Read the Beforeitsnews.com story here. Advertise at Before It's News here.
Profile image
By We the People of the United States (Reporter)
Contributor profile | More stories
Story Views
Now:
Last hour:
Last 24 hours:
Total:

Tale of Two Comedians

% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.


Do you remember Wanda Sykes, the alleged comedian, who during a performance in 2016 called then-President-elect Trump “racist, sexist” and “homophobic?” When audience members booed her “jokes” about the future President, she attacked them saying,

Nice. For emphasis, she also gave the audience the middle finger.

In the same 2016 allegedly comedic performance, Sykes also said of Trump:

A short piece about Sykes appeared recently in The Week, a news magazine. The article talks about Sykes’s two marriages, first to a man and next to a woman. Her white wife (Sykes is black) gave birth to twins about six months after their marriage. Neither the news magazine nor Wikipedia reports who the father is; nevertheless, Sykes considers herself to be a “mother” to the twins and also considers her own parents to be the children’s grandparents.

These family relationships and feelings provide important context for the following quote from Sykes, spoken in a 2015 live appearance in Michigan. Referring to her own children, Sykes joked:

Imagine a comedian of any color saying, “There is nothing creepier than waking up and seeing two little black kids standing at the foot of your bed.”

So far as can be determined, using the now very biased search engines, Sykes has never apologized for that appallingly racist “joke” that she made at the expense of her own children.

Asked if she teaches her children about privilege, Sykes replied,

Where is her children’s “safe space?” Or is it now taboo, somehow inappropriate, perhaps even racist, to concern oneself about the emotional safety or self-esteem of white children?

In an interview with the New York Times, Sykes was reminded of another “joke” she referenced in her 2004 book, “Yeah, I said it.”

Here’s what Sykes said:

Sykes told the interviewer that she would never speak about mentally challenged children in the same way now:

To her credit, at least Sykes has repented for using the word retarded when joking about children with special needs. Has she apologized about the racial “jokes” she’s made about white people, including her own children?

In the New York Times interview, Sykes also said:

Sykes currently appears in the ABC television series Black-ish; provided voices for two recent animated movies, Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) and UglyDolls (2019); and starred this year in a Netflix special, Wanda Sykes: Not Normal. So it appears that her apparently bigoted, insensitive “jokes” have not impacted her career whatsoever. Nor has any social media or mainstream media pile-on occurred, demanding apologies from Sykes.

Keep all of the above in mind as you consider the case of another female comedian, Roseanne Barr, who is a member of a cultural as well as a religious minority group.

Last year Barr was featured in the ABC television series Roseanne, until she got caught up in a controversy over an allegedly racist tweet. From Wikipedia:

The racism charge derives from Barr’s reference to the movie Planet of the Apes.

Despite Barr’s explanation that she was referring to the oppressive political system of a fictional planet (as well as, it seems, alluding to the “liberal allegory of racial conflict” contained therein), too many preferred to believe the worst about Barr–that she was implying that Jarrett (and by extension other blacks) resemble apes.

Given that Barr said that she didn’t even know that Jarrett is not white, one would have to believe otherwise to think that Barr was using an old, very crude racial slur against Jarrett.

Barr could be forgiven for not knowing that Valerie Jarrett identifies as black. See Jarrett’s photo here. Besides her obviously light skin, Jarrett was, in fact, born in Iran, where she lived until age five and where she spoke Persian. Her family then moved to London.  So Barr was correct about the fact that Jarrett was born in the Middle East; she just got the country wrong: It was Iran, not Saudi Arabia.

When Jarret finally came to the United States, by her own description, she said:

In fact, Jarrett is more white than black, 49% white according to a DNA analysis by the TV show Finding Your Roots, as hosted by Louis Gates. Not only that, Jarrett, like Roseanne Barr, has Jewish ancestryBarr’s reference to the Muslim Brotherhood is explained here, here, and here. Suffice it to say that during the Obama administration, both Obama and Jarrett were cozy with and very welcoming to people associated closely with that radical group, all adding credibility to Barr’s claim that her tweet was political and not racist towards Jarrett.

Nevertheless, after presenting her explanations, Barr apologized publicly and profusely to Valerie Jarrett.

As noted above, however, Barr’s television series was canceled the very same day as her tweet! It didn’t take long for the shunning and shaming of Barr to happen. Her career is now moribund. She has not been forgiven, despite her immediate apologies.

Ironically, Roseanne Barr was instrumental in helping Wanda Sykes to revive the show Last Comic Standing. Barr wanted to help young comics, female comics, and comics of color. Sykes actually worked on the Roseanne show when the Jarrett controversy occurred–the very series that got canceled at the speed of a Tweet.

What was Sykes instrumental in doing for Barr? Why, she “led the charge” to get Barr’s show canceled!

Let no good deed go unpunished.

This is the sad tale of two comedians. One woman made racist jokes about white children, actually did compare the white President to an orangutan, and made insensitive jokes about mentally challenged children, and yet her career thrives with nary a complaint nor a demand for apology. (Keep in mind that comedy routines are well thought out and deliberate.)

The other comedian made a political comment on Twitter, a spur-of-the-moment, middle-of-the-night comment for which she later profusely apologized, despite the fact that her comment was misunderstood and that she did not mean what others falsely assumed she meant. Now, despite contrition for a thought crime that she didn’t commit, her career is basically over. Will Roseanne ever be forgiven? What exactly will it take?

Why the difference? Where’s the justice? 

#####


Source: https://wtpotus.wordpress.com/2019/07/10/tale-of-two-comedians/


Before It’s News® is a community of individuals who report on what’s going on around them, from all around the world.

Anyone can join.
Anyone can contribute.
Anyone can become informed about their world.

"United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.

Please Help Support BeforeitsNews by trying our Natural Health Products below!


Order by Phone at 888-809-8385 or online at https://mitocopper.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST

Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomic.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST

Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomics.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST


Humic & Fulvic Trace Minerals Complex - Nature's most important supplement! Vivid Dreams again!

HNEX HydroNano EXtracellular Water - Improve immune system health and reduce inflammation.

Ultimate Clinical Potency Curcumin - Natural pain relief, reduce inflammation and so much more.

MitoCopper - Bioavailable Copper destroys pathogens and gives you more energy. (See Blood Video)

Oxy Powder - Natural Colon Cleanser!  Cleans out toxic buildup with oxygen!

Nascent Iodine - Promotes detoxification, mental focus and thyroid health.

Smart Meter Cover -  Reduces Smart Meter radiation by 96%! (See Video).

Report abuse

    Comments

    Your Comments
    Question   Razz  Sad   Evil  Exclaim  Smile  Redface  Biggrin  Surprised  Eek   Confused   Cool  LOL   Mad   Twisted  Rolleyes   Wink  Idea  Arrow  Neutral  Cry   Mr. Green

    MOST RECENT
    Load more ...

    SignUp

    Login

    Newsletter

    Email this story
    Email this story

    If you really want to ban this commenter, please write down the reason:

    If you really want to disable all recommended stories, click on OK button. After that, you will be redirect to your options page.