New York Governor Didn’t Like SNL’s Blind Jokes

December 17th, 2008

David Patterson

 

New York governor didn’t like SNL’s blind jokes. New York Gov. David Paterson wasn’t laughing when “Saturday Night Live” portrayed him in their Weekend Update segment as a blind, doofus drug addict – and neither were advocates for disabled persons, who say the skit was offensive. “Now that [Alaska Gov. Sarah] Palin’s not around, they seem to have run out of material,” said Paterson, who is legally blind. “The idea of a person rolling around the stage in a chair, being disoriented, can’t find anything, bumbling, in a sense looking like a clown, is a way disabled people are portrayed all the time. The perception that disability equals inability to be responsible is totally wrong.”  Mocking politicians is nothing new for SNL, and they spared Paterson no pain Saturday night. At one point during the skit, cast member Fred Armisen, who portrayed the governor, says, “Come on, I’m a blind man who loves cocaine who was suddenly appointed governor of New York. My life is an actual plot from a Richard Pryor movie.” At one point, looking confused and disoriented, Armisen says he became governor “because of a “sex scandal I was miraculously not at the center of.” Paterson, who ascended to the governorship last spring after Gov. Eliot Spitzer was snared in prostitution sting, has admitted to cocaine use during his youth and extramarital affairs. A spokeswoman for the Paterson, Risa Heller, said it isn’t that he boss can’t take a joke. “The governor engages in humor all the time, and he can certainly take a joke,” said Heller. “However, this particular ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit unfortunately chose to ridicule people with physical disabilities and imply that disabled people are incapable of having jobs with serious responsibilities. The National Federation of the Blind also criticized the skit, calling it “absolutely wrong” and an attack on all blind Americans.

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Comments

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Elaina B Said on

That is just the most outrageous thing that I have ever heard. I agree with Paterson when he said that now Palin is gone someone else has to take the heat, but that is just out of line. NBC and SNL need to be ashamed of themselves for even thinking that it would be ok to do a skit like that. Yet another reason I will not ever watch SNL ever again.



keith Said on

Yall people are crazy. and take stuff way too personal. If it was Kat Williams making fun of him it would be ok. I would be laughing like a mutha. Im sure it was funny when everyone was laughing at sara palin. IT’S JUST COMEDY. comedy is just that. comedy, Dave chappelle, richard pryor, martin lawrence and so on and son COMEDY. IF IT’S NOT FUNNY DON’T LAUGH AT IT. IF YOU DONT WANT TO WATCH IT TURN THE CHANNEL. SIMPLE AS THAT.



johanna Said on

all you people who say the govener should be mad and its a joke are fools. Lets see if that show had shown Obama eating watermelon and fried chicken wearing his pants saggy packing heat bar b quing in front fo the White house with Michelle Obama with gold teeth and afro puffs you would be upset and not saying its funny. There has to be a line drawn when it comes to humor especially if someone has a disablilty.



Dear DJ Said on

Sharonda, whomever you are.

Where are you getting these absurd ideas that anytime a black person is involved in a problem or need to voice a complaint that the President-Elect is going to step in and solve the d#&n problem? That is not the position of a U.S. President. Pull out your U.S. Constitution and begin to learn the laws of the land that you are living in. Your uneducated comments are one of the reasons so many uneducated caucasians were also fearful of Barack Obama becoming President. Our people (all people) perish for “lack of knowledge”. If we do not know what we are talking about, sometimes it is better not to speak at all, unless we are asking questions trying to learn a thing or two. Please stop the ignorant nonsense when it comes to the President-Elect. He is not trying to become ghettoistic just because he promised to represent for all people. Representing, as President, means just that. And, even if he chose to represent a particular race, it will not be for foolishness and nonsense. Rise up people, Rise up in our thinking and doing. Come on out of the dark.



