Sheryl Crow

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

@Little Nemo

Sheryl Crow didn’t tell the audience she was joking. She didn’t tell her audience when she was singing either. She just assumed they’d figure it out because there was music playing and the words rhymed.

Read what Crow actually said. Right after saying people should save the environment by using one piece of toilet paper, the next thing she said was that her brother suggested going one better and washing the piece of toilet paper so it could be reused. Crow then went on to talk about designing clothes so you could blow your nose on disposable sleeves to save napkins and starting a green version of American Idol where the most environmentally conscious person wins a recording contract. Does that sound like somebody who was making serious proposals?

From what I’ve read, this originated on her blog. Maybe I’m misinformed?

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

Every story I can find online says the blog was the source of the quote. I can’t find anything about her saying it at a concert.

The blog entry is clearly and obviously a joke. No “clarification” would be necessary on her part. The original context is unambiguously satirical.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

A search on Google news found this:

Artist sings for global warming, which is an account of a 4/17 concert appearance by Crow.

Crow joked with the audience about tips to help stop global warming including wearing recycled paper outfits and using one square of toilet paper.

Given the realities of writing and publishing, Crow almost certainly had turned in the piece before then, so the idea was in her mind.

And the blog that describes the tour for Stop Global Warming has this to say:

Also - the Drudge Report and Fox News are having a ridiculous field day with Sheryl’s joke about cutting back on toilet paper use to help out the environment. She and Tim do a funny comedy bit between songs each show, and one of the jokes is them making up absurd ways of cutting back in their lives to help conserve energy. They said one way they could stop wasting energy at their concerts is to have audience members rub balloons on their heads to generate static electricity to power their amps, another would be to only wear recycled paper clothing – and another would be to use just one piece of toilet paper. And Fox News and Drudge have actually singled out that last joke to actually analyze it. Analyze it? Is this April Fool’s? If I hadn’t yet already, now I’ve really lost all faith in the credibility of the major media! But hey - I appreciate it shining some air time on the need to stop global warming!

Apparently, her audiences would have gotten the joke. I can’t find any mention of it elsewhere until the Huffington Post piece, and all the early mentions of it quote that rather than the concert.

It’s clear to me that it was a joke and meant to be taken as such in all its forms, and that the blogosphere deliberately distorted the joke to make it real. As I said, I was prepared to come down as hard on her as everybody else until I investigated it for myself. But now that I have, I say that the ridicule was a deliberate disinformation campaign, designed to humiliate her and discredit the global warming crowd.

Don’t buy into it. Especially here.

[Operation_Ripper]

@Diogenes the Cynic

You thought wrong

Guess you thought wrong, eh?

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

@Operation Ripper

Guess you thought wrong, eh?

That remains undetermined, but my apologies for snapping at you. Everything I’d read cited the blog.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Operation Ripper

Guess you thought wrong, eh?

Don’t try to be smug about this. Your original comment was:

Well, she didn’t start calling it a “joke” until after everyone started making fun of her, did she?

This is clearly wrong. She said it as a joke from the very beginning. You can’t hide from your remarks just because someone else got caught on a meaningless technicality. You slimed her and you should apologize.

[kelly5078]

Every day is a winding roll.
I, or at least my fingers, get a little bit closer.

[Geobabe]

@Exapno Mapcase

It’s clear to me that it was a joke and meant to be taken as such in all its forms, and that the blogosphere deliberately distorted the joke to make it real. As I said, I was prepared to come down as hard on her as everybody else until I investigated it for myself. But now that I have, I say that the ridicule was a deliberate disinformation campaign, designed to humiliate her and discredit the global warming crowd.

Consider instead the possibility that is far more likely, IMO, than a giant conspiracy, that the joke was simply not very clearly written. I’ve seen it many, many times just on this board, that humor in the written medium can be very difficult sometimes and jokes get misinterpreted. Sure, it was clear to you, but a friend of mine who is usually pretty good at picking up jokes thought she was being serious and had lost her mind, and I read the original piece and my reaction was, “WTF?” All it takes is a couple people to not get it and that gets passed around and voila, a giant clusterfuck.