About eighteen hours into his famed telethon, Jerry Lewis made a joke with the cameraman, the punchline of which involved a gay slur about a hypothetical member of the crew member's family. It seemed as if Jerry knew he'd f-d up as soon as he said it and has since made a public apology in reference to dropping the f-bomb on camera.
"That something like this would distract from the true purpose of the Telethon pains me deeply. The success of the show and all the good that will come of it shouldn't be lost because of one unfortunate word. I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses. I am sorry."GLAAD seemed happy with the 81-year-old comedian's apology, responding publicly by applauding his fund-raising efforts, but still hopes to meet with Lewis in the hopes of raising awareness about this issue. Now, I know this might not seem right, but I do think that after a certain age, you should get to be able to play the "I'm old, I don't know what I'm saying card," pretty much any time you want to. My understanding of the human aging process is such that I'm pretty sure that after the age of seventy-five, you magically become racist. You can't help it. It's around that age, that I think I'm also going to start shoplifting for no reason.
green cardigan says:
Lisa - I agree. If you make it as far as 75 or over, you've earned the right to say whatever the hell you feel like and if people get their knickers in a knot over it, well, they can just take a long walk off a short plank.
If I make it to that age, I'm going to take my dentures out and attack people with umbrellas on a regular basis.
Persistent Cat says:
I can't wait to be that age. I can say whatever the hell I want and no one is going to look at me in disgust or hiss, "bitch." When my 81 year old grandmother says something bitchy, we die laughing cuz it's awesome.
And yeah, I'm totally going to shoplift. And call sluttily dressed girls "whores."