Someone wrote, "Is this how you spell lasonia?" to which Martin replied: "It depends. Are you in an African-American neighborhood or at an Italian restaurant." CNN
Calling attention to anything related to Blacks is un-PC. A no-no. You must not even mention Black neighborhoods or Black names, even in neutral ways. Even mentioning Black overwhelming superiority in the 100 meter dash can be offensive to Blacks. Never offensive to the inferior white runners.
"I knew of the name Lasonia. I did not make it up, nor do I find it funny. So to me the answer was either Lasonia (with a capital), or Lasagna, depending on what you meant. That they sounded alike in this rare and particular context struck me as funny. That was the joke," he wrote on his website.
Justine Sacco, who worked for IAC – a leading media company, caused an internet storm over the weekend after tweeting: "Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white." Source
Justine Sacco was fired. Oversensitivity has no bounds. What is the big crime here? Have be gotten crazy? Returning to Steve Martin:
"When the tweet went out, I saw some negative comments and immediately deleted the tweet and apologized. I gathered the perception was that I was making fun of African American names." CNN
Nowadays everyone is SENSITIVE to slightest innuendo. We have no serious life threatening problems, so we all minorities were trained to become OVERSENSITIVE.
The story didn’t stop there.
Martin said his tweet was picked up and quoted, inaccurately, by various outlets, including Salon CNN
Typical.
PC loves to distort, lie, make things look worse then they were.
For example, in the George Zimmermann case, CBS cut the 911 call as to make Zimmerman sound racist. And the misleading photos of a 12 year old little Trayvon child and a Zimmermann in prison garb and 50 lbs. heavier. Or the lies about domestic violence or the Rind study.
"It depends. Are you in an African-American restaurant or at an Italian restaurant," Salon said Martin wrote, suggesting he meant to imply that African-American restaurants can’t spell "lasagna."
- Steve Martin did not say this. It is a lie, a false citation.
- what is the problem if someone thinks Blacks can not spell? Or if someone says so. Even if it were totally wrong?
- What makes it more offensive it that it is true. Race and iq debate is un-pc, verboten. In spite of half a century of head start and other efforts Blacks underperform in school, while Vietnamese, Chinese, Koreans, and Jews vastly outperform Whites.
The inaccurate version spread, and Martin said he felt he "couldn’t get out of hell."
"Comedy is treacherous," he wrote. "But it’s my job to know." CNN
PC speech code stifles comedy, jokes, freedom of speech.
Hate speech laws in Brazil, Canada, Australia, Germany jail people for opinions or jokes.
The only jokes allowed are those that make fun of white heterosexual males.
Even if it is about Katherine Kieu cutting off a man’s penis and putting it in the garbage disposal grinder.
Steve Martin made witty remarks and jokes, until he mentioned the word "Blacks". He did not offend Blacks, he did not talk about black crime or race and iq. He simply alluded that Lasonia can be a black name. We are at the point that we are afraid to even mention race.
Another version of the Steve Martin Lasonia debacle
I am very upset that a tweet I sent out last week has been interpreted by some to be insulting to African Americans. By now media coverage of the unfortunate tweet has only added to this perception. To those who were offended, again, I offer a deep, sincere, and humble apology without reservation.
But I feel I need to tell you the context and origin of the joke.
I was riffing on Twitter, inviting people to ask me grammar questions. I replied with what I hoped were funny answers. For example, a person might write “What’s the difference between “then” and “than?” I would say, “then” is a conjunctive preposition, and “than” is a misspelling of “thank.” I have done similar things to this on other occasions, and there is a great spirit of fun between me and the Twitters followers.
I was going along fine when someone wrote, “How do you spell “lasonia?” I wrote: “It depends if you are in an African American neighborhood or an Italian restaurant.” I knew of the name Lasonia. I did not make it up, nor do I find it funny. So to me the answer was either Lasonia (with a capital), or Lasagna, depending on what you meant. That they sounded alike in this rare and particular context struck me as funny. That was the joke. When the tweet went out, I saw some negative comments and immediately deleted the tweet and apologized. I gathered the perception was that I was making fun of African American names. Later, thinking it over, I realized the tweet was irresponsible, and made a fuller apology on Twitter.
Then, Salon.com reported on the story and changed the wording of the tweet. They wrote: “It depends if you are in an African American restaurant or an Italian restaurant.” Clearly, this misquote implies that an African American restaurant can’t spell “lasagna” on the menu. And my name was attached to the misquoted tweet. Other websites, including TMZ.com picked up this incorrect version and for the next four days, and more, it continued to spread and I couldn’t get out of hell.
When the error was fixed, neither TMZ nor Salon footnoted it. However, one website which had jumped on me harshly, Twitchy.com, made a generous apology:
“The original version of this post stated that Martin’s tweet denigrated the spelling ability of people who live in African American neighborhoods. A more likely explanation is that he was referencing the tendency of some African Americans to use names that include the prefix “La.” If we misinterpreted his joke (and we think we probably did), we apologize.”
I felt a little better, but not a lot.
Comedy is treacherous. I used to try out jokes in clubs and the audience’s feedback would tell me when I had crossed a line, or how to shape a joke so it is clear. Today, the process is faster. It’s your brain, a button, then millions of reactions. But it’s my job to know.
This article shows just how ridiculous many people are these days. Even if Martin WAS poking fun at blacks inability to spell, or their strange names – SO WHAT? Jay Leno regularly jokes about “white trash.” Well, what about “black trash?” Let’s start persecuting overly sensitive and PC people….