Oh, Keith No...
Dec. 14th, 2011 01:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teleen_fictionSo Keith Olbermann and I definitely don't agree on everything. I've actually written him e-mails in the past chastising him for equating a female political figure to a prostitute and for contributing to the rape culture.
Tonight, though, may be where Keith and I part ways. In his "Worst Persons" segment for December 13, 2011, Keith has the "Runner Up" as Joe Amendola, Jerry Sandusky's lawyer, who invited people to dial 1-800-REALITY if they believed the witness statements.
Yeah, someone (deadspin.com) called 1-800-REALITY and it's a gay men's sex hotline.
So Keith said, "Not to equate pedophilia with homosexuality, but Jerry Sandusky, the last thing you need right now is an attorney who encourages the media to call a gay sex phone line. Get a public defender!"
I've written the following comment on his Facebook and Current TV page and I urge you all to contact him as well:
Mr. Olbermann, I have to say that I was very disappointed to hear the words, "Not to equate pedophilia with homosexuality, but Jerry Sandusky, the last thing you need right now is an attorney who encourages the media to call a gay sex phone line. Get a public defender!" come out of your mouth this evening.
The fact is that a HUGE number of people DO equate gay sex with pedophilia and your disclaimer didn't cut it. It made it sound as though there was something wrong with a consenting adult calling a gay sex line and actually put the words "pedophilia" and "homosexuality" in the same sentence.
Your disclaimer was disgusting and it made me lose a great deal of the respect I have for you, both as a man and a journalist. Yes, Jerry Sandusky's lawyer is utterly awful, but the way you handled this story is reprehensible, especially for someone who claims to be in favor of BGLT rights.
I urge you to apologize for phrasing this the way that you did and to perhaps do a follow-up story about how the VAST majority of pedophiles self-identify as straight. Thank you for your time and consideration.
I feel utterly sick about this. Yeah, I already knew that Keith Olbermann wasn't perfect, but - And the "but" is what's killing me. I've let a lot of his behavior slide because most of the time, what he has to say is worth hearing. However, to be absolutely fair, I usually watch his show on fast-forward, just watching headlines and skipping most of the pundits, so I may have missed a lot more fail in the past. It's going to take him owning up to this egregious error for him to regain my respect after this. I'll also be interested to see if anyone else comments about his homophobic choice of words.
What makes this even more horrible is that I used to think that his Special Comment on Prop 8 was one of the best things I'd ever heard a straight ally say.
Tonight, though, may be where Keith and I part ways. In his "Worst Persons" segment for December 13, 2011, Keith has the "Runner Up" as Joe Amendola, Jerry Sandusky's lawyer, who invited people to dial 1-800-REALITY if they believed the witness statements.
Yeah, someone (deadspin.com) called 1-800-REALITY and it's a gay men's sex hotline.
So Keith said, "Not to equate pedophilia with homosexuality, but Jerry Sandusky, the last thing you need right now is an attorney who encourages the media to call a gay sex phone line. Get a public defender!"
I've written the following comment on his Facebook and Current TV page and I urge you all to contact him as well:
Mr. Olbermann, I have to say that I was very disappointed to hear the words, "Not to equate pedophilia with homosexuality, but Jerry Sandusky, the last thing you need right now is an attorney who encourages the media to call a gay sex phone line. Get a public defender!" come out of your mouth this evening.
The fact is that a HUGE number of people DO equate gay sex with pedophilia and your disclaimer didn't cut it. It made it sound as though there was something wrong with a consenting adult calling a gay sex line and actually put the words "pedophilia" and "homosexuality" in the same sentence.
Your disclaimer was disgusting and it made me lose a great deal of the respect I have for you, both as a man and a journalist. Yes, Jerry Sandusky's lawyer is utterly awful, but the way you handled this story is reprehensible, especially for someone who claims to be in favor of BGLT rights.
I urge you to apologize for phrasing this the way that you did and to perhaps do a follow-up story about how the VAST majority of pedophiles self-identify as straight. Thank you for your time and consideration.
I feel utterly sick about this. Yeah, I already knew that Keith Olbermann wasn't perfect, but - And the "but" is what's killing me. I've let a lot of his behavior slide because most of the time, what he has to say is worth hearing. However, to be absolutely fair, I usually watch his show on fast-forward, just watching headlines and skipping most of the pundits, so I may have missed a lot more fail in the past. It's going to take him owning up to this egregious error for him to regain my respect after this. I'll also be interested to see if anyone else comments about his homophobic choice of words.
What makes this even more horrible is that I used to think that his Special Comment on Prop 8 was one of the best things I'd ever heard a straight ally say.
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no subject
Date: 2011-12-14 11:02 am (UTC)I am so sick of every child abuse scandal instantly coming with crap thrown at us - I'm sick of being a scapegoat for the straight world's abuse
People die because of this lie. And they've really come out of the woodwork with Sandusky
no subject
Date: 2011-12-14 07:57 pm (UTC)It was deadspin.com that actually called the number, found out it was a gay phone sex line, and then posted the information, so if anything Keith should have been calling out deadspin.com, not adding to their asshattery, :(.
I'm still thinking of mailing Homophobic Aunt an already-printed copy of I'm Christian Unless You're Gay (). I've been... hesitating, but since it's printed, I suppose I shouldn't waste the tree... (She's who I always think of when this comes up because of her hateful remark about how gay people should never be around children. People like her are who spread this misinformation and lead to innocent men (and some women) being killed, :(.)
no subject
Date: 2011-12-14 03:58 pm (UTC)As far as I'm concerned Sundusky wasn't a pedophile because he was gay and didn't feel like he could come out. He did it because it gave him a sense of power over these kids. Nothing more, nothing less. A simple power trip. The same reason most straight people think they know anything about the LGBT community when they don't have a single friend that they know is LGBT. They feel like they have power over something that is unknown and scary.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-14 08:00 pm (UTC)Well, as I discussed in an earlier post, Sandusky's sexual orientation was "pedophile," just as Dahmer's was "serial killer" and a rapist's is "rapist." I totally agree about him wanting power over those kids, though. And apparently judges in PA are still granting him BAIL, despite more than 50 charges pending, :(.