SXSW Invites John Cleese To Panel; Promptly Silences Him

6,318 Views | 60 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by aalan94
flakrat
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Should have punched her in the mouth and took the mic back!
AggieFeedMan01
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He should have done the bit about being oppressed from MPHG … "Help I'm being oppressed!!" … "did you see her oppressing me?"
BigRobSA
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Never even heard of that chick. Why was she on a panel with a legend like Cleese?

And the naysayers are morons.
"The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution was never designed to restrain the people. It was designed to restrain the government."
Raptor
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https://giphy.com/gifs/thedailyshow-2017-women-l0HUdXeQC7dUb5KsU
This post is for Cretaceous Level Subscribers only.

bam02
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Jason C.
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BigRobSA said:

Never even heard of that chick. Why was she on a panel with a legend like Cleese?

And the naysayers are morons.


Clarence Would call it "aesthetics," see his concurrence/dissent here in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003):

Quote:

"[D]iversity," for all of its devotees, is more a fashionable catchphrase than it is a useful term, especially when something as serious as racial discrimination is at issue. Because the Equal Protection Clause renders the color of one's skin constitutionally irrelevant to the Law School's mission, I refer to the Law School's interest as an "aesthetic." That is, the Law School wants to have a certain appearance, from the shape of the desks and tables in its classrooms to the color of the students sitting at them.



https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/02-241#DISSENT-3
policywonk98
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Quote:

Sloan claims she did it to "save a comic whose career I respect."


If she gave him the hook based on these comments it would seem to me that she was respecting a career she knows nothing about.

It appears that perhaps Dave Chappelle still has lots of work to do to try and save his industry from the mobs.


black_ice
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flakrat said:

Should have punched her in the mouth and took the mic back!
Tanya 93
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AggieFeedMan01 said:

He should have done the bit about being oppressed from MPHG … "Help I'm being oppressed!!" … "did you see her oppressing me?"



Repressed
TRADUCTOR
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Piss off
TRADUCTOR
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I'm being repressed!
I'm being repressed!
doubledog
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Squadron7 said:



Cleese asked, "You do know the British have been slaves twice, right?"


Link.
If you count the Romans, Anglo/Saxons and Danes then I would say three times...
$240 Worth of Pudding
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People need to study a little European history. The most brutal, disgusting, violent **** imaginable. It's amazing they ever outpaced the other continents.

But whatever…whitey bad!!!
etxag02
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Not AS bad as people are spinning it.

"Now, before we get to the reason you're reading, it's important to point out what happened was under the umbrella of "comedy panel." Some attending might have very different views of the tone of this moment, which appeared to segue from comedy to cringe to offense. But it began with Sloan, a stand-up comic and Daily Show correspondent, who is Black, making a joke about colonization.
To which Cleese defensively said people "forget the British Empire was the basic political unit of organization for 6,000 years the British didn't start [colonizing]."
"We know, but ya'll did it so well!" Sloan shot back, drawing laughs. "It's the reason I'm here! I'm not supposed to be here!"
"We gave you free passage, too," Cleese replied.
That line drew shocked groans from the crowd, but since Cleese was clearly joking, everybody was still, seemingly, on board.
Cleese resumed, except now apparently getting quite sincere: "History is a history of crime. It's a history of people who were stronger beating up people who were weaker, and it's always been that. It's deeply, deeply distasteful. But to pretend that one lot were worse than another you do know the British have been slaves twice, right?"
"The Dutch are the problem," Sloan replied, and then proceeded to pivot away to another topic. And for a couple of moments, it seemed like the subject had passed.
But Cleese was intent on returning to his "My people were slaves too, you know" point.


"[People] get competitive about this business of being oppressed," Cleese said (seemingly unaware he was doing exactly that). "We were oppressed, the English, by the Romans for 400 [years], from about 0 to 400."
"You're really going back," marveled Pasternack.
"This is getting so uncomfortable," Velez said dryly. "[Is this the new] Dave Chappelle special?"
"I don't want to have a struggle competition," Sloan said.
"I want reparations from Italy," Cleese said drawing shocked gasps. "… and then the Normans came over in 1066 … they were horrible people from France, and they came and colonized us for 30 years we need reparations there too, I'm afraid."
Pasternack repeatedly told the audience, "This is why your phones are locked up," and made a joke about "playing the Jew card," which, in turn, prompted Cleese to start to set up a, "Do you know why Jews…" joke about a stereotypical physical trait.
At that point, Sloan stood up and confiscated Cleese's microphone (temporarily, at least). Many were laughing and applauding, some weren't, and it was hard to know how exactly to take it.
"And now you saved the colonizer," Pasternack said.
"I saved a comic whose career I respect," Sloan replied.
Gaffigan, who was largely silent through all this, said to Cleese: "The bravest people are never the ones that tell you that they're brave. You know, like you're saying some **** here that … people say, 'I'm so brave!' They never say some of this *****"
"Well, the thing is, I'm going to be dead soon," Cleese said. "That's why I'm in favor of global warming I don't want to be cold ever again."
"Where you're going, you won't be!" cracked Pasternack.
From there, the conversation moved on to calmer waters.
Sloan and Cleese, by the way, embraced with a big hug at the end of the panel."


From left: Dan Pasternack, Dulc Sloan, Jim Gaffigan, John Cleese and Ricky Velez
TxTarpon
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TxTarpon
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Quote:

Jim Gaffigan
Funny guy
Liberal weird-o
He was the guy Ralphie May warned us about.
Burdizzo
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That panel would have been far more entertaining with an a-hole like Chevy Chase among them.
Prosperdick
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TRADUCTOR said:

I'm being repressed!
I'm being repressed!
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!
etxag02
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Love that guy.
TxTarpon
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Quote:

That panel would have been far more entertaining with an a-hole like Chevy Chase among them.
YES
YES
YES




Bubblez
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sleepybeagle
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SWC Ag said:

These are the kind of people we're dealing with:


This author is an idiot. He needs to get out into the world and experience other cultures.

Of course there are words in English that are "cloaked in bias" as with any other language (my favorite is hysterical and hysteresis ... look it up). EVERY CULTURE has bias - but so what?

An educated person choses how he communicates in a language. If the author can't figure out how to use English - "...dang English only holds back my ability to communicate my brilliance" - it's not on English but on him.
MouthBQ98
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The actual detailed description of the event didn't seem so bad, just that people were shocked comics might be so bold, but being provocative and even offensive to sensibilities is what comics do. They force introspective examination of sacred beliefs and dogma at times by pointing out inconsistencies and hypocrisies.
BQ78
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Sounds like they shut down honest dialogue.

Just another day in Libtopia.
Ag In Ok
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Whoa hold up - a man with the last name Pasternak, PASTERNAK, did not stand in defense of speech? Is this dude any relationship with Boris? Damn that's nerve.
aalan94
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Imagine if he went up at SxSW and did this bit.


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