Do you enjoy your comedy with misogyny and racism? Then perhaps Artie Lange is for you. The comic, a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show, tweeted this sexual scenario using ESPN’s First Take moderator Cari Champion, who is black:
“Here’s the scenario I’m using to jerk off to chick on First Take I’m T. Jefferson & she’s my slave. She beats the shit out of me & runs free,” he wrote, later adding, “Then I cum & she’s free! Happiest ending ever!”
Because it’s never too soon for slavery sex fantasies, are we right? Lange has since been banned from ESPN and dropped from @midnight. Lange apologized for the tweets, sort of. He went the route of “PC groups are ruining comedy, but I’m sorry if I offended Cari Champion.”
Team Blackness also discussed a Florida man who was jailed for feeding the homeless, Harvard University’s anal sex class, and a look at some of our newly elected Republican officials.
Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe On Stitcher | Direct Download | RSS
Jerzy Russian
Christ, what an asshole.
Mandalay
The vile situation you mention in Fort Lauderdale deserves its own OP. The city has passed laws that effectively make it all but impossible to feed the homeless, under the phoney guise of “public safety”. The real reason, of course, is that Fort Lauderdale is a tourist destination, and local politicians don’t want homeless people to be seen in public. The mayor even (inadvertently) admits it:
But the city may have shot itself in the foot by arresting this guy:
Mnemosyne
I still don’t understand why guys who make jokes that Shecky Green would have thought were too old-fashioned in 1960 get treated like they’re “edgy” and “modern.”
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
This is absolutely protected under the first amendment
Jerzy Russian
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo):
Yes, but he is still an asshole.
Wally Ballou
What the actual fucking fuck. People are sick.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Mandalay: We went through this dance in Santa Cruz from the early 1980s until sometime in the late 1990s. The feeders of the poor eventually won, barely (the founder damn near got a “three-strikes” life in prison sentence for doing it) and that’s in what really could be argued as being the most liberal town in the United States (although, as I always say, Santa Cruz is a part of the United States merely through an accident of geography). I don’t see this working out in Florida, although if they move it out of sight, they may indulge it until the old guy who’s getting all the sympathy press dies.
As for our good friend Artie Lange, well, hey pal, enjoy whatever kind of fantasy you like, no law against it. However, political correctness isn’t ruining comedy, shitty racist assholes who labor under the illusion that they’re some sort of “comedian” are ruining comedy. I’ve heard genuinely good race-based comedy. This doesn’t even clear the first hurdle of “being remotely funny”.
Mnemosyne
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo):
ESPN is not part of the government, so they can fire his ass if they feel like it. I think the courts have consistently found that employees don’t have First Amendment rights, and even government employees have very strict rules they have to operate under.
Also, don’t forget this lovely part: the “slave” in this scenario is one of his co-workers, identified by name. Can you say “hostile workplace lawsuit” if he didn’t get fired?
Shakezula
I like the part where she beats the shit out of him.
And this is not an apology:
Jerry
@Mnemosyne:
I don’t think Lange was an employee of ESPN. I think he is now banned from appearing on any ESPN show though, so look for him to make an appearance on the Dan Le Batard show any time.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Mnemosyne:
I meant to reply to the post about the guy feeding the homeless in Florida. Artie Lange can Go to hell.
Apologies to jerseyrussian as well
Mnemosyne
@Jerry:
At the Giant Evil Corporation of which ESPN is a part (and I am an employee), the company is equally liable for sexual harassment by a contractor or vendor as they would be if it were an official employee, so Champion would absolutely be able to make an official complaint about Lange.
We all have to do a training on this every year, so I know the policy. :-)
ETA: To clarify, I’m an employee of the parent company, not ESPN specifically.
Mandalay
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Right. I’ve also heard funny jokes about rape, but they are mostly told by women, and invariably at the expense of the rapist.
Being deeply offensive can be funny, but it is not automatically or inherently funny. You need to pick the appropriate target, and a female colleague is almost certainly not an appropriate target.
shelley
The main component of the non-apology is ‘sorry if anybody was offended,’ translation: ‘too bad you uptight PC’ers can’t take a joke.’
The Other Chuck
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Indeed, Dave Chapelle can do racial comedy. Chris Rock can do racial comedy. And it isn’t because they’re both black.
I thought certified professional engineers were annoyed at random hackers calling themselves software engineers, but comedians have it worse in that every other random asshole who won’t shut his yap will label himself a comedian.
Jerry
@Mnemosyne:
Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification.