Its been sad to see more than a few people trying to soften or even justify what Handler said, so Im compelled to chime in. What he said made me cringe in the moment, then just made me angry on behalf of Jacqueline Woodson. To be clear, I think it makes it all the worse that he pulls the were friends, so Im now going to make a racist joke that I know is racist but Im going to say it anyway because, you know, were friends. Because this isnt between friends. This is on the stage of the National Book Awards. What kind of friend does that? So we can all be talking about his shitty joke instead of celebrating her amazing book? So that she, Im sure, will have to answer questions about watermelon everywhere she goes? Thats not a friend. If he adores her and loves her work--as he claims--then he allows her big moment to be adorable and properly filled with reverence. Smart and well-meaning people can be stupid and make mistakes. Maybe this is one of those cases, but we still need to say what he said was stupid and a mistake so folks dont get any wrong ideas about whats right and appropriate.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 17:40:02 +0000
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