Off With His Head!!!

Kathy, Kathy, Kathy...

What did you do wrong???

Yes, for the most part, we have all heard about this disembodied head that Kathy Griffin took to a photoshoot.  And what a mess it made.  This picture cost her sponsorships, her job at CNN doing New Year's Eve hosting, and respect from a lot of former fans.

People said that the head was gross, gory, and offensive.

I agree with people's sentiments.  It was gross, gory, and offensive.  But people shouldn't be getting so worked up about it.  Kathy Griffin is a comedian.  Jokes can be in poor taste, and while people may be offended by the joke, it is still just a joke.

There are a lot of comedians who tell jokes that can be perceived in poor taste, but it doesn't hurt the career of the comedian.  In fact, a lot of the raunchier, more offensive comedians actually make the bulk of their career earnings, by being offensive.

Now, did she go too far?  To be honest, yes she did.

But we are living in a society where sneezing the wrong way will get you bitched at by someone.  Everything is offensive.  President Trump was picked to be president, mainly because he promised to not be PC.  He wanted to push the limits and get away from the PC world we were getting into.  Now, everyone gets offended by everything, and it is disgusting in a way.

Perhaps, Kathy Griffin was doing the same thing?  She was "pushing the envelope" and seeing what she could get away with.  She did go too far.  But nowadays, it doesn't take much to go too far.

"South Park" had an episode called "Cartoon Wars" where Cartman hated the show "Family Guy."  He hated it so much, that he actually went to sabotage the show by putting something into the script that would make the show so offensive, that an episode of the show would be banned.  His logic was this, "As soon as a show has to pull an episode from the air, it starts a domino effect that causes the show to have to pull more and more episodes until the show is inevitably canceled."  It is actually pretty sound logic.

This logic applies to comedians as well.  If a comedian has to apologize for going too far, that could be the end of the line for that comedian's career.  Let's look back to Michael Richards.  He went to far and yelled racist remarks at a heckler at a comedy club.  His career was OVER.  He had to issue a public apology, and his career came to a screeching halt.

The same thing could happen as a result of this.  Comedians shouldn't be required to apologize.  Any time a comedian puts themselves into a situation where they HAVE to apologize, it tends to end badly.  Kathy Griffin put herself into a situation where she felt she should have had to apologize.

But wasn't the point to be "unapologetic."  What comedy needs right now are comedians willing to "push the boundaries" and to not be PC.  Her photoshoot was a reflection of who she is:  cynical, deliberate, and unabashed.  In fact, I kind of liked the photoshoot picture because it was honest with how she felt.  It was purposeful.

And yes, CNN had a right to pull her job.  Her sponsors had a right to drop her from their company.  Freedom of speech does not grant you freedom of employment.  The companies had a right to drop her for her expressing her point of view.  But that isn't anything new either.

But, in my opinion, she went wrong when she apologized.  She shouldn't have been ashamed by the picture.  She perfectly stated her point of view with that picture.  It was everything it needed to be for her.  I applauded that, despite the trouble it would have caused her.  But as a comedian, she shouldn't have apologized for it.  She should have stood behind the image.  It stated what she wanted to stay, and apologizing for that makes her weaker for it.  No longer will she seem to be the same deliberate comedian that took the picture.

What are your view points on this? Do you think she was right to apologize?  Do you think our country is becoming to PC?  Were you offended by the picture?  Give me your point of view!!!  Thanks for reading.