Apparently Megyn Kelly ad-libbed a remark. Really, all TV personalities should write everything down in advance, and have it approved by the U.N., NAACP, ADL, Major League Baseball and even NAMBLA.
Since I have NEVER been up early enough to watch "The Today Show," and have NEVER watched this Kelly woman earlier in her career, all I can do is what Will Rogers did; believe what I read in the papers. And hope it's not fake news.
Kelly remarked that "blackface" for Halloween was ok when she was a kid, and might be ok now. If a kid wants to dress up as somebody white, black, Chinese or Native American, and pretend to be somebody else, it's being done out of respect (one would think). Al Jolson sang "Old Black Joe" to sympathize with the plight of the Southern slave, not to get a laugh. Sidney Toler played Charlie Chan and accentuated with Confucius-like wisdom of the character. Was it that unusual to see a black kid in a Batman mask or wearing a Superman outfit?
Kelly SEEMED to be acknowledging that it's not always "racist" for kids to play dress-up on Halloween.
Megyn's problem is she was talking about a privileged minority, ENTITLED to be OFFENDED. Black people. Obese people. Gay people. PAY ATTENTION. Italian people, Jewish people, Native American people, Old people...not so much. Some people will tell you their pain is better than yours.
Anyone objecting to the Halloween costumes were little kids can dress up as somebody OLD complete with a WALKER?
Anyone objecting to anti-Semitic professors giving speeches claiming the holocaust never happened? Nah, that's free speech!
Jews have 2000 years of persecution all over the world, and 8 million destroyed in World War 2, and anyone wearing a yarmulke could be sucker-punched on the street and it won't even be called a hate crime. That's NOTHING compared to Black suffering, right? Native Americans had the entire continent to themselves and were pushed off their land. That doesn't mean anything compared to Blacks being made slaves in the South. NOBODY fought a Civil War over Indian rights to their land, but whites were slaughtered fighting in the Civil War. So what's the deal? Jews and Native Americans aren't going to riot in the street? Black suffering is more poetic than Jewish suffering or Native American suffering?
The Swastika can be spray-painted all over a Jewish cemetery and it won't be front page news anywhere. The Washington Redskins is still a team name in the NFL. But some woman on a TV show mentioning that it's not always "racism" if some kid wears a costume...and she's being "schooled" and there's the "FIRE HER" trolls striking their matches.
Megyn Kelly is a woman. Dressing up like a WOMAN is just fine. Nobody's shouting sexism, nobody's shouting "that's offensive." "We make her paint her face and dance," sang Mr. Lennon in a song whose title I can't even QUOTE here. But guess what, DRAG QUEENS paint their faces and dance, and mock women and behave in ridiculous stereotype ways far more offensive than Jolson singing "Mammy," and it's OK. Because GAY is a privileged minority and if they make fun of women, because they are disgusted at the thought of having sex with one, well, WE UNDERSTAND.
I had a gay friend who used to quip that the female genitalia "looks like an industrial accident." Guess what he did for a living. He edited a men's magazine. Yes, a Penthouse-type magazine. He wasn't the only gay editor of a hetero men's magazine either. After all, a straight guy looking at spread shots all day could be exhausting. To a gay editor, or a female editor, it didn't mean much. I was in this guy's office one day, and he asked me favor. He had several sets of "girlie" slides to go through, and wanted to not only pick a delicious dish for the centerfold, but do a headline about how, uh, "edible" she looked. We stood over the lightbox and he said, "Is that a pretty vagina?"
I gave him a nod. He was sure, but not completely sure.
But I digress.
We live in strange times when Megyn Kelly has to apologize for suggesting it might be ok for a kid to wear a "Black Panther" super hero mask on Halloween, even if he's WHITE. But no drag queen would get into trouble for dressing like Megyn Kelly for Halloween, or for simply going out in ridiculous, stereotypical, completely ludicrous and misogynistic drag.
Beware WHITE BOY, this outfit isn't for you:
It's interesting that "WHITE BOY" is not considered an offensive phrase. "Play that funky music, WHITE BOY."
Let's hear from Al Roker on his colleague:
Al said that Kelly owed an apology to "people of color." But not, of course, to "colored people."
Let's make a clear distinction about THAT. In the world of hypocrite, in the world of loopy, in the world of insane, "colored people" is an insult and "people of color" is a compliment. "People of color," you should know, are NOT "colored people."
HOWEVER, nobody is taking "Living in the City" off the radio because Stevie Wonder had a line about "colored people" in there. And there's still the NAACP, the last two words being "colored people." But maybe the ought to apologize to AL ROKER for not changing their initials.
Isn't AL ROKER the spokesman for all black people?
No, of course not. That would be the guy who went on Bill Maher's show to "school" him that "NIGGA" (not "NIGGER") is an acceptable word IF spoken by a black. "We OWN that word, only WE can use it." He was, of course, a spokesman for all black people, including the ones who think that "NIGGA" is just as detestable and ignorant as "NIGGER."
Then again, we have President Obama. He laughed and thought it was hilarious and inoffensive when a black comedian congratulated him for becoming President: "You did it, MY NIGGA."
The President of the United States is some pudgy cable TV black comedian's "NIGGA." Did Putin know that?
And did the black comedian realize that Obama's mother is not a "NIGGA" at all? She be a WHITE GIRL. The kind that can be insulted by any guy who dresses in drag. Ah, but it does get confusing on HOW you can be PC or NOT PC.
Old-timers remember that Mort Sahl used to end his act by saying, "Is there any group I haven't offended?"
He once joked that a black organization was criticizing him: "How come there are no blacks in your act?" He once remarked on Dick Cavett's show that there was conspiracy among homosexuals to deny work to straights, and that it was damn near impossible for a straight male to get an opera or a ballet produced. Mort Sahl once had regular work! "Just kidding" or "I'm an iconoclast, I attack everyone" didn't work when it came to letting him work.
One thing we see in social media, especially from the current President, is a delight in being OFFENDED and in NAME-CALLING. It's just specialized. Megyn Kelly is just one of the latest to find this out.
Currently there's a rage on social media over Trump's notion that only certified (via DNA or chromosomes) females can use a ladies room. This was challenged by all the transvestites who say "If you identify as a woman, you ARE a woman." However, you might remember the woman who "identified" as black. HOW DARE SHE. She was fired from her job, ridiculed on social media, insulted and condemned. How DARE she identify as black. If this was a GUY who identified as FEMALE...NO PROBLEM.
And so, as Megyn Kelly sinks slowly into her chair, cringing and crying and waiting for her 15 minutes of bigotry-shaming to blow over, we can all take heart that the Washington Redkins still retain that name, Drag Queens can still prance around ridiculing women (and dressing as Megyn Kelly for Halloween) and that anyone saying "colored people" rather than "woman of color" will stand on the unemployment line.
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