Racist Rainbow- Page 6

[HogansHero]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 7:30am

qolbinau said: "The racist tweets were barely read by the look of the twitter stats. There is a certain irony that exposing them could actually make people more offended than they originally did."

I assume you meant to type "make more people offended." 

[binau]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 7:39am

Yes exactly

[Kad]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 12:23pm

Questioning how these tweets came to be rediscovered is beside the point. They're there. They're his words. This is not in doubt and cannot be argued. And it wasn't a one-time lapse of judgment. It was dozens and dozens, over years- it was, in effect, his comedic style. Yes, they were from before he became known and somewhat of the time and he has since abandoned that comedic dead-end road.

But all of those factors seem to me to create a perfect opening for an apology that would probably be readily accepted- a disavowal of his past, making credible claims of having changed, a commitment to do better, something something. But he has not made one. His response has been since-deleted indignation, and then to purge his Twitter of everything but the most contemporary content (somewhat baffling, since folks know how to keep the receipts for this stuff).

The reaction and lack thereof speaks is... very telling.

[morosco]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 12:28pm

I wonder if he's having a hard time getting an appointment with a Damage Control and Reputation Recovery Firm?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 12:34pm

Dude was clearly milkshake ducked.

For those not familiar with the term:

Milkshake Duck is an Internet meme that describes phenomena that are initially perceived as positive but later revealed to be flawed. Oxford Dictionaries defined the term as "a person or character on social media that appears to be endearing at first, but is found to have an unappealing back story",but did not consider usage of the neologism to be sufficiently long-lived or widespread to warrant inclusion in their dictionaries.The term has been connected to "cancel culture", a perceived trend of call-out culture on social media resulting in celebrities being ostracized and careers abruptly derailed by publicized misconduct.[

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 12:34pm

Kad said: "Questioning how these tweets came to be rediscovered is beside the point. They're there. They're his words. This is not in doubt and cannot be argued. And it wasn't a one-time lapse of judgment. It was dozens and dozens, over years- it was, in effect, his comedic style. Yes, they were from before he became known and somewhat of the time and he has since abandoned that comedic dead-end road.

But all of those factors seem to me to create a perfect opening for an apology that would probably be readily accepted- a disavowal of his past, making credible claims of having changed, a commitment to do better, something something. But he has not made one. His response has been since-deleted indignation, and then to purge his Twitter of everything but the most contemporary content (somewhat baffling, since folks know how to keep the receipts for this stuff).

The reaction and lack thereof speaks is... very telling."

 

I agree with the exception of them being "of the time". 10 years was not long ago. It was not politically correct to make these kind of jokes at that time and as I mentioned earlier, even before that.

And as for people saying they were a long time ago and why would someone dig them up. They are there. And as Kad pointed out, they were his words. I sometimes feel that people feel they are in this online bubble and when they post things they think only those they want to see them do and forget that their words are pretty much out there for the world to see.

His response, that I guess has been taken down, also spoke volumes. What is really getting me is as I read comments on different platforms, people are supporting him. And I would suspect a lot of them were the same people supporting BLM and anti racism. So how is this different?

 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 12:36pm

uncageg said: "What is really getting me is as I read comments on different platforms, people are supporting him. And I would suspect a lot of them were the same people supporting BLM and anti racism. So how is this different?

It isn't. It's called: HYPOCRISY.

 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 12:51pm

Your move, Broadway World. 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 1:13pm

Hey, I'm really sorry about all this. I said some terrible things several years ago about several marginalized communities, and shamefully, even just a few years ago. Either way, they were not the right thing to think or say. I also apologize for my recent silence and online behavior. 

^ If you need a start, Randy, I'm giving it to you. No charge.

[Huss417]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 1:23pm

LizzieCurry said: "Hey, I'm really sorry about all this.I said some terrible things several years ago about several marginalized communities, and shamefully, even just a few years ago. Either way, they were not the right thing to think or say.I also apologize for my recent silence and online behavior.

^ If you need a start, Randy, I'm giving it to you. No charge."

You would think it would be that easy. Find no response at this point to be quite odd.

I can't imagine him coming back online with the excuse so many others use. "I've been hacked."

Updated On: 8/20/20 at 01:23 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 1:25pm

LizzieCurry said: "Hey, I'm really sorry about all this.I said some terrible things several years ago about several marginalized communities, and shamefully, even just a few years ago. Either way, they were not the right thing to think or say.I also apologize for my recent silence and online behavior.

^ If you need a start, Randy, I'm giving it to you. No charge."

 

For me, quite honestly, with the way he initially responded, no apology would really be good enough. It was obvious he didn't take it seriously.

 

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 1:32pm

MODS:   Thank you for restoring Randy Rainbow's "Kamala" parody to the sidebar.

[singerunlimited]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 1:50pm

The reaction to Randy Rainbow and his offensive tweets exposes the incredible hypocrisy of cancel culture. If we're going to be offended when one side does it, then we must uphold the same standard with others. Many have already been canceled for similar tweets dating back several years ago.

