On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 10:24 AM, Diner <[email protected]> wrote: > > (SNIP) "Previously, Vayalar Ravi, India’s Minister of Overseas Indian > Affairs, said he planned to speak with the State Department about a comedic > bit that he called “quite unfortunate and quite objectionable.” The > segment, during Mr. Leno’s monologue on Thursday night, showed the homes of > various Republican presidential hopefuls, but when Mr. Romney’s summer > house on Lake Winnipesaukee was mentioned the screen showed the Golden > Temple in Amritsar, which is holy to Sikhs as well as to members of other > Indian faiths. > > Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the State Department, told BBC News > that though United States and Indian officials had not communicated about > the issue, the United States Constitution protected Mr. Leno’s freedom of > speech. > > Ms. Nuland said she hoped that Mr. Leno would “be appreciative if we make > the point that his comments are constitutionally protected in the United > States under free speech, and frankly, they appeared to be satirical in > nature.” She added that “Sikh Americans have contributed greatly to the > United States” and noted that President Obama celebrated the birthday of > Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, at the White House. > > Neither Mr. Leno nor representatives for “The Tonight Show” have commented > on the matter. (SNIP) >
This sounds like the right response from the State Department. But I wonder if the overreaction is itself being somewhat overblown. If some Indian comic with fairly broad world-wide distribution told a joke that seemed to trivialize and make fun of the death of 3000 Americans at Ground Zero in NYC, I suspect we would see at least 35,000 signatures on a petition demanding an apology, and any number of mid-level political figures would probably make outraged speeches. I did the math on the fly, but I think the 2,200 Sikhs who signed this petition is roughly equivalent to 35,000 Americans. I don't think this has much in common with Questlove. If Leno had invited the head of the Sikhs as a guest on his show, and then intentionally made a disparaging remark about the slaughter of hundreds of Sikhs, then we might have something more similar. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
