Oscars censor Robin Williams over SpongeBob
band beyond description
said
By Mike Collett-White
LOS ANGELES, Feb 28 (Reuters) - At the Oscar awards, what
was not said was probably more interesting than what was.
Hollywood's big night on Sunday was beamed to the world
with a five-second time delay, and broadcaster ABC
DIS.N>
ordered some controversial quips cut before the show, sparking
debate about how far political correctness should go and
freedom of speech controlled.
Comedian Robin Williams said it all when he walked on stage
with a piece of white tape over his mouth.
Williams was to have performed a song lampooning
conservative critic James C. Dobson, whose group had criticized
cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants for appearing in a
video it branded ``pro-homosexual.''
He was going to do it by concentrating on the dark
underside of other cartoon characters, asking, for example
whether Casper the Friendly Ghost wore that white sheet as a
member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Marc Shaiman, who wrote Williams' original routine, said he
decided to withdraw the material after ABC raised objections
that would have led to him re-writing 11 of 36 lines. ABC
declined to comment.
``It's ironic because I feel the song is silly and the
situation is silly and yet on the other hand it's extremely
serious,'' Shaiman told Reuters from New York. ``This is the most
blatant, immature censorship that I've ever come across.''
Williams did eventually develop an act questioning cartoon
characters' sexuality. But it was a pale imitation of some of
the lines originally planned and he looked pained performing
it.
``The show lost what would have been the best
minute-and-a-half they would have had last night,'' said
Shaiman, before adding: ``Where does the buck stop?``
Chris Rock, the edgy black comedian called in to host the
show, and, some say, to boost flagging ratings, was also in
trouble long before the Oscars got under way.
He previously joked that straight, black men did not watch
the Oscars, drawing an angry response from commentators like
Jake Lamar, an African American who called Rock's comments ``a
massive generalization'' and ``depressing.''
Then Oscar producer Gil Cates weighed in, calling ABC's
decision to introduce a time delay in transmitting from Kodak
Theater a ``terrible idea'' and a concession to political
correctness.
IT BEGAN WITH A BARE BREAST
Federal regulators may boost fines for U.S. broadcasters
following last year's infamous Super Bowl ``wardrobe
malfunction'' by singer Janet Jackson in which she bared her
breast.
Earlier this month the U.S. House of Representatives voted
to raise the maximum indecency fine to as much as $500,000 from
$32,500.
On the one hand, commentators predict that the more
networks are forced to sanitize shows, the less people will be
inclined to watch.
But at the same time, the more a show's producer warns
viewers they may be offended, the more they are likely to tune
in.
``The entertainment industry is figuring out how to spin and
use this paranoia we've encountered since the Super Bowl,'' said
Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of
Popular Television at Syracuse University.
``People wanted to make sure they were present if the next
Janet Jackson moment happened.''
In the end Rock's content was political and racial but
avoided becoming the main issue on the night.
Thompson said Rock's natural instinct would have been to go
much further with his humor, but he had too much to lose.
``He is going to play by the house rules,'' he said. ``He
realizes that certain compromises have to be made.''
Williams was not available to comment on his act at the
Oscars, but he told the New York Times on Friday:
``For a while you get mad, then you get over it. They're
afraid of saying Olive Oyl is anorexic. It tells you about the
state of humor. It's strange to think: How afraid are you?``
REUTERS
JimK
Where's Lenny Bruce when you need him?
JimK
imsjry
The most shocking part of this story is that Robin Williams has a
writer. WTF is up with that?? Isn't he a comedian? Do they all have
writers?
bigamps
> Where's Lenny Bruce when you need him?
>
> JimK
He's dead.
The future's here, we are it, we are on our own.
Shaun
>writer. WTF is up with that?? Isn't he a comedian? Do they all >have
>writers?
If you're as big as he is you do... I'm sure he started off as a
writer for other comedians himself. Guys like Letterman and Leno have
their own stable of writers. That's not so atypical. That's also not
to say that Williams, or Letterman, or whomever, don't come up with
their own material at all. I'm sure they still do, and the star
comedian undoubtedly will change or alter a bit to their own liking,
but if you can afford to hire a younger writer who's looking for his
own break it's probably win/win for everyone involved.
Peace,
Shaun
Stuknot
imsjry wrote:
> The most shocking part of this story is that Robin Williams has a
> writer. WTF is up with that?? Isn't he a comedian? Do they all have
> writers?
It's not widely known, but many of the regular posters to rmgd also
have writers. JC for example loves Green Day and hates jazz, but the
writers who put together his posts love to freak him out by giving him
routines that say the opposite. When Mark Dunderhead left, it wasn't
because he was fed up with the politics here, it was because some of
his writing team left him to go work for Booie. Grtflmark's posts are
actually written for him by a blogger named wonkette. Hell, I had
someone else write this for me.
John H.
Joe
> It's not widely known, but many of the regular posters to rmgd also
> have writers. JC for example loves Green Day and hates jazz, but the
> writers who put together his posts love to freak him out by giving him
> routines that say the opposite. When Mark Dunderhead left, it wasn't
> because he was fed up with the politics here, it was because some of
> his writing team left him to go work for Booie. Grtflmark's posts are
> actually written for him by a blogger named wonkette. Hell, I had
> someone else write this for me.
Post of the day!
JC Martin
> imsjry wrote:
>
>>The most shocking part of this story is that Robin Williams has a
>>writer. WTF is up with that?? Isn't he a comedian? Do they all have
>>writers?
>
>
> It's not widely known, but many of the regular posters to rmgd also
> have writers. JC for example loves Green Day and hates jazz,
:-P
Yeah, but the real JC's dead and gone, so consider me real and him erased.
Peas,
JC
Dyuob Poltice
wrote:
Not that I (or my writer, for that matter) is ever asked, but this has
to be post of the week.
Dyuob Poltice
My mom, when she was teaching at ASU, had a an office mate who left to
go write for Robin Williams back in early days of Mork.
Of course, there was the student of hers who at one point roadied for
Janis Joplin....
tthomas@remove_to_reply
*heh*
tthomas@remove_to_reply
JC is to JC what...oh...nevermind....
9fingers
David Buckna
I've found 20 of the 36 lines of the song Williams wanted to sing, but
don't know if the verse starting with "Fred Flintstone" goes in that
spot.
db
---
Pinocchio's had his nose done
Sleeping Beauty is popping pills
The Three Little Pigs ain't kosher
Betty Boop works Beverly Hills
Fred Flintstone is dyslexic,
Jessica Rabbit is really a man
Olive Oyl is really anorexic
And Casper is in the Ku Klux Klan
Superman is hooked on steroids
Tinky Wink is in the pink
Damn it to hell, wake up and smell
The stink beneath the ink.
Chip 'n Dale are both strippers
Scrooge McDuck is really tight
Bugs Bunny's a cross-dresser
Snow White has been up all night
There's something fishy about Nemo
Batman and Robin share a sink
Winnie The Pooh - we know what he's into
The stink beneath the ink.
---
One alternate line is:
Bugs Bunny's a sexaholic
--
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ROBIN REVEALS BANNED OSCARS SONG