Sorry, but the joke wouldn’t have worked as well had they….

bluegill on February 26, 2013 at 9:14 PM

It worked well?

Do you want a list of people the Onion has offended over the past 10 years? There have been several just as bad as this. This is the only time they have ever apologized though.

WisCon on February 26, 2013 at 8:25 PM

Just the 9-year-olds.

Good point MikeknaJ, I don’t remember so many conservatives finding the Palin children jokes so worthy of defense.
Crispian on February 26, 2013 at 9:40 PM

For Letterman’s joke to work, you have to agree with his assumption that the Palin daughter (yeah, he meant to refer to the older one) is a low class, hillbilly sl*t.

For the Onion’s joke to work, you have to recognize the obvious fact that that young actress should never be called that word.

Letterman’s joke was mean-spirited, the Onion’s wasn’t.

Sorry, but the joke wouldn’t have worked as well had they not referred to the young actress. Yes, the effect was jolting, and it may have been using absurdity to highlight the indefensible, out-of-control nature of much of the bashing of female actresses by online critics. This was the furthest thing from a mean-spirited joke. It seems, instead, to be criticizing the mean-spiritedness. 75% of the comments on this site are incredibly mean-spirited, though.

The Onion has always been great and continues to be great.

bluegill on February 26, 2013 at 9:14 PM

You can make that point without the C-word.

Do you wan to explain to your daughter why someone called her a C***? “It’s okay honey! A “c***” means this. But don’t let it bother you. After all, The Onion is a brilliant satirical publication and their point was quite exquisite!”

I’m tired of this idea that “satire” excuses everything. It’s what Bill Maher hides behind when he doesn’t want to take responsibility for the things he says. It’s just comedy, people! Republicans have no sense of humor! My jokes about Trig Palin are so insightful!

A truly brilliant satirist can make their point without stooping to this kind of dreck.

Nope. The real mistake was thinking using a 9 year old CHILD was an appropriate subject for their “satire” attempt.
She’s a CHILD. What part of that is so hard to understand?
MikeknaJ on February 26, 2013 at 8:39 PM

Sorry, but the joke wouldn’t have worked as well had they not referred to the young actress. Yes, the effect was jolting, and it may have been using absurdity to highlight the indefensible, out-of-control nature of much of the bashing of female actresses by online critics. This was the furthest thing from a mean-spirited joke. It seems, instead, to be criticizing the mean-spiritedness. 75% of the comments on this site are incredibly mean-spirited, though.

The Onion has always been great and continues to be great.

Then there is The Onion’s now-infamous Twitter “joke” on Oscar night, in which a nameless writer called the nine-year-old actress Quvenzhané Wallis the C word

 
Weird. That doesn’t sound like an (R) name at all.