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Watercooler Talk: What should you do following an on-air boner?
by Jay Black, posted Apr 3rd 2008 10:01AM
Yesterday's "news" that Jay Leno would apologize for his insensitive (and, quite frankly, bizarre) remarks to Ryan Phillipe got me thinking: is apologizing the best tactic to take when you've said something stupid on air?There certainly seems to be a double standard: guys like Charles Barkley or Donald Trump can seemingly say whatever they please, while "nice guys" like Jay Leno are constantly being taken to task for (relatively) benign transgressions. I've always wondered why that was the case, but didn't occur to me until today what the difference was -- Barkley and Trump never apologize for their insensitivity. In fact, they glory in it.
When Imus made his nappy-headed blunder, Howard Stern's on-air counsel was to not apologize. He said that an apology was an admission of guilt; that Imus should simply say four hours of radio a day is a long time to fill and sometimes a joke misfires.
The result? He was fired.
Now, I'm not going to argue whether the phrase is innocuous or not (that's been done to death). I would like to consider, however, whether or not Howard's advice to his old nemesis is worthwhile. Does an apology make things worse, even if the people are demanding one? Is it better just to shrug and say, "Well those are the eggs we break when we're trying to make a comedy omelet?"
We live in an age where every single blooper, blunder, and boner is instantly transmitted to every person on the planet. The result of this has been instant, expected apologies. I put "news" in quotes earlier because we all knew the second the clip of Leno asking Phillippe to make his "gay face" hit the interwebs that Leno would be making a "I'm sorry if anyone took offense to my blah blah blah" statement.
And, even though I knew it was coming, and even though I'd probably do the same thing if I were Leno, I was still annoyed to see the apology.
Could it be that the public respects a self-assured jerk more than a people-pleasing ninny?
I put the question to you, our handsome and esteemed readers (see, I am a people-pleasing ninny). I ask that you don't debate what Leno actually said -- the original post is hosting a lively and entertaining discussion on that subject -- but rather the efficacy of the apology. Is a celebrity better off just ignoring the angry letters following an ill-advised joke or is an apology the best course of action?
(By the way, I know that the pun-based title of this article is misleading and, possibly, a bit offensive. I'm not going to apologize for it, though, because I have integrity! That is, of course, unless the consensus is that apologizing is the best way to handle an offensive remark. In that case, I'll be going on Oprah to apologize for my use of the word "boner" and announce that I'll be going into rehab.)
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