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May 18, 2013

Regis and Kelly offended Dominicans? When?

by Joel Keller, posted Nov 4th 2008 12:04PM

Regis and KellyNear the end of today's Live with Regis and Kelly, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa offered their apologies to the Dominican community over remarks they made on the show last week. It seemed like a sincere apology, even if it was read from a teleprompter.

Anyway, since I don't watch the show every day, I had no idea what remark they were talking about. So I immediately fired up the ol' Google search machine and plugged in "regis kelly dominicans." Sure enough, a story (and accompanying video) came up from our cousins at TMZ about the Reege laughing at a joke where Kelly associates "donkeys" with "Dominicans," and the ensuing protest by Dominican organizations.

But then a click on the video clouds the issue a bit.

In it, Kelly describes a conversation with her daughter about the election where the little moppett descibes which animal is associated with which party: according to the little Ripa, the elephants are the Republicans and the donkeys are the Dominicans. Cute.

Regis chuckles and says, "She's pretty close," which is the part that pissed off the Dominican community. So... what am I missing here? I figured "She's pretty close" referred to the squirt's confusion between Democrats and Dominicans, not that Dominicans are like donkeys. I mean, Regis is a grumpy old crank, but he's not a racist grumpy old crank. Am I interpreting the joke incorrectly? Let me know in the comments.

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15 Comments

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Luz

Kelly and Regis are worldly ignorants :)
I mean, really, make a joke like that in national television?
She's just insulting the Americans and giving away a very poor image.

I'm from Dominican Republic and everyone got a bit pissed, but now we're just laughing it off 'cause it is really sad how uneducated she is.

December 08 2008 at 8:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
carolann765

KELLI RIPA NEEDS TO GAIN WEIGHT. SHE IS WAY TO THIN.

December 02 2008 at 10:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
terribletim

Check my friend's theme song idea for the regis and kelly show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx7IxWk3EyA

November 28 2008 at 10:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Elizabeth

Of course there's no need for an apology, she's not calling your race a bunch of 'ASSES'

I say boycott the damn show...and I'll make sure Dominicans in my area (Inwood & Washington Heights) do not watch it.

Oh and at no point did she refer to the Dominican order or Dominicans, which is a Catholic religious order, founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France.

November 04 2008 at 6:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1iPete

Dammit this is the last straw! It's time these insensitive, foul-mouthed "entertainers" were removed from the air once and for all!

And that child should be punished as well.

November 04 2008 at 3:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to 1iPete's comment
kevjohn

If this is what it takes to get this crappy show off the air, I'm all for it!! :)

November 04 2008 at 4:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
StillBash

They need to apaologize like Randy Marsh on South Park!

You know... apo... apologiiiiiiizzzze.

NOW.

IT IS THE LAW!!!11!!

November 04 2008 at 5:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Claudia

Regarding Regis and Kelly. I agree with the writer. I'am Latina (Mexican).

November 04 2008 at 2:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tobias Talock

I'm Dominican, but I haven't taken Regis' comment to offense, just because I'm not 100% sure about what he meant. If you just listen to his words, he could have meant that Dominicans are like donkeys, that Dominicans are like democrats, or just that "Dominicans" sounds like "Democrats". Most people I have spoken with, have cited his body language as a sign of him realizing his slip-up. Myself, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and spread out the love.

November 04 2008 at 2:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Tobias Talock's comment
Rocketboy_X

Yes, I'm sure he was saying that every Dominican had the physical attributes of a Donkey. Doubly-so for your mother.

November 04 2008 at 2:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Craig

My first thought on "Dominican" was also the Dominican order of teaching nuns. Regis and Kelly are due an apology.

November 04 2008 at 1:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rocketboy_X

Can we just stop it with the apologies? Really.

November 04 2008 at 1:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike Doran

I'm just guessing here, but given that both Regis and Kelly are both from Catholic backgrounds, the reference might be to the Dominican order of teaching nuns, rather than the Dominican Republic. As a kid in the '50s and '60s, I was taught by the Dominican nuns from Adrian, MI, which order had most of the schools in the Chicago archdiocese in their purview. In the 1960 election, all of us Catholic kids (well, most of us, anyway) were rooting for JFK - one of US - to get the big job (of course, we had no idea that Kennedy had at least three commandments on the critical list). I have no way of knowing the extent of either Regis's or Kelly's Catholic observance, but based on my own experience and that of people I grew up with, even cradle Catholics tend to steer the kids to the Church, even if they don't go any more themselves. Anyway, as I said, it's just my guess...

November 04 2008 at 12:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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