SNL skit

Post by **DonnaT** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 6:19 pm

http://sdgln.com/causes/2011/01/31/acti ... c-platform

WASHINGTON -- The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is calling on NBC to apologize after an anti-transgender skit aired on "Saturday Night Live."

The skit, titled "Estro-Maxxx," blatantly mocked transgender people, minimizing the challenges they face. "SNL’s" degrading sense of humor also supports many of the false stereotypes that could be used as fuel for anti-transgender sentiment, including discrimination and potentially even violence.

Illustrating "SNL’s" pattern of relying on anti-transgender humor, the skit comes just weeks after the show used the term “son-daughter” to refer to Cher’s transgender son Chaz Bono. HRC calls on NBC to remove the skit from NBC.com, all future broadcasts of the show, and all other NBC platforms such as Hulu.com.

“People across the country tune into SNL for laughs every Saturday night. The problem with this skit is that it is in extremely poor taste, and mocks the difficulties associated with transitioning,” HRC President Joe Solmonese said. “It fuels misperceptions that will be used by some to continue patterns of discrimination. Anti-transgender skits have no place on television. NBC should publicly apologize and never let this happen again.”

The skit degraded transgender women by featuring men with facial hair wearing women’s clothing, while the audience laughed. Hate crimes against transgender people are on the rise nationwide. This is no laughing matter.

Attempts to degrade and dehumanize transgender people on national television do not serve as humor.

“NBC has the power to set an example of fair-mindedness and inclusiveness for its viewers. It is unfortunate that they instead used their platform to further ignorance,” Solmonese said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-lQm9RpQ2s

Ralitsa · Post by **Ralitsa** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 10:12 pm

It's SNL, what do you expect. everything they do is in bad taste, that's the whole point. I really don't like SNL, I never did. It seems to me that it caters to the stupid and the boorish.

Michelle Miller · Post by **Michelle Miller** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:04 am

I didn't really think it was all that bad, but at the same time I can see how some folks would get offended.

Of course, screaming for an apology, the whole 'heads on a plate' and so on and so forth usually gets more of a backlash than the original 'offense' would have caused, if it'd been left alone, and passed/glossed over like everything else should be. Unfortunately in the world we live in today, it seems like no matter what's out there, someone's going to take offense to it, and raise a stink about it, regardless of what it is. I wish we lived in a world where we could just shrug stuff like this off and get on with our lives.

Paula G · Post by **Paula G** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 5:19 am

We don;t get this show in the UK, just as well by the look of it, but isn't this as much about your culture of drug advertising, and self medication as about transition?

Post by **DonnaT** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 7:59 am

I reckon it was directed more to infomercials, and when tossing out ideas, this one stuck.

Then someone decided it would be funnier if the guys still looked like guys, and had facial hair.

Thing was, it wasn't funny, for the most part. I did chuckle at the bit with the TSA agent.

Lydia · Post by **Lydia** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 9:13 am

There is nothing in human behavior that cannot be turned into a joke and laughed at. A sign of maturity and self-confidence is the ability to make fun of oneself. Bad taste? In the eye of the beholder. But even bad taste can be funny.
Let's not take ourselves too seriously. I have ceased to try to explain why I try to "feel" like a woman. I just enjoy it, even if it is funny.

Hugs,

Lydia

Paula G · Post by **Paula G** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 9:21 am

Our very own Jessica has blogged about this on her excelent blog www.jessica-who.com if you havn't seen her blog yet then shame on you, now is a good time to start

Michelle Miller · Post by **Michelle Miller** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 11:58 am

Paula G wrote:We don;t get this show in the UK, just as well by the look of it, but isn't this as much about your culture of drug advertising, and self medication as about transition?

We'll trade you. Give us your version of Top Gear, and you can have SNL. :D

That was pretty much what I took from it as well.

Paula G · Post by **Paula G** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:06 pm

OUR VERSION It is our show, it's all the others that are versions, that having been said Jeremy Clarkson is an entertaining, ignorant, opinionated, misogynist, give us more of the excellent James May aka Captain Slow

Michelle Miller · Post by **Michelle Miller** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 2:24 pm

Paula G wrote:OUR VERSION It is our show, it's all the others that are versions, that having been said Jeremy Clarkson is an entertaining, ignorant, opinionated, misogynist, give us more of the excellent James May aka Captain Slow

It's like I keep telling folks, More Top Gear's not a bad thing, the Aussie, Russkie and American versions aren't going to replace the UK show...they're still cover band versions of Clarkson, Hammond and May's show, and they do an adequate job of making the time pass between seasons of UK Top Gear a little quicker. That, and the more folks know about it, the more popular it is, the more of a budget the UK guys can demand, to make longer seasons from now on...these 6 & 7 show runs are just not enough!

People rode the US version for being worse than the Aussie version, in that the US version copied a ton of things from the UK show for their first season, but looking at it objectively, in that hardly anyone here had really seen the UK show here, other than the downloader types and the hardcore fans, and comparing it to what passes as automotive television in the US, it was leaps and bounds better than anything else on here in the colonies lol.

Paula G · Post by **Paula G** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 5:24 am

Trouble is we don't get to see any of the other shows. There have been guest spots from the Australian, and German shows, but never a sign of a full show. Maybe they don't think we would be interested in your overlarge gas guzzling barges ( GT40, Camaros, and the imortal Cuda excluded of course)

Carly · Post by **Carly** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 10:55 am

I find 90% of the material on SNL these days is not funny. So Donna this skit just fits the majority of the writer's talents. I don't hold the fact that they lack talent against them.

Michelle Miller · Post by **Michelle Miller** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:17 am

Carly wrote:I find 90% of the material on SNL these days is not funny. So Donna this skit just fits the majority of the writer's talents. I don't hold the fact that they lack talent against them.

Girl, this has been the truth for a LONG time. I miss SNL from the 80's.

Paula G wrote:Trouble is we don't get to see any of the other shows. There have been guest spots from the Australian, and German shows, but never a sign of a full show. Maybe they don't think we would be interested in your overlarge gas guzzling barges ( GT40, Camaros, and the imortal Cuda excluded of course)

Shoot me a private message, I'll point you in the right direction if you'd like to check some of them out.

Carly · Post by **Carly** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:20 am

Yah I miss lots of things from the 80's like my hair and my wife's affections

JoAnnDallas · Post by **JoAnnDallas** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:29 am

I have seen some of the UK version here in the USA. I remember one episode where they towed a travel trailer with a small car. Then they banged it up by trying to run over a post that they did not see. That really made me laugh. The UK show IS funny but entertaining at the same time.
Another time was when they crossed a large desert. One of the guys had this real tiny car that was so light, it sailed across like it was on a lake. The other two cars kept getting stuck from time to time and ended up stripping the cars to make them light enough.