat-down. Well, a ’sucker-punch’, anyway. You know. The kind you give when you sneak up on someone from behind.
Doug Krentzlinon 13 Dec 2008 at 9:06 pm 31Now I’m pissed. To those who say: (a) Jerry Lewis was never that funny to begin with and (b) yes, using the word “fag” merits denying him the Oscar, all I can do is quote the immortal Billy Shakespeare: “Bring in the crows to peck the eagles.” (”Coriolanus,” Act III, Scene I). When YOU provide the world with the joy and laughter that Lewis has, THEN come to me with your complaints. Until you can make that claim, go take a flying…
MovieBobon 13 Dec 2008 at 9:51 pm 32texas
“What are you saying, that if he had said the “n” word or the “c” word and was being denied the award because of it, we on this blog would be saying, “Well, he just shouldn’t have said it, so he has to be responsible for his actions. Maybe better luck next year”?”
I’m saying simply what we both know to be true: That whatever else one may think of the larger issue, “f*g” is the last remaining slur against a minority one can use and still get a solid contingent to jump up and start talking about context. One doesn’t need to attach a negative or positive to this fact, it is simply a fact.
Many of you old enough to have lived at some point before the mid-70s or so, I’m told, can likely recall a time when the Older Generation’s utterance of “the n word” or “the k word” or any of the myriad unkind shorthands for the Irish, Italians, Polish, etc. was more than occasionally waved aside in the “context” of “Oh, that’s just grandpa.” “He’s from a different time,” and so on. It happens. Times change. Mr. Lewis has had the misfortune of making his slip here at a difficult transitional period in the evolution of this society’s regard for a particular minority - where “sensitivity” toward a group previously not privy to such basic accomodations of politeness has lurched well ahead of some in the majority’s recognition of such. The notion that no homosexuals should be even A LITTLE upset at a public figure using a slur against them on national television is, I fear, for too many predicated less on some great Lenny Bruce-esque call for language freedom and much more on an innate, built-in sense that homosexual’s complaints ought not be taken seriously because they are less-than-human… or, at least, less human than Mr. Lewis.
Myself, I think people are too hung up on words and that this is a major mountain/molehill moment. But I understand, and am sympathetic, to the dynamic at play. Recently enough that some here can remember it, one could stand before a crowd and call a black man a “n*gger” or worse and face NO blowback from their peers (and I MEAN peers, not regulation or hate-crimes or any other such nonsense) because of this. That is no longer the case. This is positive progress.
wfon 14 Dec 2008 at 3:37 am 33Stuff the sociology lesson. It means shit. People try to demonstrate their goodness - again - while someone else pays. That´s what´s going on and always has. The same people who now call themselves liberal burned witches a couple of hundred years ago.
If they are oh so vigilant, why is it widely seen as defensible to call a conservative female politican a c*** in public? Will they defend a conservative gay politician against similar slurs? They were perfectly comfortable with dragging conservative blacks through the mud - including the use of racist language and images - instead of celebrating their progress. The issue isn´t the issue.
G-MANon 14 Dec 2008 at 7:44 am 34Miles-
I looked all over this thread and couldn’t find an outraged post.
miles archeron 14 Dec 2008 at 7:59 am 35G-Man,
Uhm, I gave you a link. That’s what I’m referring to. And the basis for what looks like convenient hypocrisy to me.
G-MANon 14 Dec 2008 at 8:04 am 36Oh. It looked like you showed the link and then referred to something else.
Also, what does Feh mean? I’ve seen it before but haven’t figured that one out. I’m not a texter..textor..textir…
hehehe
texacaliroseon 14 Dec 2008 at 8:48 am 37MoviesB
“I’m saying simply what we both know to be true:”
You must have a mouse in your pocket.
Templaron 14 Dec 2008 at 9:32 am 38MovieBob:
The notion that no homosexuals should be even A LITTLE upset at a public figure using a slur against them on national television is, I fear, for too many predicated less on some great Lenny Bruce-esque call for language freedom and much more on an innate, built-in sense that homosexual’s complaints ought not be taken seriously because they are less-than-human… or, at least, less human than Mr. Lewis.
False dilemma fallacy. It’s quite possibble to perceive homosexuals as being just as human as Mr. Lewis (or blacks, or Jews, or Poles) while still recognizing that their same-sex attraction is deeply disordered and therefore problematic to themselves and society at large.
texacaliroseon 14 Dec 2008 at 11:00 am 39G-MAN:
Feh - http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=feh
I’m a neophyte to the whole blogosphere, so I don’t know the jargon, either (and heck, back in the day, everyone knew what “mary jane” was).