Dear DJ Said on

I don’t get to watch SNL on a regular basis, and did not get to see the Gov. Paterson episode; but, everytime I have watched it, they have all proven to be total cut-ups. Somebody mentioned being in stitches laughing, and had I watched it, given how funny SNL usually is, I probably would have been rolling on the floor, and barely able to breathe myself. That is because, SNL is entertainment, and the purpose is to make people laugh. Anybody with thin skin probably shouldn’t watch it. I haven’t read the news as to how Gov. Paterson knew he was being mocked? Was he watching it? I would imagine most celebrities and politicians do these days since most of the fun is being poked at them, and others who make headline news. I admit cracking up about Hillary Clinton, and the pantsuit jokes, and her being envious of Barack Obama during the Presidential Primaries. I equally agreed that Sarah Palin’s seemingly ignorant responses to comments on world TV shows made her appear to be an ignoramous. So, had I seen Gov. Paterson being mocked, because I don’t know his past history, I may or may not have gotten the joke. However, if those portraying him were hillarious in their portrayal, I am certain I would have been cracking up-and not with the disabled community in mind. I have disabilities myself, and laugh at things that are funny. If I see disabled people on the street, I don’t roll over and start cracking up laughing. And, I try not to knowingly mock people for the purpose of hurting anyone, however most people have grown up mocking or laughing at somebody in our lives, as children and even as adults-Gov. Paterson included, I’m sure. Even I have been laughed at at times when I didn’t think it was funny. But, now that I am a stronger individual, I can look back in retrospect, and laugh too at a whole lot of things that happened in my past life. So, what’s the beef, now? Just ignore it, get over it, and get on with life. Janet Jackson was right up there playing Condoleezza Rice the week after her breast was exposed laughing with everybody else. And, I continued to respect her more for not crawling under a rock, ending her singing career because people talked about or laughed at her. President-Elect Obama was on SNL a few weeks ago. Even he can take a joke. Lighten up, people. Just enjoy entertainment for what it is. That’s SNL’s field. Let them do what they do, and we do what we do, whatever it is.



Lisa Said on

That’s what I’m talkind about!!!!! Dear DJ…I could not have said it better.
Do you…



Lisa Said on

That’s suppose to be “talking”…LOL Typing to fast again.
Just doing me….hahahaha



Lisa Said on

That’s suppose to be “talking”. LOL Typing too fast again.
Just doing me…hahahahaha



Lisa Said on

That should be “talking”. LOL Typing too fast and doing me…hahahahaha.



Dang Said on

Dear Dj:
Could that have been said without writting a book!!! I think Sharonda gets it by now. We don’t have to beat the girl up about her comments. Yours are too long (you need not take offense to that either). Sharonda / Cecilenoe and even David have a right to say what they want. I know you probably don’t like what I said but that’s “my” opinion and I didn’t have to get an approval from you and no one else. -Merry Christmas-



david Said on

Ha Ha it is funny.



david Said on

You people’s like when other poeple get made fun of but when it comes to you poeple’s you all do not like it and it was funny .



Dang Said on

Heeeeeeere’s David!!!!! Dude!!! Nobody missed you!!! Why’d you blog tonight. I thought we got rid of you boy



Todayslesson Said on

David!!
Remember what we learned about putting an “s” where it dosen’t belong? I want you to write 100 times:
I will learn to write a complete sentence to satisfy my teacher.
Also get mom or dad to sign it. Failure to do so will result in a parent teacher conference.

Respectfully,
Your 3rd grade teacher



MOET Said on

TODAYSLESSON NOW THAT WAS FUNNY MAN. YOU SHOULD BE ON SNL. I HOPE DAVID READ THAT. BUT ON A SERIOUS NOTE. HONEYBRWN AND DEAR DJ SAID IT ALL. THROUGHOUT THE YEARS HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE SEEN OR HEARD JOKES ABOUT RAY CHARLES OR STEVIE WONDER? AND YOU DON’T HEAR THEM THROWING A FIT. HE NEEDS TO JUST GET A GRIP AND LET THESE PEOPLE DO WHAT THEY GET PAID TO DO.



DeeVa Said on

I agree with Gov. Patterson, it was done in poor taste. Making fun of a disable person is not joke. Gov. Patterson spoke about his skeltons so that was not news. It is not about sueing a person. If a member of your family was blind or had a disability, you would not want them to be made fun of, especially if it was done in poor taste and I think that is what Gov. Patterson is upset about. Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

This is an open forum, one should not criticize someone’s input. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, whether it is right, wrong or indifference; that is why it is an opinion.



PENNIE Said on

HAY LYNN GO AHEAD A SPEAK YOUR MIND..SOMETIMES YOU ARE FUNNY AND I LAUGH, AND SOMETIMES YOUR SERIOUS AND THAT IS OK TOO. I LIKE MOST OF YOUR COMMENTS…SOMETIMES PEOPLE ARE JUST PLAIN UGLY..AND DAIVID IS ONE OF THEM.





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