A Damn Shame

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The first amendment to the constitution, a very powerful right that is guaranteed to each and every one of us who are blessed enough to be American citizens. Some of us however abuse this right to hurt others for no reason whatsoever. One of the most egregious violators would be Howard Stern. Many around this country listen to this man everyday and find him to be hilarious. I however find him to be revolting, offensive, and his “jokes” to be hateful.

During his show he has made statements about Gabby Sidibe, the plus sized star of the movie Precious. Stern states:
“There's the most enormous, fat black chick I've ever seen. She is enormous. Everyone's pretending she's a part of show business and she's never going to be in another movie," he said. "She should have gotten the Best Actress award because she's never going to have another shot. What movie is she gonna be in?"
What movie is she going to be? Well she just finished ‘Yelling to the sky” which will debut at Sundance and she has signed on to appear in the Showtime series “The C Word.” I guess that blows your theory out the water there buddy,

But Stern is a “shock jock” which is just a fancy way of saying he has no real discernible talent outside of saying offensive things for attention. No, the really maddening part of this for me was his sidekick/pet Robin Quivers who also does not appear to have any talent outside of inserting her head into the rectum of Stern and stroking his massive ego as he degrades women, minorites, and those with mental handicaps. As he is on his rant she chimes in with: “And Oprah's lying and saying you're going to have a brilliant career.”

Wow. I would think that an older woman, especially an older black woman like Quivers would not only have corrected Stern but be proud of the young Sidibe who has done nothing but do a phenomenal job in a movie and basically be herself. You see Robin, unlike you she decided that doing something on her own was better than building a career as someone who will witness, say, and do anything to gain the approval of someone who has become as culturally relevant as the Macarena and Spice Girls.

"Oprah's another liar, a filthy liar," said Stern. "She's telling an enormous woman the size of a planet that she's going to have a career." Right…someone who is backed by Oprah is not going to succeed. Dr. Phil, Bob Greene, Dr. Oz, Rachael Ray…what do they all have in common? Succeeding with the backing of the Big O. Say what you will but the masses will buy what she says.

But I have digressed from my original point. How can a man who looks like Stern does use anyone’s looks as a way to gauge the probability of success one will achieve? Perhaps I have fallen into his trap and given him more attention than he truly deserves. I’ll end by saying that Howard Stern may be the “king of all media” but I think with these statements he’s proven he’s really nothing more than a jester in the real world.