Where is the joke?
I refuse to put the photo of Kathy Griffin holding what has been made to look like the severed head of Donald Trump. Yes, I refer to him regularly in this space as "The Cheeto-in-Chief" and I may add Agent Orange and other appellations to the list. But even to illustrate what I am commenting on, adding that photo is just too much. If you haven't seen it for yourself, you can search it out on your own.
Here is the text of Ms Griffin's first apology, posted to Twitter.
"I sincerely apologize. I am just now seeing the reaction of these images. I’m a comic. I crossed the line. I move the line, then I cross it. The image went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn’t funny. I get it. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career. I will continue [to do so] … I ask for your forgiveness … taking down the image, gonna ask the photographer to take down the image, and I beg for your forgiveness. I went too far. I made a mistake, and I was wrong."
Here are the thoughts of some others who shared their thoughts on that photo:
Chelsea Clinton - "This is vile and wrong. It is never funny to joke about killing a president."
Anderson Cooper - "For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate."
Jake Tapper - "For those asking, I said on air that I thought the beheading imagery by Griffin about the president was disgusting and inappropriate."
There are many more, but you get the gist. I chose Mr. Cooper and Mr. Tapper because they both work for CNN who chose to fire Ms Griffin from her gig co-hosting their Time Square coverage of New Years Eve.
Then came the press conference where Griffin's attorney Lisa Bloom called CNN's actions "...censorship."
Sorry Ms Bloom but that is not censorship. CNN did not say Ms Griffin could not make that photo. They did not prevent its distribution. What they said is that she cannot work for them because of what she said. The First Amendment only protects us from the government infringing on our freedom of expression. It doesn't protect us from non-governmental consequences for our words, images and so on.
Look at what happened to Adam M. Smith, Talia Jane, Justine Sacco, Conner Riley, and Nicole Crowther. Don't recognize their names? Remember this?
Was it censorship when Mr. Adam M. Smith posted this rant online and was fired from his $200,000 per year job? This action reportedly cost him stock options worth $1,000,000. Three years after this event, multiple news sources reported that he was living on food stamps with his wife and four children.
But making a social media mistake is not an absolute guarantee that you can't recover. Justine Sacco blew up Twitter and became the #1 trending topic in the world when while en route to South Africa, she tweeted “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” She was fired from her job as a senior PR person, probably before she landed. But a New York Times magazine article two years later reported that she was gainfully employed and painfully shy of any public attention.
* * *
The problem with Kathy Griffin's photo is that it seems very clear that it wasn't a joke. It was a political statement. Anyone who wants to try and give us a better explanation of her "attempt at humor" than she was mocking Trump's comments about Megyn Kelly having blood coming out of her eyes and so on, feel free. It is going to have to be a pretty darn convincing explanation of her intent to get me to buy into the notion it was a joke gone bad. In an era where we are horrified by photos and videos of people being beheaded, where is the humor in holding up the head of a decapitated person in any instance?
I also don't see any humor in the comment made by Bill Maher and find his excuse that he was "sleep-deprived" to be weak. But he'll get a pass on it. He isn't seeing his tour dates being canceled as Ms Griffin is.
That is the right of the people who are choosing not to do business with her. Speech is not without consequence. Neither are actions. Just ask Bill O'Reilly.
Here is the text of Ms Griffin's first apology, posted to Twitter.
"I sincerely apologize. I am just now seeing the reaction of these images. I’m a comic. I crossed the line. I move the line, then I cross it. The image went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn’t funny. I get it. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career. I will continue [to do so] … I ask for your forgiveness … taking down the image, gonna ask the photographer to take down the image, and I beg for your forgiveness. I went too far. I made a mistake, and I was wrong."
Here are the thoughts of some others who shared their thoughts on that photo:
Chelsea Clinton - "This is vile and wrong. It is never funny to joke about killing a president."
Anderson Cooper - "For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate."
Jake Tapper - "For those asking, I said on air that I thought the beheading imagery by Griffin about the president was disgusting and inappropriate."
There are many more, but you get the gist. I chose Mr. Cooper and Mr. Tapper because they both work for CNN who chose to fire Ms Griffin from her gig co-hosting their Time Square coverage of New Years Eve.
Then came the press conference where Griffin's attorney Lisa Bloom called CNN's actions "...censorship."
Sorry Ms Bloom but that is not censorship. CNN did not say Ms Griffin could not make that photo. They did not prevent its distribution. What they said is that she cannot work for them because of what she said. The First Amendment only protects us from the government infringing on our freedom of expression. It doesn't protect us from non-governmental consequences for our words, images and so on.
Look at what happened to Adam M. Smith, Talia Jane, Justine Sacco, Conner Riley, and Nicole Crowther. Don't recognize their names? Remember this?
Was it censorship when Mr. Adam M. Smith posted this rant online and was fired from his $200,000 per year job? This action reportedly cost him stock options worth $1,000,000. Three years after this event, multiple news sources reported that he was living on food stamps with his wife and four children.
But making a social media mistake is not an absolute guarantee that you can't recover. Justine Sacco blew up Twitter and became the #1 trending topic in the world when while en route to South Africa, she tweeted “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” She was fired from her job as a senior PR person, probably before she landed. But a New York Times magazine article two years later reported that she was gainfully employed and painfully shy of any public attention.
* * *
The problem with Kathy Griffin's photo is that it seems very clear that it wasn't a joke. It was a political statement. Anyone who wants to try and give us a better explanation of her "attempt at humor" than she was mocking Trump's comments about Megyn Kelly having blood coming out of her eyes and so on, feel free. It is going to have to be a pretty darn convincing explanation of her intent to get me to buy into the notion it was a joke gone bad. In an era where we are horrified by photos and videos of people being beheaded, where is the humor in holding up the head of a decapitated person in any instance?
I also don't see any humor in the comment made by Bill Maher and find his excuse that he was "sleep-deprived" to be weak. But he'll get a pass on it. He isn't seeing his tour dates being canceled as Ms Griffin is.
That is the right of the people who are choosing not to do business with her. Speech is not without consequence. Neither are actions. Just ask Bill O'Reilly.
posted by me at 9:52 PM
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