Example of Said Double Standards September 15, 2007 Lauren Kathy Griffin’s Emmy acceptance speech — much-reported and reportedly controversial — is now available via audio. UPDATE: Via Binky in the comments, video!
i’m trying to get my head around this issue. some chritians are offended that she told jesus to suck it, which is understandable. now are some feminists offended by the dick in the box, ie the dick box is anti-women like the jesus suck is anti-christian? so, why censor the jesus suck but not the dick box. Is this the double standard? or is the issue the privileging of religion? why is anti-religious vulgarity censored but not regular vulgarity. what do the pro-porn feminists think of dick box, btw. now, if we throw a mohammed suck into the mix thing get really interesting. you’ll have the double standard of even more people refusing to air it (as the cartoon controversy shows) and the reaction would be so violent that griffen may reasonably fear for her life. (or maybe not, these things are rarely consistent) but some may argue that a mohammed suck is hate speech, since it intersects with ethnic bigotry, whereas jesus suck has no ethnic connotations. and muslims, unlike christians, are not in power so they can’t be “racists” but off course, muslims do rule entire nations and chritians are not exactly treated equally in Saudi Arabia, for example. so, maybe a muhammad suck is speaking truth to power. now if bill Donahue told feministe to suck him, even more issues would be raised. yes, this is more complicated than it looks.
I don’t get it. She didn’t insult either Christians or Christianity, she spoke entirely for herself. That’s between her and the Invisible Pink Unicorn. We’re all free to make declarations that consign us to Hell as long as we don’t force them on anyone else. She didn’t even use any foul language or rude hand gestures. I want my three minutes back.
I don’t always find Kathy Griffin funny, but that was Hee-larious. I can’t believe some folks are getting their panties in a bunch about… oh, wait. I can.
See, I was raised Catholic, and I thought this was funny. I didn’t think she was really mocking Christians in particular (though I did notice in the linked articles it was only Catholics complaining) but the way in which many entertainment award-winners make their thank-you speeches.
It’s funny that I watched one of her stand-up specials on Bravo this morning where she talks about how she was nominated for an Emmy (this was last year) against Antiques Roadshow, The Dog Whisperer (who she chided in this acceptance speech), and Extreme Makeover Home Edition. The category was one that was not televised. Apparently, it still is not. She lost to Extreme Makeover–who had built a home for terminally ill children. When the Makeover people approached the stage to accept their award, she stood up, yelled “This is bullshit!”, flipped them off, and yelled “suck my dick” before storming off. (I guess *that* wasn’t offensive because she didn’t mention Jesus.) She’s a comedian. It was a bit. It was hilarious. Don’t we all wish we could see just one award loser do something similar, preferably on live TV? I totally loved her acceptance speech. Nothing pisses me off more than when someone wins an award, or a sporting event, or any kind of contest and they “thank Jesus.” If I thought for a second that God or Jesus cared one bit about who won a Grammy or the Super Bowl, well that alone would be enough to turn me away from God. If God doesn’t have more important things to concentrate on than entertainment, well, I might as start praying to my Entertainment Weekly. At least they practice full disclosure in reporting.
You’d think people would be MORE offended by stars thanking Jebus, therefore implying that they are special, favored, and that deities give a flying crap about awards ceremonies. I mean, that kind of hubris has got to break a couple of commandments right there, eh?
Actually, most of the people who thank God aren’t white, among famous folk doing so, at least, when I’ve watched awards shows. ‘White’ expressions of Christianity are not solely what’s being mocked here. Also, thanking a deity for one’s success is meant as a gesture of humility, to concede that they in fact could not possibly have become famous and successful alone, but were perhaps blessed. Of all the prideful nonsense famous folk are given to, thanking God is not on the list.
when I was in law school, I was threatened with expulsion three times. one was because i offended christians in a letter to the student paper defending bush’s choice of ashcroft as AG. one christian group claimed, among other things, that christians were “an oppressed minority” in america and that my “hate speech” threatened them. I had mocked christians in the course of my letter to demonstrate that my support for ashjcroft was not because I myself am a republican christian. the other two times it was a somewhat prominant leftist writer who I had mocked and he sought retaliation, and another time it was the school feminist group. all you people believe in coercion and censorship.
oh, jesus h. mutherfucking christ! she was so obviously offensive. is it any wonder such insensitivity is censored, for freakin’ Christ’s sake? this blasphemy pisses me off more than Piss Christ, goddammit.
Great point akeeyu! Kathy Griffin is very funny, IMO. I bet she’ll get lots of extra attention from this. She couldn’t want for anything more!
I love Kathy. I love the fact that she had the guts to mock those who thank Jesus in their speeches actually during her speech, not during stand-up.
now are some feminists offended by the dick in the box, ie the dick box is anti-women like the jesus suck is anti-christian? so, why censor the jesus suck but not the dick box. Is this the double standard? Who wanted to censor Dick in a Box? I’m pretty sure most people thought it was hilarious — I even posted the video on this very blog, many moons ago. And, yeah, speaking as one of those cwazy Jesus-loving feminists, I thought this was pretty funny.
all you people believe in coercion and censorship. You know what we don’t believe in? Sweeping generalizations.
all you people believe in coercion and censorship I automatically ignore anyone who uses the phrase “you people.” It never seems to come from any kind of point well made. In regard to Kathy, I loved her before and I love her more now. Part of her schtick is mocking fame, and she nails it in that clip.