So, back in mid-May,Comics Journal editor Gary Groth posted a teaser for his interview with Maurice Sendak, including this bit at the end:
SENDAK THE ANARCHISTSENDAK: Bush was president, I thought, “Be brave. Tie a bomb to your shirt. Insist on going to the White House. And I wanna have a big hug with the vice president, definitely. And his wife, and the president, and his wife, and anybody else that can fit into the love hug.”
GROTH: A group hug.
SENDAK: And then we’ll blow ourselves up, and I’d be a hero. [Groth laughs.] To hell with the kiddie books. He killed Bush. He killed the vice president. Oh my God.
GROTH: I would have been willing to forgo this interview. [Sendak laughs.]
SENDAK: You would have forgotten about it. It would have been a very brave and wonderful thing. But I didn’t do it; I didn’t do it.
And this is how MSNBC News decided to cover it, Tuesday afternoon:
Author Maurice Sendak spoke of desire to kill Bush, Cheney
In one of his final interviews, celebrated children’s book author Maurice Sendak said he fantasized about killing former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney…The famously cranky Sendak spoke at length about his comics career, his life and times, and blowing up the president….
Eric Reynolds, associate publisher at Fantagraphics Books, where Groth is founder and president, said Tuesday that they’ve seen quite a bit of outrage on Twitter and a few conservative blogs. “I saw a tweet just a few minutes ago that said, ‘I wish I’d read and collected Sendak’s books as a kid so I could burn them now.'”…
Because nothing says, “Hate speech is wrong” like burning books. Notice how the people offering to set fire to books never seem to have read any?
“Anyone who has watched Sendak’s infamous interview on the ‘Colbert Report’ (or read his books, for that matter), should recognize that not only was he cranky, he had a razor-sharp wit and a very dark sense of humor,” Reynolds said. “He was 83 years old when he gave this interview [to Groth]. He was at the point in his life where he clearly didn’t give a damn about propriety; he could speak his mind and clearly enjoyed provocation. I see these comments as part and parcel of his personality, not as a legitimate, actionable, treasonous threat.”
Expect Darrell Issa to get on the “Operation Wild Things” bandwagon, just as soon as his anti-Holder jihad officially sputters to a halt.
So now, if redstate alarmists among your family and acquaintances are tweeting “OMG DEAD LEFTIST CELEBRITY TRIED TO RECRUIT TODDLER SUICIDE BOMBERS! ! ! “, you’ll know why. As they used to say when Maurice Sendak was growing up, “Only in America… “
Villago Delenda Est
If Maurice Sendak had expressed a wish to kill any number of nefarious historical figures that way, no one would think twice.
I salute him. That would have indeed been a gutsy and righteous thing to do.
burnspbesq
Sigh.
Cue Foghorn Leghorn:
Thass a JOKE, son.
freelancer
Beaming proudly at the framed poster art in my living room right now, one in particular.
Let the Wingnut Rumpus Start!
Sophist(from droid)
MSNBC: Where the Dumb Things Are.
Villago Delenda Est
@Sophist(from droid):
Well, where some of the dumb things are.
The rest you find frothing in the wingnutosphere.
suzanne
I feel like explaining his would be like trying to explain to a six-year-old the difference between “funny HAHA” and “funny UHOH”.,
Bubblegum Tate
Oh my god, that is fantastic–just like the wingnut freakout over it will be.
Spaghetti Lee
Well, as I’m sure we all know, no conservative in history has ever threatened with violence a president they don’t like, so Sendak is obviously beyond the pale.
Spaghetti Lee
“I saw a tweet just a few minutes ago that said, ‘I wish I’d read and collected Sendak’s books as a kid so I could burn them now.’”…
Never gets old. “This author who I previously liked has said a political thing I don’t like. HE IS NOW THE ENEMY! CRUSH KILL DESTROY AAAAAGRHGRHGH.”
gnomedad
Let the wild rumpus begin!
lacp
No doubt Michelle Malkin is investigating his granite headstone at this very moment.
