During Imus' "Radio Theater" segment, character "Billy Clayton" asks "Kelsey" to campaign for "New York Senator Hailey Clayton" and "have sex with" delegates
On the February 13 edition of Imus in the Morning, during a segment referred to as the second episode of "Imus in the Morning Radio Theater on the Air," regular guest, comedian, and impersonator Rob Bartlett played the character of "former president Billy Clayton" and left a message for "Kelsey Clayton," his daughter. During the message, Billy Clayton referred to "this pineapple-eatin' [Borat] Ohana" and asked Kelsey Clayton to "campaign for" her mother -- Hailey Clayton, a "New York Senator" and "onetime front-runner for the Democratic nomination" -- and "have sex with" delegates.
In character as "Billy Clayton," Bartlett said:
Hello, Puddin' Pop? It's Daddy. Listen, Love Bug, Mommy and me need you to do us a favor. If she's ever gonna beat this pineapple-eatin' Ohana, we need you to campaign for her, help her get some delegates. Now, I want you to understand that we don't want to exploit you. We don't want you buying them drinks or taking them to dinner or getting them gifts. We just want you to have sex with them.
On the February 7 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, correspondent David Shuster said regarding Chelsea Clinton that "doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way" by Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign. Shuster subsequently apologized and has been suspended by MSNBC for the comments.
Despite Imus' firing from MSNBC and CBS in April 2007 -- the show is now syndicated by ABC Radio Networks and simulcast on RFD-TV -- Imus continues to attract prominent guests.
From the February 13 edition of ABC Radio Networks' Imus in the Morning:
ANNOUNCER [CHARLES McCORD, news announcer]: And now, Imus GTC Laundry Detergent presents "Imus in the Morning Radio Theater on the Air." This week, episode 2 of the "Woman Who Would Be King." When last we left you faithful listeners, media giant Harpo Winstead had endorsed Hawaiian-American Senator Borat Ohana for president, much to the chagrin of New York Senator Hailey Clayton, onetime front-runner for the Democratic nomination and wife to former president Billy Clayton. We join Billy in a private meeting with a loyal Clayton campaign staff member, Willy Magwums.
BILLY [ROB BARTLETT, contributor]: OK, here's the deal. The media keeps saying Ohana's being Hawaiian shouldn't be a factor in his campaign, and yet in the very same reports, they cite what percentage of the Hawaiian vote he's nailed down. Everybody says, "You can't play the race card, you can't play the race card." Meanwhile, it's the big Hawaiian monk seal in the room that nobody wants to talk about. That's where you come in.
WILLY [KARITH FOSTER, contributor]: Um, but I'm not Hawaiian. I'm actually American Samoan.
BILLY: Whatever. Who cares? All you Polynesians look alike.
ANNOUNCER: Meanwhile, on the West Coast, Senator Ohana sits on the veranda of the governor's mansion in California sipping lemonade with the former action film star and California governor, Armand Braunschweiger.
ARMAND: So, Borat, what kind of name is Ohana?
BORAT [TONY POWELL, contributor]: Um, it's Borat. Borat Ohana. It's [pause] Hawaiian. It means "extended family," which kind of fits because I wasn't actually born in [pause] Hawaii.
ARMAND: Wow, me too. I was not born in California. My family is extended from Austria. It's a lot like California, except no Jews.
BORAT: I need to ask for your advice, Governor. I have [pause] skeletons in my closet.
ARMAND: Baking soda, that's what my grandfather used. Keeps them clean and fresh and white.
BORAT: No, I mean I used to have a [pause] a drug problem.
ARNOLD: Drug problem? You're from Hawaii. You can get that primo Maui wowie super swazy skunk weed all the time, no problem.
ANNOUNCER: Tune in next time for episode 3, when Billy and Hailey make a desperate call to their daughter.
KELSEY [KARITH FOSTER]: Hi, this is Kelsey, I'm not here right now, leave a message -- beep!
BILLY: Hello, Puddin' Pop? It's Daddy. Listen, Love Bug, Mommy and me need you to do us a favor. If she's ever gonna beat this pineapple-eatin' Ohana, we need you to campaign for her, help her get some delegates. Now, I want you to understand that we don't want to exploit you. We don't want you buying them drinks or taking them to dinner or getting them gifts. We just want you to have sex with them.
