He was trying to say "Illiterate Fa-Vicks"
It's a portmanteau for fans of Michael Vick.
*nods assuredly*
Two things, first this:
Jerry Lewis 2007 MDA Telethon: Hour 18
The video was removed (though it will show on CNN 6,000 more times I'm sure) and Jerry apologized.
There's been some discussion over whether he was actually saying "faggot" or perhaps something else, and whether Jerry is a full fledged homo-hater or a man who is simply a product of his time (which there is such a thing, regardless of how trashy it is). Rob has a post investigating the spectograms (that's probably incorrect) of certain words and whatever it was Jerry Lewis said. Personally I think he was actually saying "Illiterate fag-eh- no" since we're being technical about it.
Or rather, if we also want to be realistic, he was saying "fag". However, I think through the circumstances surrounding the event you can also tell one of many things:
1) This was the attempted incorporation of a joke he didn't invent, but one he'd obviously heard-
2) a really long time ago. Not in the sense that the time frame made having inappropriate materal acceptable, but in that he'd had it rattling around in his brain long enough to not quite remember the middle, but know he had to get to the killer ending before the senility set in.
3) In fact it's safe to say he completely forgot the meat of the middle and just started throwing stuff in. You can see the mental gears turning,
"And here's your.. 'was it cousin Jimmy? He was the little brother I thought. Uncle Joe? Ah who cares, fake it till you get to the punchline, it'll kill them- did I just say 'fag'? oh-' -no."
It was then that you realized,
4) It wasn't Dean (DEAN!) who'd told him that joke, but instead Dean's insanely racist and Xenophobic (France is merde!) cousin from rural Virginia that they pay in beer to keep hidden.
5) The reason Jerry forgot this was.. well pretty self explanatory. Dean's cousin was a jerk, and you know how much the French love Jerry Lewis.
All in all I think it was a silly joke that just went horribly wrong. I don't know about the ramifications. If he'd said, "And here's the little nigger shoe shine boy" you'd best believe I'd probably have Jerry on a spit. Or I may just have sympathy on this old man (who evidently? Still alive! Who knew?) who was trying to raise money for unfortunate children and bring smiles to the faces of the world.
I'm guessing he'll be wanting one pretty soon.
Whoopi!
So Whoopi joins The View and decides to make a little splash. Only thing is, it was pretty tame. Suddenly WHOOPI SUPPORTS MICHAEL VICK!!! MICHAEL WAS CHARGED BECAUSE HE'S WHITE!!! WHOOPI TURNS THE VIEW INTO RACE DEN!! SHE'S ALREADY OUT OF CONTROL!!! WHOOPI SAYS BLACK PEOPLE LIKE KILLING DOGS!!
Seriously y'all, chill. Now I haven't said anything about the Michael Vick situation because a) I don't care that much about a1)Michael Vick, a2)dogs, a3)this country's justice system being fair or not, a4)idiots, and a5)Michael Vick being an idiot and fighting with dogs and this country's justice system. I care not one bit, but suddenly it became very important that Whoopi cared and what she had to say about it when honestly it wasn't very much.
The gist of what she said is that in the deep south dog fighting is a lot more common than you'd think. Dogs are not nearly as much for pets as for sport or work there. In many families there is no such thing as a dog being part of the family. A dog is a dog. She said that you could kind of see the light come on when Michael realized this was a very serious issue and not just something he could shrug off.
Now we know the dog fighting in and of itself didn't get him in too much trouble, or as much trouble as the illegal gambling did, but it will forever place a negative stigma on his image. Dog fighting is terrible if only for the inhumanity of it. I mean really? Is all of that necessary? Swinging dogs from chains clamped around their jaws to make them tougher, starving them, making them brutal. Many of these dogs are raised to be so vicious that when emancipated from this life of fighting they have to be put down because they become a danger to society. It just seems so ridiculous until you're a young brother looking to make some cash. Those fights pull MAJOR bank and if I were a person of lesser scruples or income you can believe I'd have Tinkerbell in the next match.
Anyhow, no where through this was Whoopi excusing Vick's actions or even standing up for him. She simply noted that it was an example of a low level culture shock. CNN and MSNBC made it look like she was wearing an airbrushed t-shirt with his likeness on it.
So in conclusion, Jerry's old and should put an era limit on his jokes, and Whoopi thinks that cultural differences are interesting. I'm off to my second job and can't think of a way to end this cleverly so I'll just leave you with this:
Cleverly.
