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northernsouthern

(1,511 posts)
Tue May 3, 2016, 01:02 AM May 2016

Why the hate for Larry at the WHCD???

The general response from WHCD attendees and those who watched the event on TV has been generally negative. Detractors suggested Wilmore’s performance was a missed opportunity to draw viewers to his “Nightly Show,” which has struggled to match the audience of “The Colbert Report,” his predecessor in the 11:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday timeslot.




http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/larry-wilmore-white-house-correspondents-dinner-piers-morgan-1201764989/

Everybody Seemed Pretty Mad at Larry Wilmore at the White House Correspondents' Dinner


The article is supportive of him but it is talking about how people were not amused.
http://jezebel.com/everybody-seemed-pretty-mad-at-larry-wilmore-at-the-whi-1774118715

I am ashamed by people's responses, they attacked him for using "nigga", which is nothing close to the "N-Word" since one is used by people in a term of affection and never existed back in the day...also they had the same rage when Obama used it. I think he used it to show solidarity and to say a bit of a F-you to the overly white room, pointing out to them that Obama was the first mother F-ing black president!
23 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Why the hate for Larry at the WHCD??? (Original Post) northernsouthern May 2016 OP
He told some very uncomfortable truths and about the media Kalidurga May 2016 #1
Tapper was amused. northernsouthern May 2016 #7
He's not funny--he's not interesting... NewImproved Deal May 2016 #2
Have you watched it lately? northernsouthern May 2016 #8
Because virtually the entire audience knows they're living in a fantasy world. CincyDem May 2016 #3
I expected the media to have an issue... northernsouthern May 2016 #9
he was ok, had a few stinkers but dont they all. nice to hear him skew the media. but overall msongs May 2016 #4
who knows EdwardBernays May 2016 #5
"which is nothing close to the N-Word" -- Sorry, no sale Bucky May 2016 #6
Do you like shows with or without laugh tracks? northernsouthern May 2016 #11
The word Nigga is used both endearingly and disparagingly Bucky May 2016 #12
Are you saying it is used negatively by other people of color? northernsouthern May 2016 #15
Yes. That is what I say. Bucky May 2016 #16
I still think you have missed the point. northernsouthern May 2016 #17
baggage Bucky May 2016 #18
No, it was a very valid question... northernsouthern May 2016 #19
baggage Bucky May 2016 #20
So double negative? northernsouthern May 2016 #21
I thought he was great. polly7 May 2016 #10
That is exactly what I was thinking. northernsouthern May 2016 #13
Well said. polly7 May 2016 #14
He was very good. The audience was not. Nyan May 2016 #22
Forgot her said the predator line. northernsouthern May 2016 #23

Kalidurga

(14,177 posts)
1. He told some very uncomfortable truths and about the media
Tue May 3, 2016, 01:59 AM
May 2016

You don't think they are just going to sit there and take that kind of abuse? I loved the Tapper joke and he seemed to be the only media person there that liked the joke aimed at him. So Jake I guess I have some respect for. The rest of the ejits like Lemon and Wolf whatever they decided to be news personalities instead of investigative journalists so that's on them.

 

northernsouthern

(1,511 posts)
8. Have you watched it lately?
Tue May 3, 2016, 11:07 AM
May 2016

His show has been amazing. It stated out slow, but I only watch it and John Oliver anymore. The daily show has been a bunch of low-hanging fruit jokes. And for a guy with a New Deal name, you know he and Obama both threw Bernie some love in that speech. His show has been one of the least biased on the networks. His staff being in the panel at the end has helped massively since they can direct the conversation better.

CincyDem

(7,341 posts)
3. Because virtually the entire audience knows they're living in a fantasy world.
Tue May 3, 2016, 02:09 AM
May 2016


He told some very uncomfortable truths and he did it in public. Baaaaad black man.

His content also demanded that you actually THINK about stuff to get it. He didn't do the easy "Take my wife...please" kind of schitck.

And, if I recall, people were pretty mad at Colbert's "bomb" for the same reason.
 

northernsouthern

(1,511 posts)
9. I expected the media to have an issue...
Tue May 3, 2016, 11:10 AM
May 2016

...but my family that is of a more tan disposition over in DC did not even watch it yet because they hear it was bad. That is a bit sad, black man slams the media for its actions (loved the attack on msnbc) and they in response attack him back, then the black audience hear that and thusly don't watch it because they believe the fucked up media.

msongs

(73,257 posts)
4. he was ok, had a few stinkers but dont they all. nice to hear him skew the media. but overall
Tue May 3, 2016, 04:10 AM
May 2016

it was kinda boring compared to listening to obama who seemed to have better writers and delivery IMO

EdwardBernays

(3,343 posts)
5. who knows
Tue May 3, 2016, 04:21 AM
May 2016

I love his show - more than the new daily show, which I also really like - and laughed all the way through his WHCD bit...

His attack on the media was spot on as well, because the US mainstream media is atrocious, especially cable news which is at best infotainment.