ANNOUNCER: This has been "Imus in the Morning Radio Theater on the Air," brought to you by Imus GTC Laundry Detergent, because everybody in politics has dirty laundry.
HUMOR is supposed to be funny. Imus, YET AGAIN (predictably), is peddling (for profit) mean spirited, cruel, racist, sexist, slanderous, and perverted material ... and as such it is PORNOGRAPHY.
Luckily for the Rightwing, there is a huge "conservative" audience for PORN. They are big consumers and fans of HATRED, and actually consider the projected racism, sexism, and perversions of rightwing "comedians" to be FUNNY, if projected onto their favorite targets. Guffaw, guffaw. Those Clintons are pimping out their daughter! High-larious!
Now it's yet another "sponsor" ... is it the Country Music channel this time? ... who are demonstrating their support for this kind of PORN, and if they put up with it, they are identifying their audience as consumers of PORN.
What the hell; it's FREE SPEECH, right? Shouldn't Rightwingers be FREE to remove all doubt that they ARE racists, sexists, bigots, perverts, and HATERS? Sure they should! Keep it up, IMUS. You're stereotyping yet ANOTHER audience, this time it's the country music fans. They either appreciate your "humor", or they don't. We'll soon see if they're happy having YOU identify what kind of people they are.
With the Dixie Chicks, we already know they wished to DESTROY the careers of these talented women simply because they DARED to utter a discouraging word about the beloved Dubya (whose "popularity" is in the crapper and has been for YEARS.) THAT is the "kind of people" these courntry music fans are, and IMUS is just fleshing out the image.
Is there any hope these people will say "ENOUGH!" and realize they've been on the wrong path? Time will tell.
Have to send out "attaboys" to ZAMFIR and STRANGER, for being so bold as to SELF-IDENTIFY as being in the categories I've identified above. They are IMUS fans, consumers of PORN, and PROUD of it.
God help us that there are people in America like this.
I'm confused....where was the "porn" in that story....
sheesh....I miss all the good stuff!
Tex I'm not really sure what you were going on about here, but then you do tend to bloviate off into some strange tangents. Porn? Huh?
I was in the car the other morning & caught a few minutes of Imus [I'm not a regular listener by any means] & he was going to have DEMOCRAT Chris Dodd on as a guest. Furthermore, Imus is hardly a Right-Winger nor is his audience a partisan one.
This little skit was over the top, per usual for this geezer, but your post was pretty over the top as well.
PORNOGRAPHY ... for those in confusion ... is "lurid, sensational, or sexually explicit material with a primary purpose to cause sexual arousal, and with no artistic merit, no socially redeeming quality, and in violation of accepted standards of morality."
This defines IMUS's little "skit".
Tex,
Seriously man that skit was tasteless, but Porno? Nope. Sorry but if that aroused you or anyone for that matter sexually I'd have to wonder about you & them.
Me thinks you're overreaching here. This "skit" doesn't even rise to the level of most "dirty jokes".
JETER:
Exactly my point. Imus has an AUDIENCE that CONSUMES this sort of talk, and we learn everything we need to know about the AUDIENCE, while it tells us NOTHING about the targets of their attempted "humor".
In my original post, I listed what we know about the rightwing, by means of what "entertainment" they consume. "Joking" about a politician turning the daughter into a prostitute is PORN, following my above definition, and all the elements that might make it "FUNNY" to an audience tells us volumes ABOUT that audience.
That's what I said, and I stand by it. And I also agree, you are CORRECT ... the audience for rightwing "humor" identifies itself with a myriad of horrible characteristics.
On a scale of offence 1 to 10; 9.0 for the Kelsey bit, .3 for Ohana .2 for gratuitous anti semitic coment, .1 for the drug bit. 9.6, I'd call it todays worst in that catigory.
If I'd heard this I think blood would have come out of my ears. Thanks, but no thanks for the option.
this pineapple-eatin' [Borat] Ohana
I actually think this comment is by far the worst. (I'm assuming that pineapple takes the place of watermelon.) I'm utterly shocked that anyone would say this.
