It almost sounds like the set-up to a bit. Within the last two weeks three comedians — Kathy Griffin, Bill Maher and Bill Cosby — have been making headlines, seemingly for very different reasons. Two out of the three have something more obviously in common that’s worth diving into here than the third, and no, I’m not talking about the fact that two of the offending parties happen to be men named Bill.
Cosby, it’s well-known, is in the midst of an assault trial underway in Pennsylvania, having been accused of criminal acts far graver than the venal sins Griffin and Maher committed. Those two merely offended vast swaths of people because of what they said and did.
Griffin and Maher, however, violated a crucial unspoken law dominating the American paradigm these days, and it is this: In a single moment, each of them careened off brand, and the way each is separately paying for their missteps provides an object lesson in cultural hypocrisy.
And yes, this is a story that can easily be explained by viewing each situation through the prisms of gender and political affiliation. Griffin went head-on at President Trump last Tuesday when a photo of her holding a bloodied mask of Donald Trump began circulating, causing an uproar. Griffin
That may not prove to be true in the long run, but the immediate fallout includes CNN’s firing of Griffin from co-hosting its New Year’s Eve broadcast, a gig she’s held since 2009. The remaining dates on her national tour have been cancelled. Even Minnesota Senator Al Franken, himself a veteran of comedy, rescinded an invitation for Griffin to appear at a promotional event for his upcoming book.
Maher, meanwhile, decided he had enough cred to offhandedly drop the N-bomb in conversation on his HBO series “Real Time with Bill Maher.” In reply to Rep. Ben Sasse’s (R-Neb) friendly invitation to “work in the fields” with them, “Senator, I’m a house n—-r.” When a few members of the audience groaned in disbelief he attempted to defuse the situation with, “Oh, it’s a joke.”
Nothing starts trouble like a bad joke, as we see here, and have witnessed many times before. Maher himself is the veteran of a career tumble from what was once seen as great height. Six days following the 9/11 attacks, as he was hosting his ABC series “Politically Incorrect,” Maher said of the terrorists who committed the atrocity, “We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building — say what you want about it, [it’s] not cowardly.”
ABC cancelled that show a few months later, in July 2002. Here we are 15 years afterward, and Maher still has a taste for his own foot. Franken backed away from a planned appearance on “Real Time” as well — another triumph he can laugh about with Griffin over drinks someday.
This controversy, however, will not break Maher. Instead it will…
The post Off-color, off-brand: What Kathy Griffin’s and Bill Maher’s gaffes have in common appeared first on FeedBox.