Steve Martin apologizes for tweet

[madoka]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/21/steve-martin-racist-joke_n_4486139.html

On Friday, Martin engaged in a back and forth with one of his over 4.5 million followers when one asked him "Is this how you spell lasonia?"

The actor replied with a racially charged joke one Twitter user captured in a screenshot: "It depends. Are you in an African-American neighborhood or at an Italian restaurant?"

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How the heck is this racist or even offensive?

It's observational humor from a comedian!

 

[edro]

At least he said African-American.

I say we put him in jail. His tweet was offensive and we cannot stand for it.
How dare he imply that African-Americans are bad spellers and speak with different pronunciations!

 

[Rakehellion]

Meh, he's a comedian. The greatest sin was that the joke wasn't funny or original.

 

[lxskllr]

Meh, he's a comedian. The greatest sin was that the joke wasn't funny or original.

The greatest sin is he retracted it. Retractions legitimize the behavior of whiners, and encourage them to whine more.

 

[Braznor]

Humans are so fucking sensitive. They cannot take a joke.

 

[Rakehellion]

For reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUvdXxhLPa8

This is pretty much the gold standard of racially charged jokes.

 

[Cyco]

Come on, they murdered the spelling of luhzonya in the first place!

 

[Rakehellion]

The greatest sin is he retracted it. Retractions legitimize the behavior of whiners, and encourage them to whine more.

Right now you're whining about whiners, you whiner.

If you screw up, you should have the maturity to make amends. It has nothing to do with weakness.

 

[JackBurton]

Right now you're whining about whiners, you whiner.

If you screw up, you should have the maturity to make amends. It has nothing to do with weakness.

The problem is, he didn't screw up.

 

[lxskllr]

Right now you're whining about whiners, you whiner.

If you screw up, you should have the maturity to make amends. It has nothing to do with weakness.

I wasn't whining, and he didn't screw up. Instead of worrying about a comedian's routine, maybe people should be worrying about a lying beautiful being in the president's office. His words actually affect people's lives, and actually matter 2 seconds after he says them.

 

[IronWing]

The problem is, he didn't screw up.

Yes he did. He failed to be funny. If the joke had been funny then he would have been okay no matter how offensive.

 

[Pocatello]

Has Steve Martin ever been funny?

 

[DAGTA]

Garfield is not amused.

 

[IronWing]

Has Steve Martin ever been funny?

Yes. He was quite funny in LA Story.

 

[JackBurton]

Yes he did. He failed to be funny. If the joke had been funny then he would have been okay no matter how offensive.

So if a comedian's joke bombs, they should apologize? Give me a break. Funny or not, he should of followed up with, "fuck off" to anyone offended.

 

[sixone]

It was funny.

But in the world we live in now, you can't make a joke about culture without worrying about race being brought into it by the Thought Police.

Easier to delete it than to stand by it, even if he did nothing wrong.

 

[IronWing]

So if a comedian's joke bombs, they should apologize? Give me a break. Funny or not, he should of followed up with, "fuck off" to anyone offended.

They should write "I will be funny 100 times on the blackboard" 100 times on the blackboard. I agree about the response to offended people.

 

[drebo]

I'm not normally a Steve Martin fan, but that joke was pretty funny.

Anyone who was offended is suffering from white guilt and should be forced to join the Peace Corps and go serve a year in Africa.

 

[Number1]

I wasn't whining, and he didn't screw up. Instead of worrying about a comedian's routine, maybe people should be worrying about a lying beautiful being in the president's office. His words actually affect people's lives, and actually matter 2 seconds after he says them.

And now you turned this into a whine about the POTU.

Well guess what, you get what you voted for.

Now shut the fuck up and try enjoying the holidays.

:hmm:

Steve Martin made a comment that offended some people and he apologized for it. Wow, I have a lot of respect for that.

 

[HeXen]

Lots of comedians make racial jokes but it's always OK when a black comedian is the one making it regardless of the race he is targeting. Always remember that kids. So if chapelle said the exact same thing, this thread would not exist which means I would be in some other thread right now...it blows the mind.

 

[Leyawiin]

Someone already beat Steve to it:

https://www.facebook.com/LaSoniaNicoleSalonAndSpaLlc

 

[UglyCasanova]

I like Steve Martin, he seems like a nice guy. I say just shut twitter down if we as a society are going to be so damned sensitive to it.

 

[Exophase]

The big problem here is how it goes viral and a small, sometimes miniscule percentage of viewers makes a big fuss. The biggest perpetrators are the tabloid-like glorified blogs like huffpost that push for clicks by creating controversy over this stuff.

I actually didn't even get the joke, at first I thought he was suggesting black people have poor spelling, only after reading comments do I get that he's saying that they give their children more unusual names and "LaSonia" can be one of them. One interpretation seems more offensive than the other; if you're really honestly offended by a joke someone makes (also like the AIDS one recently tweeted) you should first get some clarification on what the person really meant before going totally crazy.

Unfortunately some people really like going totally crazy.

 

[Rakehellion]

I wasn't whining, and he didn't screw up. Instead of worrying about a comedian's routine, maybe people should be worrying about a lying beautiful being in the president's office.

HOLY FUCK! A thread about a comedian somehow drifted to Obama by the tenth post. I think that's a record!

 

[Rakehellion]

Yes he did. He failed to be funny. If the joke had been funny then he would have been okay no matter how offensive.

Exactly. It wasn't a joke, it was just making fun of black people.