Bucky

(55,334 posts)
6. "which is nothing close to the N-Word" -- Sorry, no sale
Tue May 3, 2016, 09:51 AM
May 2016

I don't hate on Larry. In fact, I think he and his show are pretty funny. But his performance at the WHCD was a dud. He called out Obama for drone strikes and Blitzer for failure to do follow up questions. But he just wasn't funny. There was no wit there, just insults. This isn't a roast on the Comedy Central channel... but it if was, it would've lost viewers. It was cringeworthy call-outs, not pointed satire like Colbert did at Bush's and the lame press's expense.

I've seen Wilmore do better, with his "just between you and me" style on the Nightly Show. For whatever reasons, he didn't go with his strengths that night

 

northernsouthern

(1,511 posts)
11. Do you like shows with or without laugh tracks?
Tue May 3, 2016, 11:16 AM
May 2016

I can't stand laugh tracks, and that may have helped me in this because his commentary was brave and hard hitting. He was not there to gain notoriety, he was there for a message. It sounds like you were offened by things...

"which is nothing close to the N-Word" -- Sorry, no sale

Can you explain to me why do not agree with this, since one is a racist term used by slave owners and then later people trying to put people back in their "place"? While the other is a direct altercation of the term to gain the power back from it, and then to use it as a form of solidarity.

Bucky

(55,334 posts)
12. The word Nigga is used both endearingly and disparagingly
Tue May 3, 2016, 11:21 AM
May 2016

It's used for solidarity sometimes and for insulting other times. Saying it's only one thing ignores the complex history and byzantine psychological impact of the single most loaded word in the English language.

 

northernsouthern

(1,511 posts)
15. Are you saying it is used negatively by other people of color?
Tue May 3, 2016, 11:35 AM
May 2016

Or are you saying some white guy out there is using it as a disparaging term? Because if it is the second, then that is laughable, it is like a grandmother using the word fleek...it just doesn't work. If you want proof look at the youtube comments below the video, you will find a tone of racists people posting about the "N" word, and they always use the "er" in the posts because they think it is the same, or try with and "a" and then move to an "er". It is all about context...and what Larry did was to show the audience that Obama was a part of society that had been long treated poorly by them. It was basically rubbing in their faces, no matter how you thought he did as president, he did that much better because he had to deal with racism from the start of his campaign from his running mates all the way to now with the congress and the senate that have gone out of their way to make him one term or failed. It was showing no matter what Larry may have said negative about him in the speech, he still was proud of him and was in awe of everything he did. For us to cast doubt on the usage of the word is for us to censor him and his message.

If you want additional proof, notice you only spelled one version of the word, but not the other...there is a reason for that.


Also you can read this article on it as well...

That last word seemed to sway uncomfortably over a room mostly filled with white journalists acutely accustomed to staying within the fine lines of political correctness. But it was an important moment in American history, even if it made many people (both black and white) cringe. At its most pure, this was an example of "code-switching" for both Barack Obama and Wilmore, upper-middle-class African American men who, despite their mainstream success, identify with the broader black culture and speak its language.

Obama's response—pumping his chest in solidarity before rising to hug and thank him—was actually far more significant than Wilmore's words, and explains, in part, why he and his wife Michelle are so beloved: They are widely seen as a man and woman of their community who have not lost track of their roots.

...for a brief moment, what we witnessed Saturday night were two black men who did not care that white people were present.


The mainstream media and Twitter-verse responses were, of course, visceral and speedy: Had Wilmore gone too far? Was it disrespectful? Or did the comedian's race offer him a kind of immunity?

But for many African American men, it may have been the most natural thing in the world: Reflecting the tacit signs of respect given to one another everywhere from the barbershop to the boardroom.



During the 2008 election cycle, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was caught on tape saying that Mr. Obama spoke "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Former President George W. Bush and incumbent Vice President Joe Biden both referred to Senator Obama as being "articulate." (The latter famously also used the word "clean.&quot


What their statements reflect is an ignorant but mostly benign prejudice that plagues many white conservatives and liberals alike: They implicitly expect middle- and upper-middle-class black Americans to mirror their own linguistic norms.


Yet for a brief moment, what we witnessed Saturday night were two black men who did not care that white people were present. For Wilmore, it may well have been for comedic effect, but even he would acknowledge that it wasn't all that funny—at least not in a conventional sense. Instead, this was a fiercely political moment.


http://www.vice.com/read/what-it-means-when-larry-wilmore-calls-president-obama-my-nigga

Bucky

(55,334 posts)
16. Yes. That is what I say.
Tue May 3, 2016, 11:46 AM
May 2016

I think it's a pretty naive argument to say Wilmore was one of "two black men who did not care that white people were present." I think he's a much savvier comedian and entertainer than that. Half the point of saying "nigga" was to do so in front of a privileged mostly white aud for whom he has pretty thinly veiled contempt. I share that contempt.

But his jokes still weren't funny.

