# Worst Screw-Ups/Acts of Stupidity in the Public Eye. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 17, 2002, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300 "2002-12-17T10:34:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/41 "2002-12-18T16:02:25Z")
Possibly apocryphal, but good, supposedly said in response to British Foreign Secretary George Brown, 1968. > [@](#): > > I shall not dance with you for three reasons. First, because you are drunk; second, because this is not a waltz but the national anthem of Peru; and third, because I am not in fact a pretty young lady in a red dress but the Cardinal Archbishop of Lima. ---
**Author:** ![Broodha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@Broodha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broodha)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/42 "2002-12-18T17:46:07Z")
Speaking of Letterman: I’m a big Madonna fan, but I remember her awful interview with him a while back. It was really painful to watch. I remember when she offered her panties for Dave to snif, and he was like “uh…no thanks”… ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/43 "2002-12-18T17:54:19Z")
Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football: “Look at that monkey run.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/44 "2002-12-18T18:11:42Z")
There was Rush Limbaugh’s unwarrented attack on Chelsea Clinton (calling her “The White House Dog”). He lost a lot of fans that day and gave more fuel to his enemies. Hard core members were ashamed of his actions, apologist tried to blame everyone else in the production besides Rush, even though it was obvious he intended and approved the joke. A hint for all old fart political broadcasters: Leave the teenage girls alone. I mean that in every way possible. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/45 "2002-12-18T18:19:09Z")
Poor Jimmy Carter. Once the media found Billy. . . ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/46 "2002-12-18T18:23:04Z")
One for the Australians: ACA reporter: “Are you xenophobic?” Pauline Hanson: “\ Please explain!” “Please explain” of course became a highly-recognised catch-phrase and was later sampled in a popular CD single released by a Sydney drag queen. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/47 "2002-12-18T21:39:42Z")
I got to see the same incident played out twice… sort of. When I was a kid in New York, the leading TV weatherman was Tex Antoine. During one newscast, the story right before the weather dealt with a little girl who’d been raped. As soon as that tragic story was over, on comes Tex Antoine, who quipped, “Well, you know what Confucius say? When rape is inevitable, just lie back and enjoy it.” Needless to say, everyone in New York was disgusted, and Antoine was fired. As I recall, a smaller news station hired him, but he quickly wore out his welcome there, too. Fast forward to the year 2000. I’m living in Texas now, and the governor’s race pits Democrat Ann Richards against Republican Clayton Williams. Williams is leading in most of the polls. Well, Claytie invites a large press crew to a big barbecue at his ranch, and it starts raining. Williams, trying to be clever, said “Well, you know what they say- when rape is inevitable, just lie back and enjoy it.” Oh my God, talk about deja vu! As soon as I heard about that on TV, I knew Williams was finished, and that Ann Richards would be elected. To this day, I don’t think Williams grasps how horrible he sounded (I’m pretty sure that he only meant, “Oh well, the weather’s bad, nothing else to do but make the best of it”) or why anyone was offended. So, I’ve already seen two prominent men go down in flames for using that same stupid, ugly line. Why do I have a bad feeling I’ll see it happen one more time before I die? ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/48 "2002-12-18T21:51:30Z")
\<\\> Tex Antoine! There’s a name from the past. I grew up in suburban NJ. Had heard that he was usually inebriated on the air. We now join our usual thread already in progress. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/49 "2002-12-19T00:18:54Z")
**Rush Limbaugh** called Chelsea Clinton the _White House Dog_? Oh, man, that’s low – even for him. I thought of another one: **Dewey Wins!** foreshadowing the recent: “Exit polls indicate that Al Gore has won Florida and therefore the White House.” ---
**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/50 "2002-12-19T02:47:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Narrad \* > \*\*One for the Australians: > > Pauline Hanson: “\ Please explain!”\*\* Or, of course, the “my fellow Australians - if you are watching this I have been murdered” tape. It was later found that the “current affairs” (obtranslation: xenophobia and shonky plumbers) show had offered to let her make such a tape just so that they could make fun of her for accepting the invitation. My preference, though, was for an ex-leader of the Opposition - John Hewson - who was campaigning on a platform of jingoism and had been loudly complaining how disgraceful it was that most Australians didn’t know the words to the national anthem, and demanding that immigrants learn it. He was then on the 7:30 Report The interviewer, Paul Lyneham, introduced him and asked if he could sing the anthem. The interview went something like this. JH: Well, I’m not going to sing it… PL: Then just recite it for us. JH: I don’t know the second