*nods assuredly*
Two things, first this:
Jerry Lewis 2007 MDA Telethon: Hour 18
The video was removed (though it will show on CNN 6,000 more times I'm sure) and Jerry apologized.
There's been some discussion over whether he was actually saying "faggot" or perhaps something else, and whether Jerry is a full fledged homo-hater or a man who is simply a product of his time (which there is such a thing, regardless of how trashy it is). Rob has a post investigating the spectograms (that's probably incorrect) of certain words and whatever it was Jerry Lewis said. Personally I think he was actually saying "Illiterate fag-eh- no" since we're being technical about it.
Or rather, if we also want to be realistic, he was saying "fag". However, I think through the circumstances surrounding the event you can also tell one of many things:
1) This was the attempted incorporation of a joke he didn't invent, but one he'd obviously heard-
2) a really long time ago. Not in the sense that the time frame made having inappropriate materal acceptable, but in that he'd had it rattling around in his brain long enough to not quite remember the middle, but know he had to get to the killer ending before the senility set in.
3) In fact it's safe to say he completely forgot the meat of the middle and just started throwing stuff in. You can see the mental gears turning,
"And here's your.. 'was it cousin Jimmy? He was the little brother I thought. Uncle Joe? Ah who cares, fake it till you get to the punchline, it'll kill them- did I just say 'fag'? oh-' -no."
It was then that you realized,
4) It wasn't Dean (DEAN!) who'd told him that joke, but instead Dean's insanely racist and Xenophobic (France is merde!) cousin from rural Virginia that they pay in beer to keep hidden.
5) The reason Jerry forgot this was.. well pretty self explanatory. Dean's cousin was a jerk, and you know how much the French love Jerry Lewis.
All in all I think it was a silly joke that just went horribly wrong. I don't know about the ramifications. If he'd said, "And here's the little nigger shoe shine boy" you'd best believe I'd probably have Jerry on a spit. Or I may just have sympathy on this old man (who evidently? Still alive! Who knew?) who was trying to raise money for unfortunate children and bring smiles to the faces of the world.
I'm guessing he'll be wanting one pretty soon.
Whoopi!
So Whoopi joins The View and decides to make a little splash. Only thing is, it was pretty tame. Suddenly WHOOPI SUPPORTS MICHAEL VICK!!! MICHAEL WAS CHARGED BECAUSE HE'S WHITE!!! WHOOPI TURNS THE VIEW INTO RACE DEN!! SHE'S ALREADY OUT OF CONTROL!!! WHOOPI SAYS BLACK PEOPLE LIKE KILLING DOGS!!
Seriously y'all, chill. Now I haven't said anything about the Michael Vick situation because a) I don't care that much about a1)Michael Vick, a2)dogs, a3)this country's justice system being fair or not, a4)idiots, and a5)Michael Vick being an idiot and fighting with dogs and this country's justice system. I care not one bit, but suddenly it became very important that Whoopi cared and what she had to say about it when honestly it wasn't very much.
The gist of what she said is that in the deep south dog fighting is a lot more common than you'd think. Dogs are not nearly as much for pets as for sport or work there. In many families there is no such thing as a dog being part of the family. A dog is a dog. She said that you could kind of see the light come on when Michael realized this was a very serious issue and not just something he could shrug off.
Now we know the dog fighting in and of itself didn't get him in too much trouble, or as much trouble as the illegal gambling did, but it will forever place a negative stigma on his image. Dog fighting is terrible if only for the inhumanity of it. I mean really? Is all of that necessary? Swinging dogs from chains clamped around their jaws to make them tougher, starving them, making them brutal. Many of these dogs are raised to be so vicious that when emancipated from this life of fighting they have to be put down because they become a danger to society. It just seems so ridiculous until you're a young brother looking to make some cash. Those fights pull MAJOR bank and if I were a person of lesser scruples or income you can believe I'd have Tinkerbell in the next match.
Anyhow, no where through this was Whoopi excusing Vick's actions or even standing up for him. She simply noted that it was an example of a low level culture shock. CNN and MSNBC made it look like she was wearing an airbrushed t-shirt with his likeness on it.
So in conclusion, Jerry's old and should put an era limit on his jokes, and Whoopi thinks that cultural differences are interesting. I'm off to my second job and can't think of a way to end this cleverly so I'll just leave you with this:
Cleverly.