09/04/2007
Jerry Lewis Apologizes for "Fag" Slur
After the clip of last night's telethon, in which comedian Jerry Lewis identified a member of the audience as "the illiterate fag", made its way to the internet this morning, there was an understandable objection as well as a statement from GLAAD calling on Lewis to apologize.
Lewis has done just that, in a statement "to anyone who was offended."
Said Lewis: "I obviously made a bad choice of words. Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard. The success of the (telethon) and all the good that will come from it shouldn't be lost because of one unfortunate word. I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses. I am sorry."
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Jerry Lewis Points Out "Illiterate Faggot" in Telethon Audience? [tr]
Posted 5:55 PM EST by Andy Towle in Gay Slurs, Jerry Lewis, News | Permalink
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This situation reminds me of one where the person plunges a knife at another person in the back and then as he pulls the knife says "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that". The ugly deed was done and came from his heart. No matter how many excuses are given the damage was done on tv with millions watching. Just like Woopi Goldberg excusing Vick for the dogfighting shit. There are parts of this country where blacks are not liked and is part of that area culture, so they can start hanging and killing blacks again and it is excusable. That lady is full of crap. Well, maybe thats the reason she's black. As for Jelly Lewis, what can you expect from a FAJ (FAT ALCOHOLIC JEW). He's all three. And I ain't lying.
Posted by: Oscar | Sep 5, 2007 8:41:16 AM
Well, Oscar, you sure aint no Schindler, are you? I thought Governor Arnold was the last of the Hitler Youth.
Damn, you made me forget the clever wisecrack I was going to make comparing this episode to the Isaiah Affair.
You should place a little swastika after all your comments...a little rainbow one.
Posted by: Derrick from PHilly | Sep 5, 2007 10:02:14 AM
Im guessing none of you queens have seen Lisa Lampanelli perform, and laughed? I mean come on - the man is a COMEDIAN. It think its a sad day when we all are pissing and moaning over Jerry-freaking-Lewis saying 'faggot' on live TV, when there is so much more going on in the world for you to focus your outrage on.
Get off your asses, and go worry about something that will make a difference in the world around you, and stop worrying about who's saying what - in the entertainment industry of all places.
Posted by: Watusi | Sep 5, 2007 10:41:32 AM
Im guessing none of you queens have seen Lisa Lampanelli perform, and laughed? I mean come on - the man is a COMEDIAN. It think its a sad day when we all are pissing and moaning over Jerry-freaking-Lewis saying 'faggot' on live TV, when there is so much more going on in the world for you to focus your outrage on.
Get off your asses, and go worry about something that will make a difference in the world around you, and stop worrying about who's saying what - in the entertainment industry of all places.
Posted by: Watusi | Sep 5, 2007 10:44:04 AM
OSCAR,
Shame on Whoopi. Shame on you, too. We should not be paying it backward.
Posted by: nic | Sep 5, 2007 10:45:37 AM
Amazing isn't it, I remember the Isaiah Washington blog. At that point I felt he was a loquacious bug but suddenly reading how considerate you guys are about Jerry, it occurs to me that we gays are racist. Everyone is so understanding with Jerry, accepting his apology once, but Isaih's multiple apologies mean nothing. You guys all look in the mirror and see the reflection of racists, thats what you all are
Posted by: Derrick | Sep 5, 2007 12:07:28 PM
The difference between Isiah's "apologies" and Lewis' is that the latter was clearly more sincere. Instead of placing the blame on everyone else, he owned it, admitted it was wrong, and apologized.
Posted by: Wes | Sep 5, 2007 12:22:09 PM
And what would you say to all my black friends who think Isiah Washington was an idiot for what he did and how he handled it? I guess they must be racists too.
Posted by: Wes | Sep 5, 2007 12:23:00 PM
Amazing Wes, because I have black friends too, and I know most people said he talks alot but not one of them believes if he was white, people like me and you would give a damn. And they proved a point, with Jerry, we all of a sudden know he is sincere because his publicist puts out a statement, but when Isiah apologized, we were Gods and knew he wasn't sincere. And the odd thing is, you and I both call ourselves fags. So frankly, I know Jerry didn't mean anything by it. But its shameful how much energy we put on Isaiah for a word he apologized for using. Wes, you need to check yourself in the mirror and ask your black friends what they reaaly think of you, because I know what my boyfriend thinks of me
Posted by: Derrick | Sep 5, 2007 12:32:38 PM
Uh my black friends are fine with me, hence they're my friends. If Jerry Lewis gave some half assed apology blaming everyone but himself I wouldn't have thought his apology worth much.
