I Hope I Offended Some People

The offence bar is getting lower:

Comic Kathy Griffin's "offensive" remarks about Jesus at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be cut from a pre-taped telecast of the show, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences said on Tuesday.

Griffin made the provocative comment on Saturday night as she took the stage of the Shrine Auditorium to collect her Emmy for best reality program for her Bravo channel show "My Life on the D-List."

"A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus," an exultant Griffin said, holding up her statuette. "Suck it, Jesus. This award is my god now."

Asked about her speech backstage a short time later, an unrepentant Griffin added, "I hope I offended some people. I didn't want to win the Emmy for nothing."

The speech drew fire from a leading Roman Catholic group, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which condemned Griffin's remarks as "obscene and blasphemous."

"It is a sure bet that if Griffin had said, 'Suck it, Muhammad,' there would have been a very different reaction," Catholic league president Bill Donohue said in a statement posted on the group's Web site. He called on TV academy president Dick Askin to denounce Griffin's "hate speech" and on Griffin to apologize.

That seems to me to be in effect an acknowledgement by Donohue that they're following the Muslim example: no offence against religious sensibilities is to be tolerated.

Comments

[DaninVan]

Well good on the Catholics; finally showing some balls. I'd have been disappointed if they HADN'T gone on a rant. Just so long as the network IGNORES their call for censorship...

[tolkein]

So, are you saying that it's to be applauded that someone is deliberately offensive in public? Like it's a good thing? What's wrong with civility and politeness in public?

[Mick H]

All the time? What a dull world. A little offence now and then is no bad thing - and actually, yes, this made me smile. But the point of the post is the reaction by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, and their successful attempt at censorship.

[Vagabondblogger]

We downloaded Kathy's show from iTunes. If you've ever watched her show, she seems to be a very nice person, just a bit bent. I love her, just because she does get under everyone's skin. I wouldn't have her any other way.

[dearieme]

I've been away. I'm still grinning at the notion of a "Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights".