Foxx Hole
Did you hear or read what comedian and Academy Award winning actor, Jamie Foxx, said about Miley Cyrus on his radio show? Irrespective of whether or not he is within his rights (that's fodder for a separate debate), I think it's fair to say the words were inappropriate, offensive, and over-the-line. Not surprisingly, Foxx responded to the controversy with what has become a common refrain among those in the public spotlight—chill, it was just comedy.
Perhaps we need a 28th amendment: "Congress should make no law abridging the freedom of people, in the United States or abroad, to be as offensive as possible in the name of comedy."
Think of the possibilities. I can see it now. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il on stage at Caroline's with their two-man show.
Mahmoud: Two suspected homosexuals walk into a mosque. They are executed immediately!
Kim: An IAEA inspector, a U.N. Security Council representative, and a U.S. government official walk into a uranium enrichment facility. They're stoned, drug through the streets, then hung in the town square!
Mahmoud: Hey, Kim. Kill the Jews...please!
Kim: Mahmoud, did you hear the one about the capitalist? What, you're reading about capitalism? Put his head on a stick!
Mahmoud: A woman speaks out of turn in the presence of her husband. He cuts out her tongue and nails it to her forehead!
Can't wait for their HBO Special. Should be a blast...literally.
Try the veal, and be sure to tip your waiters and waitresses. The insanity will continue all week...or until somebody stops the madness.
Perhaps we need a 28th amendment: "Congress should make no law abridging the freedom of people, in the United States or abroad, to be as offensive as possible in the name of comedy."
Think of the possibilities. I can see it now. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il on stage at Caroline's with their two-man show.
Mahmoud: Two suspected homosexuals walk into a mosque. They are executed immediately!
Kim: An IAEA inspector, a U.N. Security Council representative, and a U.S. government official walk into a uranium enrichment facility. They're stoned, drug through the streets, then hung in the town square!
Mahmoud: Hey, Kim. Kill the Jews...please!
Kim: Mahmoud, did you hear the one about the capitalist? What, you're reading about capitalism? Put his head on a stick!
Mahmoud: A woman speaks out of turn in the presence of her husband. He cuts out her tongue and nails it to her forehead!
Can't wait for their HBO Special. Should be a blast...literally.
Try the veal, and be sure to tip your waiters and waitresses. The insanity will continue all week...or until somebody stops the madness.
First off, my understanding of Foxx’s response to the (puritanical) outrage is that said on Leno something to the tune of: "I am a comedian, and you guys know that whatever I say, I don't mean any of it, and sometimes, as comedians, as we do, we go a little bit too far... There was a situation with Miley Cyrus, and I just want to say, I apologize for what I said. I didn't mean it maliciously." He also said, to Jay Leno’s cameras, "Miley, I apologize, so I'll call you," he said. "I got a daughter too, so I completely understand." This to me is very different than the indignant stand implied by your version of his response. He wasn’t telling everyone to chill nor was he defending the position that whatever he said was fine and justified because it was just comedy. I see this as him realizing that he went further than the public gave him license to go, and he pulled back and acknowledged that his words were too strong.
More importantly, however, I think that Foxx was (albeit in a too-crude manner) spot on with the way that he called out Ms. Cyrus. She has thrust herself forcibly into the public spotlight and has oft-errantly toed the mutually exclusive lines of the good innocent Christian girl, the young overly sexual party girl, and the bratty entitled superstar. Foxx was saying -- and again I understand how some people would be offended by his words – that if she wants to start tossing barbs around town and still hide behind her age and purity and image, then screw her. His suggestions were ironic and meant to say, “You have tons of mistakes to make and that you probably already have made. Don’t take yourself so seriously and stop pretending to be a goody goody when it suits you best.” I remind you that this is the person (Cyrus) caught making a “funny face” which looked surprisingly like Asian eyes. It’s also the girl who allowed a very suggestive topless photoshoot in a national magazine. But the second she gets called out, the media and many people are up in arms at how anyone could single out so harshly such a nice little girl. That reeks of puritanical, hypocritical paternalism to me. Notably, Foxx didn’t say this to her face or in person in a public place. This is on a talk radio show. People who are listening are there to hear him talk and to laugh with his observations.
I’m not sure what the roll playing or the sarcastic Amendment are meant to suggest, but I am a believer in the First Amendment and what I think is the important roll that comedy, however tasteless, can play in helping us understand who we are as a people and in serving as a dissenting voice where no one feels the freedom to speak out. Foxx needed to apologize because people were upset, but I think that was hilarious.
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Perhaps you missed his first couple apology attempts prior to the Leno appearance? He said exactly as I indicated, as he ostensibly did again on Leno (albeit wrapped in a more comprehensive statement of contrition).
I can't speak for you, but I see a good bit of gradation between something that passes First Amendment muster and something that's decent. People are not puritanical because they have some reasonable standard of right and wrong. The slope isn't always as slippery as one might think. There can be firm footing around common decency; we needn't slide all the way down to Calvinism.
Interesting take you have on talk radio, and by extension, I imagine virtually any public speech where people can decide to listen/attend or not. Guess a program that regularly skewers minorities wouldn't be a problem? I'm sure nobody but acolytes of the host would tune in to hear his riotous anti-semitic and racially insensitive observations. Hmmmm...wonder if Don Imus is available?
What bothers me most about what Foxx said is that it is brutally difficult for young people to grow up these days, particularly those without great familial support systems. Adolescent girls in particular are constantly struggling to find their way despite all the peer pressure and increasingly coarse cultural influences. The majority of those with strong families are able to get by, but the most vulnerable, minorities from difficult circumstances, are the ones who internalize the inappropriate garbage Foxx spewed on his radio show. In today's Youtube world, that stuff just doesn't stay out of the mainstream.
If outrageous fame and fortune were thrust upon me in my teens, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have handled myself any better than Miley Cyrus has acquitted herself . Hell, I was a much bigger bozo with no fame and no fortune. Come to think of it, not much has changed.
There are enough legitimate targets for satire and comedy out there that we don't have to go gunning for 16-year olds. The republic will survive. Let's not equate sophistication and maturity with wealth and power.
Thank you for taking the time to participate in the discourse.
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Hey! Jamie Foxx is 40 Plus years old. Miley Cyrus is a kid, both legally, emotionally and intellectually. Please, just because she is on TV does not mean she is intelligent or mature as say, Sean Penn. There are plenty of adults that he can go after. Leave the kids alone.
Sorry for the sarcasm, Sean. I'll call you.
JTS
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Not that I'm a fan of Don Imus.... quite the contrary. Imus was publicly skewered for the comments he made about the Rutgers girl's basketball team - and he should have been. What irritates me is the inequality of the public outrage. Jamie Foxx gets a pass in the name of comedy. Imus got the incessant pandering of the cable news networks to open-minded bearers of public decency like Reverend Al. I'd like to hear Michael Richards' point of view on this...
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