White House Correspondent's Dinner 2009

[Jay]

Barack and Wanda had me rollin.

Barack Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB1olxLw ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouVzworH ... re=related

Wanda Sykes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJR-WzMj ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdkEHIjs ... re=related

[Spazz]

All day yesterday DID wanda sykes go to far is all I heard at work. I dont think she did. I think rush talks a lot of crap and deserves to be clowned on for it . I think republicans can cry me a fucking river.

It looks like im talking in I messages today.

[Arlos]

I think the 20th hijacker joke was too far. Joking about him being an Oxycontin addict, though, after the staggering hypocrisy he displayed by calling for all drug addicts to be sentenced to long prison terms, while he himself WAS a drug addict who never did a single day in jail.... Yeah, hit him there at will. Conflating him with 9/11, though, no, out of bounds, IMHO.

-Arlos

[Spazz]

The guy said he wants the country to fail , sang puff the magic negro and wanted there to be a riot at the democratic convention and went along with the obama pals with terrorist theme. Id say calling him a terrorist is fair game.

[Arlos]

Ahhhh, I'm not saying calling him a terrorist isn't fair game, but the wounds are still too raw for some people to really be joking about 9/11, especially in a political setting like that. Some standup out on the road could get away with it sure, but at an official political function like that? Probably not a good idea.

-Arlos

[Spazz]

Oh my god the wounds will never heal. It was awful but the fact that we cant crack jokes on it is lame and imo people are way to touchy.

[Harrison]

If you were close to someone who had died in the attacks I am sure you'd feel differently.

I don't give a flying fuck about Rush, but she went too far on that bit.

[Spazz]

Assumptions. I assure you sept 11th had an effect on my life but still im not about to get all hostile becuase someone made a lame joke about some asshole being a terrorist. Id rather people made light of that dark day than went all 911 NEVER FORGET !!!!! any time its mentioned. It hasnt been a secret around these parts forever that I think osama bin laden is a joke either. Im really not trying to be rude to you in this post either dude I just dont think jokes are something to get upset over and laughing at the worst of situations is a good way to heal.

[Arlos]

As I said before, the context and situation matters.

If she, or any other comedian for that matter, had said it as part of a stand-up routine out on the road at a normal comedy club, or hell, even on something like an HBO special, it would have been fine. I still wouldn't have liked it or thought that part particularly funny, but it would have been an entirely different kettle of fish.

The problem is, this was at a high-profile political event, which is supposed to be much more light-hearted and non-controvercial. It's just the nature of the event. That's why the joke went to far. It went too far FOR THAT EVENT.

-Arlos