Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Things that make you go hmmm
Not sure what I think about Karith Foster, a black comedienne who is joining Don Imus on his new show. In this interview, she sounds like she's thought this through and has her head on her shoulders. But she says that Imus was just trying to sound like a young hip guy when he made his infamous comment. I listened to what Imus said at the time, and it did sound malicious to me. Not to mention completely unnecessary. And the "ho incident" isn't all that he's known for. So I don't know what to think. I hope it works out for her, but it kinda feels like signing on with the dark side to me. What do y'all think?
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5 comments:
Well. Sister-girl is certainly a brave soul, or just willing to sell her soul to the devil in the name of "opportunity". Imus made it very clear what he thought of African American woman. Not buying her conclusion of him trying to be a hip white guy. He is what he is--an OLD white guy being himself-a racist and sexist pig. He's only sorry because he lost his job. Furthermore, a "hip" white guy would know better than to insult our African American Princesses. I'll pray for the sistahs, cuz they are going to need it.
I think the problem is when we try to be "hip," our true colors often shine through loud and clear.
I was only a little surprised to see Imus was back on the air, though, joined by this young woman.
Controversy sells, right? Even when it stinks. We prove it over and over as a society.
Maybe he'll watch his poisonous tongue better when he's sitting next to a person he's about to insult. And maybe she'll let him know when he's crossed the line. At least, I hope so.
I had to think about this for a long time. I think that she really does make a valid point and I think I felt that way once the original comment had gotten as much attention as it did. Comedy is a tricky art and I think there are dozens of people who could have said exactly what he said and nobody would have gotten upset. I'm not an Imus fan, not because I find shock jocks especially offensive, but because I don't find them all that interesting or entertaining. I seriously doubt he truly intended the comment to be malicious -- he's been around too long for that. I do think it was a serious error in judgment on his part about something that he thought he could pull off as funny. I probably wouldn't have rethought this incident if I hadn't coincidentally watched an HBO special on Don Rickles tonight. He's an old Jewish comedian and he's made a career of attacking every race, religion, ethnicity, physical trait, cultural icon -- all things taboo. The things he says would be unbelievably shocking coming from just about anyone else, but somehow, because he applies his method to literally everyone and always includes himself and his cultural group, he manages to pull it off, even now. Comedy is tricky -- the ones who are the best at it always walk a really dangerous line that most people can't.
You know it's so funny cause I watched the same Don Rickles special and I agree that he was incredibly demeaning to all races and all types. Although the worst of his comments tended to be geared very specifically to celebrities. I don't know if that makes a difference. In a lot of ways I think what happened to Imus was also the straw that broke the camel's back kind of thing. He has been so offensive for so long and I think people were just itching to get rid of him and his incredibly asinine comment helped to that. Also, he is not a comedian, like Rickles was, he is a disc jockey and I do think that there is a different standard that should apply to them. I seriously cannot stand the man and am sorry to hear he is back.
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