Offensive pop culture?
Rob Schneiders controversial role
Rob Schneiders portrayal of an Asian man in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry has been likened to Mickey Rooneys turn as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffanys. And not in a good way.
With a mushroom cut, buck teeth and glasses, Schneiders character in the Adam Sandler vehicle shocked and enraged many in the blogosphere. The Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) said the following: Sandler showed his movie to GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and edited out scenes they deemed offensive because he didn’t want to make a movie that would offend the gay community. He should’ve shown it to MANAA; we would’ve had quite a few things to say to him (MANAA has consulted with studios about their films, including ‘Rising Sun’ and ‘Pearl Harbor’).” (Matt Sayle / AP)
Michael Richards racist rant
Michael Richards breakdown at the Laugh Factory was the most inflammatory racial incident in recent memory. While Richards performed his stand-up routine, some African American audience-members began to heckle him. Richards responded with a racist tirade, using racist epithets at least seven times.
Richards attempted to make things right with an odd appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, and by calling Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. (Fernando Leon / Getty Images)
Don Imus fired for racist, sexist remark
A shock jocks duty is to be controversial, but CBS believed that Don Imus went too far. After Imus described the Rutgers women’s basketball team in a racist, sexist manner, sponsors withdrew and the host was fired.
Jesse Jackson called the firing a victory for public decency. No one should use the public airwaves to transmit racial or sexual degradation.” But sorry, Jesse. Imus returned to the airwaves today.
On his new show, Imus at least sounded like a changed man. “I will never say anything in my lifetime that will make any of these young women at Rutgers regret or feel foolish that they accepted my apology and forgave me,” he vowed. (Richard Drew / Associated Press)
Gay groups divided over Snickers commercial
In a riff on the age-old licorice kiss, an ad at the 2007 Super Bowl showed two auto mechanics sharing a Snickers bar, and accidentally meeting in the middle. “Do something manly,” shouts one of the men, appalled by the accidental kiss. The men then proceed to tear out their own chest hair.
The ad elicited fury from some gay organizations, and Snickers pulled the commercial.
Not all gay groups, however, were offended. Cyd Zeigler, co-founder of Outsports.com, a website for gay sports enthusiasts, remarked, “I just don’t see how a couple of mechanics pulling out chest hair because they kissed is offensive.” (Haro, Richard / LAT)