I’m not a textur either, but I’m learning.
John Kelly Austin tx Personal Traineron 14 Dec 2008 at 12:09 pm 40“Sheets” Byrd can make racial slurs on national TV and they name a bridge after him. Jesse Jackson can utter anti-semetic slurs and it is forgotten. Ray “Chocolate CitY” Ragin gets reelected. There is a double standard
G-MANon 14 Dec 2008 at 12:11 pm 41Feh…Oy vey
Yeah…Mary Jane was from Indiana:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5pHM-o2_Dk
You know a good textoor tutor?
texacaliroseon 14 Dec 2008 at 1:20 pm 42G-MAN:
Durn, I hate growing up. When I think about Indiana, all I can think of is that it’s now a red state. Wish I could put on that party dress one more time, just for old time’s sake.
And somewhere on this site today, Henry V was mentioned. I think he was a tutor.
Stephanieon 14 Dec 2008 at 1:56 pm 43Um Henry the fifth wasn’t a Tutor or a Tudor…heh….at least I don’t think……
G-MANon 14 Dec 2008 at 2:24 pm 44tcr-
Never too late to party, my Dear.
Steph, Maybe he drove a tudor or a two door tudor.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3195231
misanthropicuson 14 Dec 2008 at 5:55 pm 45At first sight, the gross duplicity of the semantic left looks hilarious - unfortunately, at a closer look it shows to be quite sinister.
Trivial matters, the liberals say - not so. All forms of oppression, besides other forms of coercion, rely on lingvistic restrictions and on limitating one’s or a group’s access at describing reality - and in the current historical period the liberals/left are very serious about describing reality strictly according to their manual of style.
My former wife (German, from the former DDR), had a pretty harsh collision in the 1980-s with this situation: when working on her pre-PHD in lingvistics in Leipzig, she asked for permission the “cathedra” (one of their terms describing the university authority), to include in her disertation a chapter about language control in totalitarian states, idea which was welcome because the larger body of her work was about German Lit. in the 30-s.
However, the chapter in cause was derived from observations collected during an earlier, long trip across Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria then back to the then Czechoslovakia, trip in which she had recorded the lingvistic requirements for authority/individual communication in those societies (she was/is half-German, and 1/4 Hungarian 1/4 Romanian, and since speaking pretty well those languages, so she had no communication problems).
And now, guess what - her entire thesis was rapidly rejected by the University as seditious, and soon she was color codded as an American spy, etc. etc.
Yes, tovarisch Chomsky, controlling one’s or a group’s ability to describe reality is an effective manner for insuring a coterie’s lock on power - and now let me tell you the joke about the faggots seller and the niggard customer…
John Smithon 14 Dec 2008 at 8:55 pm 46Jonathan, Roman Polanski drugged and sodomized a 13-year-old girl, Hollywood gave him an Oscar even though he did not show up since he fled to France. If he returns, he’ll be arrested.
Victor Salva is another one, he directed “Jeepers Creepers”. Many years before that he worked on a low budget horror movie with children. Mr. Salva molested the young star of the movie. After serving a little time he was released; Disney hired him to direct “Powder”.
Hollywood can forgive rapists but not “haters”. Saying the word “fag” or “nigger” is enough to destroy your career, never to be forgiven. But if you indulge in the young flesh, then hey, POWER TO YOU.
How do I :barf:?
texacaliroseon 14 Dec 2008 at 11:27 pm 47G-MAN:
If you are still looking for a tooter, try this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIIOUPLvBqM
wfon 15 Dec 2008 at 5:05 am 48You know, I´m not defending the use of that word. It´s not funny, it´s insulting. But what is going on here is a powertrip by the politically correct who, by and large, do not care for standards in public language any more than they care for our freedom.
joe the unlicensed guy whose dropping this gag...on 15 Dec 2008 at 6:50 am 49Steph, two points:
You said:
“f*g hags”.
Wrong. The correct term is fruit flies.
Also Henry V was a tooter. Horrid flatulence problem from his rich diet.
Jerry Lewis. Good guy for his charitable works, stunningly arrogant and pompous. Buddy Love is he. All in all, think the world is better for his presence. Can’t say that about too many, so who cares if he said a word on the ominous naughty list a few years ago?
joe the unlicensed guy whose dropping this gag...on 15 Dec 2008 at 6:51 am 50sorry, meant to say “who is”, not “whose”. Jeez, that’s sad.
G-MANon 15 Dec 2008 at 7:23 am 51tcr-
Cool. I use to watch those cartoons all the time.