 

northernsouthern

(1,511 posts)
17. I still think you have missed the point.
Tue May 3, 2016, 11:56 AM
May 2016

You can use any word with both good and bad meanings (i.e. bad). But in context only a person that is bringing baggage to the event would see it as other than what it was. Also you never said what you think of laugh tracks?

p.s. I am not saying you can't not find it funny, just taken aback by your issue with his usage and how according to your post history you should be a bit more open to his words.

Bucky

(55,334 posts)
18. baggage
Tue May 3, 2016, 12:05 PM
May 2016

No American doesn't bring baggage to either the word nigger or its derivative nigga. To pretend otherwise ignores human psychology and the complex historical weight of American race relations encapsulated in that word. I don't have particularly strong opinions about Larry's use of it, other that to say it was trollish--which is, of course, entirely fair game for a comic.

I didn't take the question "do you like laugh tracks?" as anything other than rhetorical. You might as well ask me if I like pollution or perverted logic. For the record, tho... no.

 

northernsouthern

(1,511 posts)
19. No, it was a very valid question...
Tue May 3, 2016, 01:02 PM
May 2016

...people hated the Office from the BBC because if did not have a laugh track, there are many shows that have gotten hate for the lack of it. When you watch a comedy with out it and you are used to it, then you have a bias against the comedy. Laugh tracks are basically a trick to seed the laugh clouds. His stand up did not have much laughter because it was scathing satire directly at the target audience, and it was brave for a comedian to do this, it was not boiled down sugar snarkiness for some to get and laugh and the targets to be shielded, this was a direct critique.

No American doesn't bring baggage to either the word n*gg*r or its derivative nigga. To pretend otherwise ignores human psychology and the complex historical weight of American race relations encapsulated in that word.


Not sure of your point, you say there is no baggage, but you bacically defined it with the seond line..."To pretend otherwise ignores human psychology and the complex historical weight of American race relations encapsulated in that word."

Baggage definition
past experiences or long-held ideas regarded as burdens and impediments.
"the emotional baggage I'm hauling around"

Bucky

(55,334 posts)
20. baggage
Tue May 3, 2016, 03:43 PM
May 2016

Read more carefully. "No American doesn't bring baggage" means every American brings baggage with such loaded words. Not sure how you missed that.

The original form of the word is so heavy that you yourself can't even type it out; you felt compelled to censor the vowels out. That right there tells you about the power of the word. And you think a guy trying to make a strong critique can just drop it into a conversation without its gravity giving spin to its meaning?

 

northernsouthern

(1,511 posts)
21. So double negative?
Tue May 3, 2016, 10:08 PM
May 2016

You want me to correct you? I read it as "No, Americans", not as "All Americans"...Yes and I do censor it, I have explained many things in my past that would make me, for one, the racist f@ck of a priest grandfather from Texas refused to marry my wife and I because she was black...and that type of sh!t is what destroys many interracial marriages between black and white couple...he never used the "a" version, he only used the "er" one. I have never heard any one us the "a" version by itself as an insult, I and I know a large number of people that like to employ that version. I don't ever use the "er" ending because it is like the f** word, no good comes from it. But if you think it is your right to tell a black man who is president and a black man that rose up to host his own show and deliver the speech at the WHCD what words they can an can't use to each other...


Also are you sure you were not thrown by a lack of a laugh track.

 

northernsouthern

(1,511 posts)
13. That is exactly what I was thinking.
Tue May 3, 2016, 11:21 AM
May 2016

For a comedian to go out there and bomb (knowing his audience would not react well to the jokes), on live TV, and not give in because he thought his message was more important. If you listen to comedians talk about performing you know that this was not easy, to deliver line after line to a negative audience is unbelievably hard, especially since comedians use the audience to build momentum and to direct their jokes (which are best etc). This was like a welder going out and welding on glass for 20 minutes knowing that somewhere out there he was somehow fixing something, he just could not see it. I followed him and sent him a nice tweet after that. But sadly I think people missed the entire point of it.

polly7

(20,582 posts)
14. Well said.
Tue May 3, 2016, 11:26 AM
May 2016

I think he had a goal and was determined to deliver it ........ all of it. I can't even imagine being up in front of that (or any) large crowd, especially the people he knew would be offended - and rightly so.

I wasn't going to watch it after seeing all the negative comments of it but am very glad I did, watched it twice, even.

Nyan

(1,192 posts)
22. He was very good. The audience was not.
Tue May 3, 2016, 11:28 PM
May 2016

He had the guts to call out Clinton for her super predator comment.
And he outright dissed Wolf Blitzer. Good on him.
Unfortunately, the audience was uncomfortable with the guy talking about Black Lives Matter. There's your liberal establishment, people.

 

northernsouthern

(1,511 posts)
23. Forgot her said the predator line.
Tue May 3, 2016, 11:30 PM
May 2016

I loved how harsh he was, seems like the pole that hate on him don't realize that doing a routine to a hostile audience is one of the hardest things to do, and leaves you with nothing to feed off.

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