Jerry Lewis apologizes for ‘illiterate faggot’ remark
Steve Safran September 4th, 2007
UPDATED VERSION: During the MDA Labor Day Telethon, Jerry Lewis went off on a riff with one of the cameramen. During the bit, he used the words “illiterate faggot.” (It appears he was referring to one of the cameras, not one of the cameraman’s family members. Hard to explain - watch the bit.) In a statement issued to the media, Lewis apologized:
I apologize to anyone who was offended. I obviously made a bad choice of words. Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard. In the family atmosphere of the telethon, I forgot that not everyone knows me that well. That something like this would distract from the true purpose of the telethon pains me deeply. The success of the show and all the good that will come from it shouldn’t be lost because of one unfortunate word. I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses. I am sorry.
Earlier on Lost Remote we had embedded video of this that was hosted by DailyMotion but it has been taken down.
11 Comments Add your own
1. paul | September 4th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
I thought that he was referring to the other cameras as “family” and that specific camera was the “faggot” or “fatty”.
That’s just my way of seeing it. It’s still hard to know for sure what he was referring to, and I’m sure he’ll get in trouble either way.
2. Cory | September 4th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
I think it’s time to take away his microphone.
3. WiggyWack | September 4th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I was about to post the same thing as Paul. He’s not talking about the cameraman’s family, but the cameras themselves.
No, not very funny, but the guy’s been on the air for 18 hours raising money for charity. Give him a break…
4. Anony | September 4th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
C’mon WiggyWack… Hate speech deserves no “break”.
We should all act morally appalled by this tripe, talk about this incessantly on cable news channels for the next week, and follow it by demonizing Jerry Lewis for the rest of his life.
That’ll teach people to mess with American political correctness. How dare humanity be imperfect and make mistakes now and again?! Ladies and gentleman… it’s witch-hunt time again!
5. Rico | September 4th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Your embedded clip is already down for “terms of use” violation… The Muscular Dystrophy lobby is flexing its muscle! (sorry!)
6. Mike Escutia | September 4th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
FYI, the link to the story seems to be bad. But if you remove the “www.” from the URL, it works.
7. Rob | September 4th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Isaiah Washington screwed up by running his mouth and lost his job. Michael Richards screwed up by running his mouth and, well … he’d already lost his job.
Jerry Lewis screwed up by running his mouth while raising money for a charity that over his lifetime he has helped raise more than a billion dollars for.
So what do you do? Tell him he can’t raise money for charity anymore? Or accept that he understands that he made a mistake, forgive him and move on?
8. Howard Owens | September 4th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Sometimes you have to accept that people are human.
His apology is what matters most, and it wasn’t one of those, and he’s pretty contrite …
And if you watch the clip, it’s clear he regretted saying it as soon as it slipped out.
9. Jake | September 4th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
I wouldn’t do this for any blog…but for the sake of TV finding the future, a link to the youtube clip of the incident is pasted in my URL section.
10. Hussman | September 5th, 2007 at 6:06 am
I think you are all missing the point… The real point is that the Jerry Lewis Telethon is actually still on TV. Gone are the days of my youth when it used to actually be on for hours on end, with crazy acts and antics, and me trying and struggling to watch the whole thing, and failing utterly.
11. anon | September 6th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Oh Man…is this what it’s come to??…One ‘edgy’ joke, by a few celebrities, sends people into an ‘I’m So Offended’ frenzy???, then they have to defend themselves like mad, from career suicide?! for pete’s sake…this ‘Politically Correct’ crap is out of control. I’m sure many Gay people, and others, are sleeping easy & not so distraught & preoccupied, over tiny jokes, by old has-beens, like Jerry Lewis & Don Imus. (can I say Gay?…or is it something else now?..like ‘Heterosexually Challenged’?)
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