Joan Rivers unrepentant about Jewish TV "joke"...

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 1:51pm

On her TV show, "Fashion Police" comedienne Joan Rivers used Jews and the Holocaust as a point of reference in one of her jokes describing a dress Heidi Klum was wearing.

Some found it offensive. What do you guys think?
SOURCE

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 1:56pm

I honestly found it revolting. She really needs to stop.

[artscallion]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 2:00pm

I don't find offensive from the perspective of using the jews/holocaust to get a laugh. I find it offense for the notion that it links Heidi with the Nazis just because she's German.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 2:05pm

I saw the episode. You could tell the rest of the panel was TERRIFIED of the mountain of SH*T that was going to come down...which was waaaaaaay funnier than the joke. I was stunned she said it on TV. She'd get away with that joke easier if she was in a club setting. I wasn't offended. And I'm not sure to whom she should apologize.

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 2:14pm

Since she's Jewish, I thought it was okay for her to make jokes about Jewish people? Isn't that how it works?

I haven't seen the episode, so I really don't know how far she went. She's known for going too far.

I just watched her on Project Runway last night and she was fine. I find her daughter irrelevant though.

[~tiny~]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 3:28pm

Even as a fellow jew, I personally found it revolting because it was unfunny. Even so, minor "news" story. She'll say ANYTHING provocative to promote her TV show, just like TruMp.
She's already said a million times, in the past, that NO subject is off limits "to her" including her husband's suicide, so....this, not shocking.

[Jane2]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 3:33pm

Joan's sinking to all time low. that "joke" is revolting and I saw her making an excuse for it on tv. She said "Oh please, my husband lost his parents to a concentration camp."

By my accounts, that would be reason enough for her to be more respectful of the entire topic.

If you ever watch Fashion Police, many of her stabs at celebs are cringeworthy. I don't know how she gets away with it.

[~tiny~]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 3:48pm

dupe.

Updated On: 3/1/13 at 03:48 PM

[~tiny~]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 3:48pm

(joan) really needs to crave a juicy pizza, hot out of the oven.
(A cringeworthy joke re a cringeworthy joke)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 3:52pm

I'm Jewish and I thought it was funny. The woman has said MUCH more offensive things but this is just something people can clutch their pearls about. I told my insanely religious aunt a really offensive holocaust joke last year on a dare from my cousin and even she laughed. Of course she followed it up with "That's not funny" but, even still.

Updated On: 3/1/13 at 03:52 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 3:55pm

Did you mean on a date with your cousin?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 3:57pm

LOL. "dare". But I'm from the south, so you never know...

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 5:14pm

I hate Joan Rivers. Her "why it's ok I said what I said" excuses are always of the same ilk. "My mutha was deaf you sonuvabitch" to an audience member who was distressed by her mocking the disabled. Oh, okay Joan. Edgar had relatives who died in the Holocaust? Oh, by all means. Edgar was the guy who killed himself to get away from you, right? Is that mean? It's okay, one of my best friends had a brother kill himself.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 5:22pm

Maybe it's "ok" maybe it's not "ok". Some people find her funny, some people don't. Same as eating meat. Some people think it's ok, some people don't. Some people think it's tasty and others don't.

I happen to think she's hilarious and I like eating meat. Maybe I'm right and maybe I'm wrong.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 5:39pm

I think for a woman who can be so vicious she is remarkably thin skinned. I also think the reason she comes across as so rage filled is because she is well aware of the fact that she puts out so much negativity in the world.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 5:48pm

She's made plenty of Holocaust jokes before on and off Fashion Police. Now it's an issue?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 5:54pm

Maybe she finally passed the tipping point.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 6:14pm

Did anyone see her recap the Oscars on Letterman? She told one Adele is fat joke and the audience turned on her. So she went ahead and told a series of Adele is fat jokes to really piss them off. You could tell she only had the one joke practiced because the rest were not Adele-specific bits.

She lives off of this kind of controversy. Yes, she is remarkably thin skinned. A lot of comedians are. They make fun of themselves to beat you to it. Say one thing about them or even agree with the joke beyond laughter and they get hurt.
This comic is relevant RE: thin-skinned comedians

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 6:19pm

I think the problem is it wasn't funny. In fact it doesn't even make sense. Why would Germans look "hot" pushing others into ovens? Rivers reached and failed.

Compare to Sarah Silverman's: "I was raped by a doctor. I'm Jewish so I'm ambivalent about it." Equally offensive, but funny.

In Rivers' defense, however, if we want the great ad libs, we have to let comedians walk that line where something becomes offensive if it doesn't land the big laugh. We have to shrug off a few Holocaust/AIDS/rape jokes to get the gold.

Full disclosure: I am a gentile. But that doesn't mean I appreciate antisemitic humor or find it inconsequential.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 6:23pm

"We have to shrug off a few Holocaust/AIDS/rape jokes to get the gold."

No "we" don't.

[artscallion]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 6:23pm

" Why would Germans look "hot" pushing others into ovens? "

I'm guessing it was a play off of the fact that ovens are hot and being close enough to push people into them would make the Germans probably a little warm/hot. So they looked hot pushing....

eta: not that this makes it funny...or make sense even...

Updated On: 3/1/13 at 06:23 PM

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 6:35pm

This woman was a great back in her day but i have to agree with Namo now, i find her annoying and vulgar.

[Tag]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 6:42pm

Wow, the joke went right over your head GavestonPS.

Ovens are hot.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 7:08pm

Completely harmless. Yeah, I said it.

Sorry, I'm just so over people being "offended". See signature.

[tazber]

Posted: 3/1/13 at 8:13pm

She was just jealous that Seth McFarlane was hogging all the outrage this week.