Elizabelle
@Sophist(from droid):
You made me laugh.
Although, in fairness:
Cable News: Where the Dumb Things Are
there
owlbear1
‘I wish I’d read and collected Sendak’s books as a kid so I could burn them now.’”…
If you had read Sendak’s books as a kid it’s far more likely you’d be chuckling along with the rest of us, Sparky.
Pat
When I read “Where The Wild Things Are” to my new grandson in a couple of years, I will fondly remember its author.
Thank you, Maurice, wherever you are!
Egg Berry
@lacp: So early in the morning to win the internet.
Jim Treacher
Stupid wingnuts. It’s not like he said it about Obama.
different-church-lady
[scratches head]
OK…
Obama Outhouse = outrage
Sendak bomb fantasy = amusement
Yup, no inconsistency there whatsoever.
waynski
I guess now we’ll have to elect Jeb Bush so he can invade whatever state Sendak lived in, “After all, he threatened to kill my brother.”
Next up on the wingnut wurlitzer we’ll see a photo of Obama reading “Where the Wild Things Are” to his daughters who are sitting on Bill Ayers’ lap as Saul Alinsky serves tea.
Just a’pallin’ around with domestic terrorists. Morans.
Izzy
As always in situations like this, I defer to the wisdom of Henry Jones: “goosestepping morons like yourself should try reading books instead of burning them!”
Craig
If Sendak had said the same thing about the Obamas and Bidens, no one here would be treating it as a ha-ha funny joke by a doofy old man. “Joking” about killing duly elected American leaders ain’t funny in any context.
JGabriel
Anne Laurie @ Top:
I fully expect Issa to order Holder to dig up Sendak’s corpse for questioning, then charge Holder with contempt when he very properly advises that the DoJ won’t comply on the basis that Sendak’s corpse can’t answer questions, what with being all corpsified and dead and shit.
.
slippy
@Spaghetti Lee:
I would bet money the individual who posted that comment NEVER had WTWTA read to him, nor has he ever read it. He’s just farting political noise. The equivalent of an Internet Vuvuzela.
I’m reminded of a news item I just saw the other day, where the Southern Baptist Convention decided to lift their EIGHT-YEAR-OLD BOYCOTT of Disney.
Yah, do you remember that boycott? It was a long, terrible, drawn-out affair with Disney finally surrendering to the mighty forces of the SBC . . . oh wait, nobody fucking remembered about their vain empty threat because the reality is, the religious right actually has NO ECONOMIC POWER in this country. This is why major corporate brand after major corporate brand is coming out in support of LGBT rights, because they’ve finally realized all of that hissy-fit vaporizing from the religious right is just nonsense.
Back to Sendak — I doubt his “brand” will take any damage at all from this. The couch-fainting hissy-sissies will stumble around, red-faced in outrage, and then eventually people will ignore their stupid asses. Most Americans know that Bush was a turd, and not really elected to the office anyway.
jeff
@Jim Treacher:
Yeah Jim–you have Ted Nugent as the unstable artist on your side. I’ll take Sendak.
Jack the Second
@Craig:
An able-bodied young man joking about violence is always too far; what makes it funny is the context of an 83-year-old children’s book author joking about it. The humor relies upon the credibility of the threat.
This is an exact parallel to a 90-year-old or a flamboyantly gay man making humorous sexual advances towards the hostess at a party; it’s funny because it’s so absurd. If a young man tries to make the same humorous advances, they fall flat, because there is an implicit, credible sexual threat.
Likewise, there is a strong difference when a five-year-old with a squirt gun jumps out of the bushes and says “Give me all your money!” and a large man with a handgun does the same. Only one is cute.
Context matters.
Craig
@Jack the Second: That’s pretty condescending, don’t you think? Because he’s an old man, that makes it cute? Once again, if anyone tells me they wouldn’t have been outraged if he had made the same comment about the current President and VP, I’ll tell them they are lying.