My email to ABC's "customer service." If they're anything like any OTHER networks, however, I'll never hear anything back:
BLR excuse me.... I immigrated here (USA) in 1967 from behind the iron curtain. Became a US citizen in 1974 and was very active during the late 70's, 80's and early 90's aiding my adopted country in the overthrow of communism in the east block. So save the slap I know better....... Also hate to be a prude but Hojas did give me 10 years + of education and the experiences came via on the job training.
:-)
You know free speech is hard, you know why? People will say things you don't like.
Cheesh what a bunch of humorless stick up the butt liberals.
Jerry Lewis was never funny.
Jesus Christ. Pearlene
Pearlene though it appropriate to use my savior's name as an adjective, so put a bomb in my towel and call me Allah, that was a great post by her.
Making allusions to prostitution is a matter of taste and decency, not P.C.
Speaking of P.C., did you see the link about his laundry detergent?
The PC crowd, huh? How about if Imus pimps out some of his 'kids' at the ranch? Would that be funny to the un-PC crowd? Or is it just when women and minorities are the butt of the joke?
You don't have to be PC to be concerned that somebody like Imus continues to have a public forum, when he uses this forum to continually remind us that successful women are actually w-h-o-r-e-s.
There is nothing clever about the humor of this show. It's funny that whenever Howard Stern has mocked Imus, Imus is unable to withstand the 'attacks'.
Did the Rutgers women's basketball team "open themselves up" to "ridicule" by playing good basketball? Did their success on the court somehow justify the "nappy-headed hos" label?
By your own admission, in the sick, twisted world in which you and Imus both reside, the only justification needed to "ridicule" a woman with references to prostitution is national prominence.
How about the Bush daughters? Do you have any "ridicule" you'd like throw at them? Did Jenna Bush become a "floozy" or a "hooker" when she published her first book?
"First, this thread is about Chelsea Clinton, not the Rutgers women."
This thread is about Imus.
"Imus was mimicking the language and attitude of urban youth (i.e. rap and hip-hop)."
And this applies to the Rutgers team in exactly what way?
"You can't deny that black rappers use the same kind of language in music, comedy and movies without any consequences. Kind of strange that when an old white guy says the same thing people get all bent out of shape."
The difference is so huge it's ridiculous, the main one being subject matter.
Black rappers are not rapping about a real women's basketball team, they're rapping about prostitutes, more than likely fictional ones. If a black rapper had the audacity to publicly say in front of a huge national audience that the Rutger's women look like "nappy-headed hos," I believe there would be consequences. Their record label would likely drop them in an instant and they would be shunned by their colleagues and the whole of the black community.
Zamfir wrote: You can't deny that black rappers use the same kind of language in music, comedy and movies without any consequences
I'm not aware of any black rappers who have current events TV shows on major news networks.
And the rappers DO suffer consequences. Not enough to shut them down, but they do miss out on certain valuable opportunities. Look what happened to Akon after he simulated sex with a 14 year old girl during a concert ? He lost his Verizon sponsorship and Gwen Stefani removed him as the opening act of her tour.
Zamfir,
I guess Imus will start in on McCain's daughter next, right? After all, her dad is on his second marriage and there were rumors of his infidelity as well. I'll wait....
When Chelsea started campaigning for her mother, she opened herself up to ridicule.
By that standard I could joke that Romneys's son's are diaper wearing closet homos who would rather bugger each other than join the military and defend this country. Hilarious ain't it?
Twit.
"When Chelsea started campaigning for her mother, she opened herself up to ridicule."
Well, so did Barack Obama, but that is viewed in an entirely different light and described as the race card. I think this whole thing of Imus' stinks. He is just another twittering old college frat-boy who along with the crowd at MSNBC can't stand black people, women, the clintons, or change.
Checklist:
1.) Stop buying GE products Check!
2.) Stop bying GE Sponsor's products - Check
3.) Stop buying ABC's products - Check
4.) Turn off tv and raido and enjoy some peace and quiet - check
5.) Sorry the internet has turned into a place where when my tv and radio are off, I still come upon this drivel.... Sadly, Cehck
And this is really the key point. No matter who objects, or how often, it just goes on. From the right, from the left; from the dividers and from the nominal unifiers. It's been an ugly season.