Randy Rainbow's lack of apology coupled with his deleting of the tweets in question is incredibly disappointing. It shows a double standard in the very things he lampoons in his songs. BroadwayWorld needs to quickly address this.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 2:02pm

uncageg said: "I agree with the exception of them being "of the time". 10 years was not long ago. It was not politically correct to make these kind of jokes at that time and as I mentioned earlier, even before that."

I did couch it with "somewhat" and I do agree it was never appropriate- but ten years ago, a lot of young white gay guys were taken with comparing themselves to black women and tossing around the word tr*nny. And that's still true, though less overtly. Usually. Ten years both is and isn't a long time in pop culture.

Updated On: 8/20/20 at 02:02 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 2:05pm

^Kad said it better than I tried to before when people got upset with me.

[IAMREADING]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 2:06pm

CarlosAlberto said: "Dude wasclearly milkshake ducked.

For those not familiar with the term:

Milkshake Duckis anInternet memethat describes phenomena that are initially perceived as positive but later revealed to be flawed.Oxford Dictionariesdefined the term as "a person or character on social media that appears to be endearing at first, but is found to have an unappealing back story",but did not consider usage of the neologism to be sufficiently long-lived or widespread to warrant inclusion in their dictionaries.The term has been connected to "cancel culture", a perceived trend ofcall-out cultureon social media resulting in celebrities being ostracized and careers abruptly derailed by publicized misconduct.["

I think Randy's rise to prominence was too gradual for this to be considered a Milkshake Duck. I think that term would be more appropriate if we all heard of Randy Rainbow for the first time last week, then found out this week about his tweets.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 2:43pm

I thought it was fascinating as this was all going down, so was the Thom Brennaman incident and fallout. Definitely not the same thing, but felt like it was cut from a similar cloth.

https://www.redreporter.com/2020/8/20/21377123/thom-brennaman-suspended-reds-baseball-firethombrennaman

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 2:46pm

Jordan Catalano said: "^Kad said it better than I tried to before when people got upset with me."

 

Just to let you know, I wasn't upset with you. I just didn't agree with part of what you said.

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 3:01pm

That’s why I hate discussions like this on a message board format. It doesn’t provide for actual discussions and things so easily get misconstrued or are permanently in writing that simply came out wrong.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 3:04pm

I tend to side with Kad's view of the situation.  This was clearly some clueless comic persona he was creating at the time and attempting to use racial humor.  It reminds me of the trouble Sarah Silverman got in while using racial slurs to make points about racism (see her bit about trying to get out of jury duty).  And yes...that slur for trans people was in vogue in the Aughties and the early Twenty-Teens.  One of Christian Siriano's catchphrases on his season of Project Runway was 'hot t*anny mess.'  Many of the other designers started using it and it was all so 'funny'.  LOTS of people were saying that back then.  And then they stopped because it became apparent that it was a super gross phrase. 

All of this to say that this is the EASIEST disavowal and apology to issue and it still hasn't come out.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 3:14pm

Why does it matter that he apologizes? So you can immediately go back to supporting him and paying his bills? At this point, he would only be apologizing to continue getting paid.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 3:16pm

I think it’s more people wanting him to acknowledge the situation.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 3:20pm

I mean...I don't really care one way or the other.  It actually means nothing to me.  It's more of an academic exercise of exploring what people found 'funny' even as short as a decade ago and how that can age very, very badly.  And how we have to take responsibility for our actions, even if they were considered 'permissible' among our peer groups a decade ago. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 3:30pm

So, in the discussion that certain things were considered acceptable or mainstream even a decade or so ago that aren’t now, I always use this SNL sketch of Amy Poehler doing Christian Siriano and the whole “Tr*nny Fierce” thing that we all heard for years afterwards. Just an example that yes, mainstream comedy (of which I suppose Randy was or aspired to be back then) used some of those words and it wasn’t widely considered bad to do, at the time.

SNL Sketch

[JBroadway]

Posted: 8/20/20 at 4:11pm

The mainstream visibility of, and conversation around trans people, and trans issues, has grown enormously in the past 10 years. During this relatively short period of time, the amount of growth and education that's taken place in mainstream liberal communities and media has been absolutely vast. There's still a VERY long way to go, of course. But I think it's perfectly understandable and common that even a grown adult would be far more enlightened and sensitive around trans issues today that he would have been then. It would have been preferable if that societal growth had happened earlier, but as Jordan and others have pointed out, the fact is simply that it hadn't. 

HOWEVER, I would venture to say that the conversation around race was already sufficiently advanced 10 years ago, to the point where it would have been very clear that those Tweets would be offensive. The difference is that, back then, it was easier for people to get away with it without much public backlash. 

But as I said before, I still think it's very possible for someone to become much more sensitive to racial issues in the span of 8-10 years. The problem right at this moment is simply that Randy Rainbow's current reaction to the situation isn't demonstrating any such growth.