Anyways, one of my favorite shows is the incorrectly titled Jamie Foxx Show which airs Fridays during drivetime on Foxx's own channel, The FoxxHole. I call the show incorrectly titled because 8 times out of 10, Jamie isn't even actually on the show.[1] When he's busy shooting a film or promoting whatever album he's got out, his
Last Friday, Jamie was actually in studio for a change, and went off on one of his trademark rants (prompted by a caller) about pop singer Miley Cyrus. This has landed him in some hot water.
Jamie Foxx launched a crude attack on teen sensation Miley Cyrus on his Sirius satellite radio show, saying: "Make a sex tape and grow up!" It's not clear when the comments were made. But the insults began flying after someone brought up the 16-year-old's recent feud with Radiohead after Cyrus wasn't allowed to hang out with the band after the Grammys.Here's the audio. Bear in mind, this is an adult show on unregulated satellite radio. Otherwise, cop the headphones.
Foxx is heard saying: "Who is Miley Cyrus? The one with all the gums? She need to get a gum transplant!"
He also says: "Make a sex tape and grow up!"
A woman is heard calling Cyrus the b-word.
There's been no comment from representatives for Cyrus or the 41-year-old actor, who is the father of a teenage daughter.
I happened to be listening to the show live when this little exchange happened, and I honestly didn't even consider it the worst thing said on that particular episode. There was one joke about Michael Jordan's murdered father ("RoadKill") that was particularly tasteless. The co-hosts made some extremely off-color remarks about a video vixen who was in-studio. Foxx himself repeatedly called this same video vixen a "whoooooore" for not wanting to sleep with him. This might not sound funny to any of you, but given the nature of the show, and the context, the sh*t was hilarious (as usual) to me.
Predictably, the PC Police are now calling for Foxx's head, and (shocker!) trying to draw parallels between this incident, and the much ballyhooed Don Imus "NappyHeaded Pros" situation, because one of the female co-hosts (Deal Or No Deal & Celebrity Apprentice star Claudia Jordan) flippantly referred to Cyrus as a "white bitch", when trying to explain to Jamie who she was.[2]
Unless you love Hannity, which I doubt, skip to the 6 minute mark on this one.
I'll unequivocally state that this isn't the same as Imus, and here's why...
The Jamie Foxx Show is a 2 hour/week comedy program, in the vain of Howard Stern. It's not a daily news program.Had this out-of-context soundbyte not been picked up by a certain Hollywood blogger who allegedly has beef with Jamie Foxx, we wouldn't even be discussing it. Foxx, to his credit has issued a sincere apology. You could argue that he did that because he has a movie hitting theaters this weekend, and you'd prolly be right. He sure hasn't apologized to Karrine "SuperHead" Steffans for the beating she took on the show last year. I've yet to hear Fox News call for a protest about that incident. I'm not holding my breath.
The show appears on Foxx's own station, which is chock full of other similarly themed comedic clips and similarly themed comedy talk shows 24/7. It doesn't appear on a news station. It appears on an uncensored urban comedy station.
The show (like Stern's) is aired on satellite radio, not terrestrial radio like Imus. Satellite radio (like premium cable TV) isn't heavily regulated. In addition to Foxx and Stern, there is also a Playboy Radio station on Sirius XM that's essentially audio pRon.
While Foxx's rant was indeed in very poor taste, it's par for the show. Again, this is comedy, being delivered by a half dozen Bud Light-fueled comedians. Foxx is, Oscar and Grammy aside, a comedian.
And yes, there is indeed a double standard at play. Black comedians have, and always will, make fun of white folks. Oddly, white folks are the biggest financial enablers of these comedians. Anyone who's gone to a Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle concert and peeped the audience knows this to be true.
White folks have a right to be upset about one of their own being insulted just as black folks did when Imus rolled on the Rutgers girls. However, the various nuances (especially the distinction between news/comedy and Satellite/terrestrial) noted above make "going after" Foxx pointless. He isn't The Don Imus Show, which routinely hosts elected officials. This is The FoxxHole, which routinely hosts folks like Gary Payton, Bishop Don Magic Juan, and G's To Gents rejects. Apples. Oranges.
Folks who are unhappy with this apology have every right to boycott his upcoming movies (although I doubt the key demo for The Soloist and Hannah Montana exactly overlap) and hit him in the pocket. Something tells me that won't happen though. Again, comedy, by virtue, has plenty of double standards. I'm hardly a Negro Nonsense apologist, but all things considered, I don't see this as being a story. Much like I didn't see the Imus thing as being much ado about anything. I'm just fair and balanced like that.
Either way, I sure as hell hope that Jamie, Johnny Mac, Lewis Dix, Speedy, Claudia, The Poetess, and the rest of the FoxxHole crew don't get all antsy and PC and ruin the show (and my commute) as a result. We'll see on Friday.
Question: Did you find Jamie Foxx's comments offensive to Miley Cyrus? Is this more or less the same as Imus, or do the nuances between the two incidents make them different? Do you have Sirius XM? What's your favorite channel?
Jamie Foxx makes crude radio rant on Miley Cyrus [AP]
[1] Oddly, the show is much better when Foxx isn't there and co-host Johnny Mac is the center of attention instead. When Foxx is there, the whole "Entourage" effect doesn't make it nearly as funny. But I guess weedcarriers gotta eat too.
[2] For the record, they weren't picking on Miley Cyrus because she allegedly has a 20 year old boyfriend. The whole segment was callers talking about people they don't like. This particular caller was a RadioHead fan who disliked Cyrus' comments about them. Let's leave the whole "she's a slutty teen" thing out of the equation, please. That has no bearing on why she was picked on in the first place and is completely irrelevant.
