When our comedians blow it
Free speech isn’t a free pass
Free speech has always come with a cost. Long live free speech.
This week, we’ve witnessed two of our pop culture’s most successful comedians, Kathy Griffin and Bill Maher, step in shit they may never clean off. One went by way of ultra violence. The other, the way of racism.
Let’s give them credit. Those two topics are fundamental bedrocks of our nation’s history and current reality. In other words: They’re fair game. And it’s a comedian’s job to address those topics as part of their art. They are entitled to that.
They are also entitled to cross those lines in a colossal career-fucking fuck up. And we, as persons living in a free society (there’s that word again) are free (ding! ding! ding!) to freely offer our responses and hold them accountable. I am holding them accountable, as are many millions.
Kathy Griffin and Bill Maher screwed up this week. Bigly. Why do we / should we care when comedians let us down? Because they’re important.
They say that comedians are today’s journalists. They’re the truth tellers, the truth revealers that other media cannot. What they do goes far beyond mere entertainment — although mere entertainment is value in and of itself. When at their best, they educate. They resonate. They elevate. We think and we feel. Maybe smile.
These two particular comedians reside in wholly opposite spaces in terms of my own appreciation. One I admire and consider must-see viewing. The other I can barely stand. Both have a valid place in our pop culture. That I like one and not the other makes no difference on their right to practice their art. But it also means neither gets a free pass when they cross lines that should not be crossed.
Again, they have the freedom to cross lines otherwise deemed uncrossable by other performers and non-performers. We do not have to applaud their every attention-grabbing gambit. We, like they, can exercise our own free speech. I do so now:
I can’t believe Maher thought it acceptable to use the term “house n-word” in a televised discussion between two famous and powerful white men. Or under any circumstances. I can’t believe Griffin, though remorseful, is shocked that persons viewing her holding up a severed head resembling Donald Trump could be construed as advocating for violence against the president. Both acts are deliberately provocative. They stand on their own in that respect. Feigning astonishment that the provocative act provoked outrage and condemnation and is ripe for “misinterpretation” is an even stupider flavor of stupid.
They say the cover up is worse than the crime. I don’t know if that’s the case here with Griffin, but it’s pretty close. She is currently lamenting the end of her career. It might not be if she were not still acting defiant about her deed. She claims the Trump family and their supporters are out to bully her. I know a thing or two about bullying and you don’t get to claim to be a bully if you are the obvious instigator. Yes, Donald Trump is a horrible, woefully uninformed, dangerously stupid and malevolently self-interested travesty of a president. No, it never is acceptable to advocate mockingly murdering him.
Comedians are important enough that even though I don’t care about what Griffin has to say or do, I still am moved when she fucks up in such a dangerous way. Because comedians matter. And civility matters. She can be uncivil. She can also be held accountable for being so. She can be stupid. We can think less of her for being stupid.
And it is stupid, what she did. If only for the obvious reason that you don’t simulate violence against a president you don’t like if you don’t want other people doing the same or worse to a president you do like.
We’ve all been let down by Kathy Griffin. And I don’t even care about Kathy Griffin. The reason why is because she is a successful comedian.
Why do we care when they let us down? Because we’re invested. How much do you value those that can make you smile? As a society, we struggle with how much value to place on comedy. OK, it’s not up there with say, the civil rights struggle, or nuclear disarmament, or why can’t the Cleveland Browns ever draft a quarterback, but it’s a struggle all the same.
Humor is genius. Comedians take that genius and spin it into magic. They delight. They create happy. They make us think. They allow us to recognize. They make us feel. They provoke.
Bill Maher has been exposed as a racist. I’m not even talking about last night’s n-word utterance. Previously, he’s been accused as anti-Muslim. Last night’s casual verbal volley took, for me, his perceived character in a new direction. He let me down.
When you put yourself in a position to make a Republican come across as the more virtuous person in any exchange, that should be the end-game, the fait accompli for any liberal person’s argument. Game. Over. Check. Mate. The other guy won, Bill. And Senator Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) will keep winning for all time because you stooped to an (at best) unnecessary or (at worst) revealing glimpse into your thinking.
Who talks like that? Fucking racists do.
I get that Bill Maher was trying to use an offensive term to enlighten the conversation. He had a purpose — possibly intended to be humorous. We all have used a pejorative term that we know is wrong (maybe not that one) at some point in time, regrettably. The N-word, the C-word, the R-word, others. Have you never said any of them … ever? But Bill Maher did it on his own TV show. He has a hugely powerful forum to express his views. The stakes are higher and the responsibility is greater.
He has apologized for using the term.
I like Bill Maher’s show. It’s appointment TV for me. I don’t agree with everything he espouses, but I appreciate the point of view and the lively discussions amid the swirling zeitgeist. I agree with some points. I disagree with others. I don’t care about others still. I am usually amused. I’m sometimes disappointed in the low-level humor, but often find it tolerable because the show elevates itself again, usually with New Rules and his closing monologue.
But Bill, don’t fucking use that fucking term again. I don’t want to be disappointed in my quasi-heroes. There are so few left.
This is my free speech. Have at it.
