Gary Oldman’s recent defense of noted anti-semite Mel Gibson’s offensive slurs (as well as those of Alec Baldwin) and any perceived hypocrisy thereabout has, understandably, raised more than a few eyebrows – especially aamong those of us who like to pretend that the opinions of actors, spouted in the pages of nudie magazines, matter, y’know, in the grand scheme of things.
But it was Heeb’s former Arts Editor, Jonathan Poritsky, who found a silver lining in this shit-cloud of Hollywood circle jerking when he noticed something strange in the coverage of the interview by the NY Daily News:
Love that “fucking” is a-ok with the Daily News but “Jew” has to be censored. http://t.co/nY0Ekavo3r
— Jonathan Poritsky (@poritsky) June 24, 2014
Yes, it seems that to respect the delicate sensibilities of Daily News readers, horrific slurs like “Jew” demand dashed-out censoring, while benign profanity like “fucking” is just fine.
screenshot via NYDailynews.com
Keep in mind that none of these words are censored in the original Playboy interview.
“Well, alright” you might say “but when used as a racial epithet, isn’t something like ‘Jew’ more hurtful than your average, everyday swears?”
Maybe. But if epithets are more hurtful than swears, then what’s happening here?
screenshot via NYDailynews.com
So, wait a sec…
“Jew“: An accurate adjective to describe someone of Jewish faith or ethnicity; Can be used in the negative – A hurtful slur worthy of censorship.
“Kraut“: Which, when used to describe a person is, as best I can tell, solely an epithet – Totally alright
Go figure.
Still, as long as we’re hemming and hawing over questionable selectivity here, let’s also keep in mind that, thus far, the majority of the outrage surrounding Oldman seems to be over his defense of the terrible things said by other people, largely ignoring the fact that he himself jokingly says things like “Fuck the Pope” a few paragraphs later.
So, is Gary Oldman a racist, Jew-hating homophobe? Maybe? (Although, personally, I doubt it.) Still, are most of us being a bit picky over what puts our offense-o-meter into the red? Signs point to yes.
Hypocrisy in Hollywood? Color this J- – shocked.
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