Jerry Lewis Drops Anti-Gay Slur
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September 4, 2007 – 8:27 pm
Jerry Lewis dropped an anti-gay slur during his 18th hour of his annual Labor Day Telethon. Lewis has already apologized today for his use of “bad language”.
The 81-year-old showman was walking around the stage during a live broadcast on Monday, joking and goofing around. He then went into a ramble about imaginary family members.
“Oh, your family has come to see you,” he said, speaking to the camera and gesturing into thin air.
“You remember Bart, your older son,” he said, and motioning toward another imaginary character, “Jesse, the illiterate f—–.
“No,” Lewis said, quickly stopping himself before continuing.
The comment sparked a frenzy amongst the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and they have released a comment. Neil Giuliano, president of GLAAD called Lewis’ use of this term “simply unacceptable”.
“It also feeds a climate of hatred and intolerance that contributes to putting our community in harm’s way,” Giuliano said.
In his defense, Lewis says that he was simply making the comment to one of his production members. He had this to say: “I apologize to anyone who was offended,” he went on. “Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard. In the family atmosphere of the telethon, I forget that not everyone knows me that well.”
“That something like this would distract from the true purpose of the telethon pains me deeply. … I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses,” he said.
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