Anthony
@Craig: There is also the difference in that only one of said presidents is evil…
mapaghimagsik
I confess I’m missing the cuteness here. If he was talking about Obama, I’d be uncomfortable as well. You don’t need to be young and fit to suicide bomb.
I still love Sendak’s books. The book burners are stupid.
elmo
Aw, crap. I hate this shit. Don’t make me, even for a second, take the side of the Wingnut Wurlitzer, but that was just a wrong, offensive, and — yeah, I’ll say it — evil thing to say.
Maybe it’s because I’m on a Kennedy kick right now after reading Caro’s book, and I’m just so freakin’ saddened by the descriptions of Jackie Kennedy gathering up Jack’s brains in her cupped hands. But there are things you don’t joke about. Ever. Some jokes are never, ever funny. And “jokes” about murdering not only the President of the United States, but also his wife, belong firmly in that category.
Does making an evil, ugly joke make him an evil, ugly person? Of course not. But I’m going to call it what it is, and it’s just a damn offensive thing to say.
Villago Delenda Est
@Craig:
The deserting coward was never elected. He was appointed, and then Ohio’s vote totals were manipulated.
beergoggles
Death threats aren’t funny. You only have to be on the receiving end of a few serious ones to realize it. It’s like rape jokes but worse.
owlbear1
Sendak was contemplated what it would take to change his legacy from a beloved author of children’s books, not actually planning or advocating for anyone to kill Dick and George.
Although, I can see how this can be confusing for people who see 1 million dead and wounded as “Shit Happens”.
Xecky Gilchrist
they’ve seen quite a bit of outrage on Twitter and a few conservative blogs.
They’re admitting they know who Bush is?
TOP123
@waynski: Connecticut! Just like a certain family whose name begins with a B.
Cluttered Mind
@Spaghetti Lee: That is actually kind of funny. I read Ender’s Game a while back and hated it (apparently that’s a minority opinion), and then years later I found out that Orson Scott Card is a pretty horrible person. Didn’t really surprise me at all given the reasons why I disliked Ender’s Game. I always loved Sendak’s books and the idea of him saying something like this doesn’t really surprise me.
bjacques
First of all, what’s the context? Wingnuts whine enough about that when one of their own gets caught with his or her bare face hanging out. OK, it would have to be quite a context to justify what, on the face of it, sounds like a stupid and/or cranky thing to say. “But then I had my first cup of coffee that day” would be a start. By the way, notice how he said: “There I was, wearing the bomb vest” instead of “someone ought to…” or the even more weaselly “it would be terrible but not surprising if…”
(ETA: Owlbear @ 31: If that was the context, I guess that would do it. In poor taste, maybe, but obviously harmless. Not a patch on wingnut fantasies of things people might actually do, or have done in Arizona, say.)
Wingnuts act like it’s a virtue to immediately and totally refudiate a hero who acts less than heroic. I have a high school acquaintance who proudly reaffirmed his disgust last week at the Dixie Chicks saying Bush made them ashamed to be American…*eight years ago*. Now, I was disappointed 20 years ago to learn that Iggy Pop was and is a Republican who likes to play golf. But Raw Power and Lust For Life / The Idiot are still some of the finest slabs of vinyl ever to grace a turntable. I guess if Iggy went down the same road as Ted Nugent, that would take some of the fun out of listening to his early stuff, but I hope I’d take it like an adult, find the behavior regrettable and remember him when he didn’t suck.
Sophist(from droid)
To everyone talking about death threats: unless Maurice Sendak had access time a time machine, this wasn’t one of those.
TenguPhule
Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd.
I rest my case.
some guy
What’s even funnier is seeing Tucker Carlson’s whiny little bitch, Sean Medfield (The DC Crawler) come over here and whine about Sendak.
At least Sean isn’t living in his mommy’s basement anymore, so we can thank Tucker for that.