I did not realize that is was the mission of Media Matters to report on instances of tasteless and vulgar comedy. If so then why are you not reporting on Saturday Night Live nearly every week?
I think Media Matters does a great public service in reporting on political bias and demagogues like Limbaugh, Savage and even Chris Mathews - who is not so much biased as he is profoundly immature.
But Media Matters should ignore Imus' comedy skits, and for that matter, leave Imus alone altogether.
Or Media Matters should also report every instance where Imus is using his show to educate listeners about public health issues; broadening the political dialogue or when he and his guests - a much more diverse list at that - are actually discussing issues of race and gender in America, as is also happening on the Imus show now, too.
Otherwise it increasingly appears that the people behind Media Matters are more intent on enforcing their own rules of civil dialogue, humor, and taste upon everyone else.
Media Matters can do much better than this - there are many more instances of Michael Savage "wannabes" who are rabble rousing and spreading hate speech on local radio sations throughout this country.
jehawkeye
Otherwise it increasingly appears that the people behind Media Matters are more intent on enforcing their own rules of civil dialogue, humor, and taste upon everyone else.
It's called common decency. Something lacking in many so-called conservatives.
It's SATIRE
Who we going after next, SNL?
SNL wouldn't stoop this low.
And don't tell me they would, I've seen every episode since the series began. They would never refer to a black presidential candidate as a pineapple (watermelon) eater.
Only Carlos Mencia has successfully found humor in racial stereotypes. His Stereotype Olympics is a profound masterwork ... and funny as h*ll.
I was going to ask how funny it would have been if Jenna and Barbara Bush were 'satirised' so, but now I think about it I just can't. Dunno about Chelsea, but for those two just add in a little booze and it doesn't look too far off the mark...
It's just not fair. The left can't even fight fire with fire...
Come on, the Bush family has been satirized much worse than the Clintons have been. I guess none of you have ever watched the South Park show..hmmm.
I didn't think those episodes were funny.....much. And I dont think this Imus satire is funny.....much.
My humor is not always the same as others......heh.
It clearly states that it is a satire and a theatrical radio program to boot. Why is this being monitored.
The Daily Show has some questionable humor too.....sheesh...gonna monitor the Daily Show now?
"The Daily Show has some questionable humor too.....sheesh...gonna monitor the Daily Show now?"
Please provide two examples of TDS' "questionable humor" that is on par with Imus' track record of misogyny. I'll be waiting!
Questionable meaning questionable......
I found their (TDS) religion bits quite crude at times and sometimes quite funny.
The skit in this Imus story fits into the crude category also. A silly attempt at humor over things that have been said by "news" hosts.
I don't like Imus and have only listened to him a very few times because he is always crude and rude, but THIS show clearly states it is theatrical radio....hello?
(I notice you did not question the South Park episodes with the denigration of former first lady Barbara Bush...perhaps you have seen it, and found it funny.....or the depictions of the Bush family as greedy and successful idiots...did you find those funny too?)
Personally I will be very very glad when the Bush dynasty is over, but the satire and skits about them is tasteless too, AND it is someone's humor.
No, I don't question anything regarding South Park - they've been brutal to both liberals and conservatives alike.
Regarding TDS, I catch it on average of once every couple of weeks, so my request for questionable humor that is on par with Imus' stunts. I haven't seen anything. I know that TDS will go after conservatives in particular, but I haven't seen anything uncalled for. Again, I may have missed something in TDS' history, but I haven't seen anything on par with what we've seen from Imus.
Huh? Why should he put a hurting on him?
You know this is far and away different from a NEWS SHOW HOST saying Chelsea was Pimped Out by her parents.
They are satirizing what was said.
Badly, but just the same satirizing it.
Yeah they ripped on Hillary too, and Al Gore..and Chuck Norris....etc etc
Some of them were quite funny.
Hey LORELEI,
This has nothing at all to do with your comments, but I originally thought your screen name was some kind of spelling of O'reilly, but just realized there's one E that should be a Y.