Aides say President Obama may have been smiling when comedienne Wanda Sykes blasted Rush Limbaugh at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, but he didn’t think the joke was funny.Here's the joke in question, just in case you missed it.
Sykes had condemned Limbaugh for saying he hopes the Obama administration fails. She said to the audience, “to me, that’s treason,” and to President Obama she said, “you might want to look into this, sir, because I think Rush Limbaugh was the 20th 9/11 hijacker. He was just so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight.”
Sykes knew she was treading on thin ice, asking after she told the joke, “too much?” She followed that by saying of Limbaugh, “I hope his kidneys fail, how about that?”
Okay, here's what I don't really get. Guys like Rush, Hannity, Glenn Beck, etc. get paid millions a year to pop sh*t about others. I don't have time to recap some of the vile, spiteful stuff these guys have spouted at folks who weren't the least bit deserving. Now that the shoe's on the other foot, these guys, and their weedcarriers can't take a little joke from a B-List comedienne that few of them even heard of before Saturday night? These guys are all for "free speech", until someone uses a large soapbox to call them out. Cry me a friggin' river.
Grow a pair, fellas.[1]
Oddly, the one joke Sykes told that even I thought was outta bounds hasn't gotten any play whatsover. AverageSis and I both stood there with our jaws dropped when she said this. Watch around the 2:00 mark.
I'll be honest, that wasn't even really all that funny in any context. The crowd didn't laugh at all. Oddly, nobody even found this remotely offensive. Hmmmmm.
Predictably, Conservative Chatters have put the squeeze on Obama to throw Wanda under the same bus where Bernie Mac (R.I.P.), Chris Rock, and other comedians who've said something remotely out of bounds reside. And predictably, Robert Gibbs did the pushing.
The White House on Monday registered disapproval after a comedian at a gala dinner featuring President Barack Obama likened a top conservative radio host to a September 11 hijacker.Yet another reason to dislike the preening, condescending Gibbs, who is quickly becoming the
Sharp-tongued comedian Wanda Sykes brought the house down at the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents' Association on Saturday night, but some commentators thought she went too far in talking about Rush Limbaugh. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, who was also on the top table at the dinner with Obama, said he had not talked to Obama specifically about the joke.
But he added: "I think there are a lot of topics that are better left for serious reflection rather than comedy." "I think there's no doubt that 9/11 is part of that," Gibbs said, pointing out the fact that Sykes was booked by the association not the White House.
Either way, Sykes (whom I've seen live a few times and is always hilarious) is the ultimate winner here. I'm sure some exec is greenlighting Pooty Tang II: Biggie Shorty's Revenge as you read this.
Question: Was Sykes' joke about Limbaugh out of bounds? How about her Sojourner Truth joke? Do you think guys like Rush & Hannity can be "offended" with a straight face?
Obama distanced from hijacker joke [AP]
[1] Somewhat interestingly, Rush supposedly didn't even address this on his show today.
