Larry King is interviewing Kathy Griffin & showed the remarks that got Catholic League Bill Donohue all huffy & were then edited out. I had no problem with her
“No one had less to do with this award than Jesus”, because after all, I’m sure she was right. 
And “This is my god now!” was just funny.
But what I NEVER heard on the news reports was “So, suck it, Jesus! This award is my god now!”
Not so cool.
I saw it reported exactly that way in print (online), but that’s something that doesn’t get said on network TV.
“Suck it ____” is a pretty common rejoinder these days. It may have been popularized with “Suck it, Trebeck!” from SNL’s Celebrity Jeopardy. I don’t understand why one would feel that Jesus should get a pass.
Not to mention that Kathy Griffin had a comedy show titled “Everybody can suck it”. I don’t think it’s a huge deal, and while (as an atheist), my perpective might not matter much, my Catholic husband laughed at it.
I take it that Mr Donohue has never before seen or heard of Kathy Griffin? Because that’s pretty much par for the course for her. In fact that’s remarkably restrained. One would think that Jesus, were he offended by the remark, could take care of it himself without any help from Mr Donohue.
Bill Donohue is in a permanent state of “huffy”, Cathy Griffin just gave him another excuse to huff on TV.
I read that in nearly every report in print on the net and I also heard it on many cable reports. It was so much part of the coverage everywhere that I find it hard to believe that you could have missed it.
As for the offensiveness… If you don’t find it offensive to hear people thank Jesus for an entertainment award then it shouldn’t be offensive for people to declare the opposite. It’s coming from someone who was raised as a Catholic, which I think gives her the perfect right to comment on her religious heritage.
Yeah, I know the show title adds more context to it, but still- awards shows used to be somewhat family-viewing shows. And while smart urbane Doper-types might not be offended, a lot of Jesus-worshippers that aren’t as sophisticated may prefer not to have their God insulted while watching with their kids.
My main point though, is that all the news reports I heard left out the most potentially-offensive part of the comments, and hence made them look more
innocuous. It would be like the reports over the Imus remarks only quoting the
“nappy-headed” part and leaving out the “ho’s”.
I only find the “Suck it, Jesus” part truly offensive. Everything else was fine by me.
I didn’t read any Net reports- only went by the TV ones & I never heard it till now.
This is what passes for offensive? If I were a Christian, I’d be much more miffed at all the drugged up, groupie-screwing rockers thanking Jesus for their MTV moon men, or the football players certain Jesus gave them the strength they needed for that touchdown.
Oh, and I finally saw Life on the D-List. Griffin is hilarous.
Exactly. The arrogance of the people who annoint themselves with Jesus-juice by presuming that he cares one way or the other who wins a trophy or a sports game is what really ought to be galling to the offenderatti.
“The Catholic League?” Sounds like a bunch of guys with pikes and arquebusses marching laying waste to Saxony, so I Googled their website to see what they’re up to these days:
"The Catholic League is the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. Founded in 1973 by the late Father Virgil C. Blum, S.J., the Catholic League defends the right of Catholics – lay and clergy alike – to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination.
Motivated by the letter and the spirit of the First Amendment, the Catholic League works to safeguard both the religious freedom rights and the free speech rights of Catholics whenever and wherever they are threatened."
(bolding mine) I don’t see where Kathy Griffin’s remarks have any power to prevent any Catholic from practicing his or her faith, or in any way limit his or her participation in society while also being a practicing Catholic, or encourage anyone else to do so, so the “discrimination” and “free speech rights” is just bullshit.
So what about the “defamation” issue?
Maybe one of our legal dopers will show how Kathy Griffith slandered the Catholic Church: that is, said something both damaging and knowingly a lie, by her coarse remarks about Jesus.
I’d heard the “suck it” from the start, although I went by 'Net reports. Personally, as a Catholic, I still found the remark funny. I guess no one in the media is asking me, though.
This wasn’t televised.
Yeah, it does say in the OP “…& were then edited out”. I assumed that meant they hadn’t been televised.
I don’t think it’s offensive, assuming the context being she’s saying it jokingly (it’s not like she has the appendage in question, anyway). But I can see how it could be offensive.
[QUOTE=Slithy ToveMotivated by the letter and the spirit of the First Amendment, the Catholic League works to safeguard both the religious freedom rights and the free speech rights of Catholics whenever and wherever they are threatened."
(bolding mine) I don’t see where Kathy Griffin’s remarks have any power to prevent any Catholic from practicing his or her faith, or in any way limit his or her participation in society while also being a practicing Catholic, or encourage anyone else to do so, so the “discrimination” and “free speech rights” is just bullshit.[/QUOTE]
That’s because they use definitions that make Bill Clinton look like Noah Webster. Perhaps the best illustration is this passage from Lest Darkness Fall:
I know it wasn’t. And at first I thought it was silly that Fox edited out the comments because the comments I had heard reported weren’t really that offensive. However, now that I’ve heard the complete comments, I do think some editing was in order- though really only “Suck it, Jesus”.
As silly as Sally Fields’ statement was, I saw no reason to edit out anything but her “goddamn” either.
I think you’re confusing two separate events.
Kathy Griffin’s remarks were made a week ago at what are usually called the “Daytime” Emmys. That show wasn’t broadcast, but it was taped to be shown in a shortened and therefore heavily edited version on the E! channel on Saturday. Her remarks were shown on news programs all week, of course and discussed endlessly. But the show was intended for family viewing. Still, it was intended to be shown on a cable, not network channel, which usually implies more leeway in language.
The so-called “Primetime” Emmys were a live broadcast on Sunday. Sally Fields, Ray Romano and others were all silenced or bleeped for remarks made there.
Bleeping out such remarks from live award show broadcasts has been commonplace for at least a decade. They remain “family viewing” whatever your definition of that might be. However, the speakers have been free in their remarks for a very long time.
I would also differentiate between speeches made at an event to be taped and shown later in shortened form on cable and speeches made live on network televison. What should or shouldn’t be bleeped is for endless debate. But let’s at least get the context correct before the discussion starts.
As far as I can tell, the Catholic League is the pompous ass Bill Donohue who can be reliably counted upon to show up on television and pontificate any time anybody does something that can in any manner in opposition to Catholicism or Chistianaty in general.
OK, I was confused as to whether or not they were the same Emmys. And they became conflated in my head because Larry King then went on to talk about Sally Fields’ remarks with Kathy Griffin.
And I will agree E! is not really a family channel.
I am generally quite thick-skinned, and Bill Donohue is a pompous ass, but I think Kathy Griffin crossed the line with “suck it, Jesus”.
