Join the Club!
Fill out the contact form below and we’ll get you a free exercise tracker!
ALERT ALERT ALERT: NSFW, Plus likely loss of sanity points ahead
The following video contains Joan Rivers acting like a complete idiot and saying mean fat hating things about Adele followed by a response from Adam Hills that is brilliant but full of a LOT of profanity.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S1NafWijNc]
Okay, what have we learned boys and girls.
1. Joan Rivers is a mean spirited, nasty person who uses what she terms as “comedy” to spread hatred.
2. She does this on purpose in order to stir the controversy pot and get attention.
3. Some people (like Adam Hills) are starting to get more than a little sick of these tactics.
4. These people are starting to speak out.
5. People who live in surgically altered glass houses, probably shouldn’t toss rocks.
I’m not really sure what the take away message should be here. Obviously this kind of “comedy” is not new to Joan Rivers. She’s made a long, long, long career out of being mean spirited and nasty in this particular way. And she’s used to getting a lot of attention for it. But maybe she’s getting a slightly different kind of attention now than she’s used to.
Should we take heart from the fact that her appearance on Letterman was punctuated by audible boos? I mean this is not an audience known for loving kindness, but clearly even some in this jaded audience felt Rivers had gone too far. Should we take heart from Adam’s gleefully unrestrained and curse-word-laden tirade? Or should we wonder if he’s not being kind of mean spirited too? Is he justified? Is it ever justified?
Should I use my blog to shine a light on haters, even if the light shows them getting a seemingly deserved smackdown? Because the fact remains that this blog is not only adding a few more hits to the pile for Adam Hills, but also doing so for Joan Rivers.
Controversy breeds attention. There’s an old adage that says, “All publicity is good publicity as long as they spell your name right.” (Although my version of this saying goes, “All publicity is probably good publicity as long as it links back to your facebook page and YouTube channel.”) Clearly there’s some truth to this saying This video referenced above has already racked up over 1 million hits.
So I am sincerely asking you, should we give this kind of behavior any attention at all? Even if the attention is to shake a finger and say, “Shame on You!”? Or should I just post more cute videos of yawning baby hedgehogs? I would LOVE to hear your feedback. So fill up the comments or drop me a line letting me know what you think.
Because, even though I’m QUITE sure that there is no such thing as too many cute videos of yawning baby hedgehogs, I’m a little less sure of the alternatives.
Love,
The Fat Chick
10 Comments. Leave new
While I found Hill’s response to be too heavy on profanity for my taste, i’m still glad to see him sticking up for Adele and telling off Rivers. Hey, our champions can’t all be perfect! So I’d say yes, bring it to our attention, in case some folks missed it.
You are so right about our champions not all being perfect. In fact, you’ve inspired a new blog post! Check for that AND kitty videos on today’s blog post which should be posted by about 8 AM today. Thanks Maggie!
As an Aussie I love Adam Hills’ work. Always intelligent, often funny & warm. I must admit to thinking that while calling Joan Rivers out was laudable, mentioning her own (surgically altered) appearance and ‘undesirable’ personailty traits was just as mean spirited. I’m sure Joan has a thick skin but it was a cheap shot.
As for posting about it here, well, that’s up to you.
Personally I prefer videos with sleeping kittens twitching 😉
Good point. More kitten videos coming up! (Check for today’s post at 8AM Pacific). Thanks for commenting!
I use three questions to guide my own posts: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind? If something doesn’t meet those criteria, I generally say as little as possible.
Obviously Joan Rivers and comics like her don’t play by those rules. So one could make the case that speaking back to them with with the true/necessary/kind filter on is too much filter.
The thing is, I don’t think I’ve ever changed someone’s mind about anything by being mean to them. I know for a fact that no one has ever changed MY mind with cruelty. So Adam can call her out on her meanness, sure, but I think he takes a lot of the power out of his persuasion when he goes after her appearance.
Rivers seems to think that as long as you follow a mean statement with “can’t you take a joke?” everyone has to laugh. But I recall a night, years ago, when Elizabeth Taylor (whom she mocked for years) happened to be on the same talk show as she (Johnny Carson, if memory serves me right.) Taylor was NOT amused by the fat jokes, and was icily polite to Rivers in the way that says, “I do not know this person.” I hear that that amazed Rivers – she truly didn’t get it that Taylor did not share her sense of “humor.”
We are not going to change Joan Rivers. I think that when we attack her and people like her directly, we risk making martyrs. I’ll stick with “her words are horrible” and leave her plastic surgery out of it, although if I ever met her and she made fun of ME, I might say, “Be glad that I’m not making fun of your face.”
Wow I never knew that story about Elizabeth Taylor. Now that is somebody who was hit hard by the tabloids. But I like your three question test. I think it makes sense and also may serve to give me enough time to close my mouth lest I find my food in it. Thanks for commenting!
When I begin to feel sorry for myself about living with other people’s foolishness about my size, I think of La Liz. At least the tabloids are not after me.
You go, Adam!
Joan Rivers really should not talk about anyone else’s physical appearance, considering that she long ago ceased looking like a human being and now looks like a manikin in a space alien department store.
I feel badly for the woman that her husband committed suicide. That is a terrible thing to live through. And maybe at heart she isn’t really as mean spirited as she sometimes appears to be, but she does have a tendency to go for the cheap shot in order to get attention, and it isn’t pretty.
I agree, she’s had a tough life, but that doesn’t give her a free pass. And her behavior is indeed ugly sometimes.
[…] It’s easier to cope with the next stupid pseudo-science death fat article and the next Joan Rivers celebrity fat bashing gaffe if we can take it into […]