I hadn't heard this previous apology before. I did hear the original comment and found it to be pretty funny, but that might be because... well, see the subject.
If you're not a fan of the Colbert Report, you might have missed last week's big controversy (if he was a politician I'm sure it would be the new DC "scandal").
In a nutshell, his network produced a tweet which was a clip from his show which, out of context (the context being, he was making fun of the Washington Redskin's owner) appear racist. The bit was typical Colbert reductio ad absurdum but that was lost in the quote.
In a news article about this (don't ask me why it's news. I don't understand what's news anymore) the author wrote:
Going back through Colbert archives, this isn’t the first time the comedian been accused of being insensitive and declined to dignify it with a true apology. Back in April 2012, he offered a “Colbology” after people called him transphobic for his joke about pink slime (“Our beef now has so many hormones, it’s a member of the transgender community.”). Of course, the apology was very Colbert:
“I, Stephen Colbert, apologize to any of my transgender bovine viewers that may have been offended,” he said at the time. “No matter how you were born, no matter how you identify, I want to be clear that I would be proud to grind you up and eat you.”
Remember the pink slime? Even out of context, this is funny. It plays on the pink and it plays on the hormones. And the apology (which I missed somehow) was funny too.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
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We need more humor in our lives. We need to be able to laugh at others and at ourselves and to find humor in situations and not be hamstrung on the ever growing politically inspired push for political correctness. I would agree with Colbert and perhaps take it a step further. I would be less concerned with the transgender bovine than with sacred cows in general
ReplyDeletePat
Sometimes I think that some members of our "Community" are way too sensitive and way too willing to take offence. The first and best way of telling if somebody is joking is, is it funny? it's also worth checking to see who or what the target is, in this case the food processors and producers, not the trans community. I fear that some choose to complain when ever they hear us mentioned simply to try to get a profile. We don't get Colbert over here, but it sounds as though I might like him too.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the humor of Colbert I worry about, it's the serious transphobic crepe' that the GOP and fundies spew, because they mean to be mean.
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