verse… PL: That’s OK. You know the first? JH: Australia’s sons… PL: Australians _all_ JH: Right. Right. Australians all… \ PL: …let us rejoice… JH: …let us rejoice… \ PL: …for we are… \ JH: Uh, girt by sea? PL: “Young and free”. You _don’t_ know the words, do you? Things got worse from there. Then again, Paul was never the most gentle of interviewers - I remember him once scoring an interview with the Dalai Lama, and opening with “Your followers see you as the physical incarnation of the perfect being, but you have described yourself as a simple spiritual pilgrim. Your holiness, are your followers wrong?” before proceding to grill him about the Lamas’ history of brutally violent rule in Tibet and asking him to justify why such a situation should be restored. Ever seen the physical incarnation of the perfect being throw an almighty wobbly on national TV? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/51 "2002-12-19T03:25:54Z")
“Bitch set me up.” – Marion Berry, official Stupidest Politician in America. “[The Holocaust] was an obscene period in our nation’s history … this century’s history. … We all lived in this century. I didn’t live in this century.” – Dan Quayle, once a heartbeat away from The Button. “Some sinister force had come in and applied the other energy source and taken care of the information on the tape.” – Al Haig, talking about 18.5 minutes of fascist hubris. “Space travel is utter blige.” – Sir Richard Wolley, 1950s Astronomer Royal of Great Britain, obviously not keeping pace with the Colonies or Mother Russia. Finally, the _creme-de-la-creme_ of inane politalk, the _ne plus ultra_ of public embarassment, only from the Morons in Power Golden Boy Himself, ladees and gennlmen, I bring you _Dan Quayle and the Amazing Incomprehensible Ad-Lib!_ “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind – or not to have a mind. How true that is.” – Danny Boy, chosen because there are _no IQ requirements for becoming the most powerful person in the world._ “Only in America!” – Don King. [Actually commenting on the first Jewish leader of Ireland.] ---
**Author:** ![samboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@samboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samboy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/52 "2002-12-19T03:55:03Z")
From my hometown of Darwin, NT. “For fifteen years, David Fidler has presented the nightly news for Darwin commercial television station Channel 8. During this period, he’s spoken of swimming for Australia at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. In the late 1980’s, his achievements were also referred to by Australian Olympic champion Dawn Fraser.” It turned out that the whole thing was a complete lie. He never swam for his state let alone his country as an Olympian. He was exposed by the Australian newspaper and sacked from the station. [Go Media Watch](http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s114299.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/53 "2002-12-19T03:56:43Z")
The lead singer of Blind Melon, at a concert in Vancouver, stripped naked and pissed on the audience. ---
**Author:** ![Netbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71e660/32.png) [@Netbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Netbrian)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/54 "2002-12-19T07:04:12Z")
The entire OJ Simpson trial. ---
**Author:** ![Flowerchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/858c86/32.png) [@Flowerchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flowerchild)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/55 "2002-12-19T11:22:08Z")
When did Ted Danson do Blackface? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/56 "2002-12-19T13:34:53Z")
Michael Crawford in Dance of the Vampires. He’ll regret that for the rest of his life. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/57 "2002-12-19T13:40:22Z")
Ted Danson appeared in blackface at a Friar’s Roast for Whoopi Goldberg. If you Google “Ted Danson” and “blackface” there are plenty of references to it. [Here](http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/02484446.htm) is one of the cites. > [@](#): > > When the Friar’s Club did a “roast” of Whoopi Goldberg in 1994, her then partner Ted Danson appeared in blackface and delivered material that was written by the both of them. Using a “sho ’nuf” voice, Danson cracked not-so-wise about how color affected his and Goldberg’s lovemaking, their kitchen, and their grooming habits. The material was edgy. But the routine failed, and both were accused of a gross act of racism. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/58 "2002-12-19T18:52:06Z")
Regarding the Louise Lasser episode of SNL: I saw it on E! just a few weeks ago - so it is (now) back in reruns. The cast covered really well - if one didn’t know the whole story, one could honestly wonder if it was intentional (as Andy Kaufman’s disastrous appearance on _Friday’s_ apparently was). ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/59 "2002-12-19T19:02:38Z")
The Anna Nicole Show. ---
**Author:** ![wireless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@wireless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wireless)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300/60 "2002-12-19T19:28:59Z")
Gary Condit? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-screw-ups-acts-of-stupidity-in-the-public-eye/143300.md?page=4)