Anti-Catholic Jokes Still Okay – OpEd
Ask any
comedian how he feels today about telling jokes about certain protected
classes of people—gays being the most protected—and he will confess
what a minefield it is trying not to offend the politically correct
police. But the sensitivity cops still have enormous tolerance for the
most intolerant jokes about priests. There is no price to pay, no matter
how vile and obscene the commentary.
Kevin Hart had to drop out from hosting the Oscars because he once told
some jokes that offend gays. He said he has learned from his past
mistakes, but that didn’t change anything: he was forced to exit. Even
after he pulled out, that wasn’t enough to satisfy Kathy Griffin, who
exploded, “I mean, f**k him.”
Griffin is upset with Hart slighting gays, but she is perfectly fine
cursing God. In September 2007, upon receiving an Emmy for her reality
show, she screamed, “Suck Jesus, this award is my God now.” Besides the
Catholic League, few complained. She paid no price for her sick remark
by anyone in Hollywood.
If Hart is not acceptable to host the Oscars, why was Ellen DeGeneres in
2014? Didn’t her comments ridiculing nuns matter? Why was Seth
MacFarlane deemed worthy in 2013 following his libelous remarks about
priests? Why was Alec Baldwin fit to be the host in 2010 given his
sweeping generalizations about priests? Why was Jon Stewart invited to
host the Oscars in 2008 given his obscene attacks on Catholicism? Why
was Whoopi Goldberg selected four times when she has a history of
Catholic bashing? [Examples of their anti-Catholic statements are
available on our website.]
Nothing has changed. Since Thanksgiving there has been a rash of comedic attacks on Catholicism.
On the November 27 edition of the TBS comedy, “The Guestbook,” there was
an exchange about being good at Christmas for Santa. “If his parents
are religious,” one of the characters said, “he still has all the Jesus
bulls*** to keep him on the straight and narrow for a while.”
The December 4 edition of the ABC show, “The Kids Are Alright,” featured
kids putting a microphone in the purse of their mother so they could
hear what she said when going to confession. The skit proceeded to mock
the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Seth Meyers has been busy attacking Catholics this Christmas season. On
December 5 he made a joke about the clergy raping kids. On December 10,
he made it clear which religion he was referring to: he engaged writer
Jimmy Hagel in an assault on the Eucharist and allowed Hagel to lie
about the Church’s teachings on sexuality.
It’s not just Hollywood that practices this double standard. On November
30, former “Saturday Night Live” writer Nimesh Patel was forced to
leave the stage at Columbia University because he told some jokes about a
gay black man that didn’t sit too well with the PC police. The Columbia
Asian American Alliance, which hosted the event, had him booted.
This is the height of hypocrisy. It was an Asian student from Columbia
who in 2002, during the half-time show of a football game between
Columbia and Fordham, told the fans via a loudspeaker that “Fordham’s
tuition is going down like an altar boy.” After I mounted a public
protest, the president of Columbia, Lee Bollinger, apologized to me
about this incident.
Catholics have every right to treat all this hullaballoo about Kevin Hart as the real joke.
Not until we get a level playing field, and anti-Catholic remarks are
regarded as taboo, will we be persuaded that those who object to
anti-gay remarks are principled.