Do you honestly not see the difference in how they apologized?
Isiah W thinks Knight should have been fired. FOR WHAT?
I don't even care about the whole overblown Isiah W thing, I just think its stupid to think someone is racist because they clearly acknowledge he was acting like a jackass.
Posted by: Wes | Sep 5, 2007 12:48:31 PM
Honestly Wes, I dont see the difference, if we kept on attacking Jerry, he would apologize, over and over again and like a wounded animal, he would start saying any and everything he can to prove he isn't a homophobe.
I was one of the people who demanded Isaiah apologized, (something he couldn't do initially because ABC told him not to), when he did, I demanded he get fired, when he did, I wanted more, it was when my partner asked me why I was worked up about it, I let it go. When I read through the blogs here and read how sensitive everyone is to Jerry, I realize I am as prejudiced as all of us here.
Frankly, I dont blame Isaiah for wanting T.R fired, because T.R went on Ellen and lied that he heard him use the F word to him and that was a lie that helped propagate the debacle.
I dont think anyone is racist for recognizing someone is a jackass, because I also believe isaiah is a jackass, but I believe its racist to easily believe the sincerety of a white man over a black man
Posted by: Derrick | Sep 5, 2007 1:27:59 PM
Okay well I guess I disagree. I dislike a whole lot of white people, in fact I don't even consider a person's color when measuring what I think of them.
I don't know that anything TR said was true or false, I just know that Isiah really didn't come across as earnest in his apology to me.
Why I admired Lewis' apology: it was direct, and he OWNED it. He said "there is no excuse". Isiah proceeded to list excuses...
And for the record, I don't demand apologies of anyone. As far as I'm concerned its their prerogative, I may not like them but its not my place to dictate what people think. But that doesn't mean I'm going to find someone who clearly evades personal responsibility when making an apology equally credible as one who doesn't.
Posted by: Wes | Sep 5, 2007 2:11:39 PM
Derrick....it really wasn't the idea of if Isaiah's apology was sincere. It was what he did AFTER the apology, he went on and made even more anti-homosexual remarks to interviewers and even on the Red Carpet at an awards show. It kind of made his apology come across as something he did to save his ass from being fired. I accepted(to myself) his apology, then I saw what else he was doing and got angry, then he claimed to have gone to sensitivity classes and still made homophobic remarks.
Jerry Lewis is a very old man, who is very ill, he usually has to be in a wheelchair, he had been going strong for 18 hours(this didn't include all the hours he was up and working to get things ready for the Telethon), he is a comedian and he said something that may or may not have been meant to be said, immediatly caught his own mistake(it's there, in the tape of the show) and when it was all over apologised for his mistake, took FULL responsibility for it and blamed NO ONE else. And his statement about people who know him, knowing that he wouldn't use that word viciously happens to be correct. He has always been a gay rights backer, with money and words.
And you know what, fuck all of you nasty asses.....this guy, even if he didn't give a rats ass about Gays is still a far better person that 98.9% of you.....he has worked for God knows how many years for MS and has raised over 1 BILLION dollars for research.....what the fuck have any of you haters done lately???
Posted by: Joshua | Sep 5, 2007 9:10:09 PM
Let me introduce the family. You remember Jesse the illiterate faggot, kike, nigger, chink, spic, dago, gook…
(OMG, that just slipped out! You know, like it would for 99% of us—especially comedians and people who work long hours. That’s it, just like anyone that does good deeds, raises money. You know. No apology necessary but what the heck—if I offended someone. You know.)
"I obviously made a bad choice of words. Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard…I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses. I am sorry."
Posted by: Carl | Sep 5, 2007 9:18:42 PM
Incidentally- not that she NEEDS my defense- Whoopi Goldberg NEVER said that she excused M. Vick for the dogfighting incidents. What she said was..."We should look at the culture that makes this seem acceptable to some people. If we understand the cause THEN maybe we can stop it." A big difference than accepting Vick.
Word of advice... when you hear that "someone said so-and-so", it's best to actually see if you can find out from the actual person what they said... AND what they meant.
Posted by: Dean | Sep 6, 2007 9:16:03 AM
Shut da fuckin Zeke! I guess u all r just a buncha Zeke luvvin Zekebacks. Get the fuck outta here and suck some hard Zeke!
Posted by: Zekers Should Die | Jul 25, 2009 2:41:43 AM