Natasha Leggero, a well known comedienne for her outrageous comments and jokes on shows such as Chelsea Lately has been deemed anti-patriotic because of a tasteless comment she made on New Year’s Eve.
While appearing on NBC’s New Year’s Eve With Carson Daly, Leggero talked with fellow actress/comedienne Jane Lynch, as well as Anthony Anderson and Daly about the viral SpaghettiOs tweet the company sent out on Pearl Harbor Day last month.
Many people found the tweet to be offensive, mocking Pearl Harbor veterans and survivors, and using Pearl Harbor Veterans as an advertising ploy.
SpaghettiOs has since removed the post and replaced it with an apology.
We apologize for our recent tweet in remembrance of Pearl Harbor Day. We meant to pay respect, not to offend.
— SpaghettiOs (@SpaghettiOs) December 7, 2013
When Daly asked the television personalities about their own reactions, Lynch said, “I’m offended because they were referring to SpaghettiOs as pasta,” to which Leggero retorted, “I mean, it sucks that the only survivors of Pearl Harbor are being mocked by the only food they can still chew.”
On New Years Eve I made what I thought was a harmless joke http://t.co/0XEW6ykyi1 Here is my response:… http://t.co/6S4rZeGru8
— Natasha Leggero (@natashaleggero) January 3, 2014
Many people found Leggero’s response as equally distasteful as SpaghettiOs original tweet, and some even more so. Leggero says that she has been called a “c***” more times since New Year’s Eve than she has in her entire life.
She also released a public non-apology to her fans and offended Americans:
On New Years Eve I made what I thought was a harmless joke. Here is my response:
Well hello America!
It’s been a busy few days but rest assured, I have received all of your messages and have been busy sifting through the different creatively misspelled death threats, rape fantasies and most of all repeated use of the the C word.
I wish I could apologize, but do you really want another insincere apology that you know is just an attempt at damage control and not a real admission of guilt? Let me just try instead to be honest.
I’m not sorry. I don’t think the amazing courage of American veterans and specifically those who survived Pearl Harbor is in any way diminished by a comedian making a joke about dentures on television. Do we really believe that the people who fought and defended our freedom against Nazis and the Axis powers will find a joke about SpaghettiOs too much to bear? Sorry, I have more respect for Veterans than to think their honor can be impugned by a glamorous, charming comedian in a fur hat.
Legerro went on in her letter to say that her own father was a Vietnam Veteran, and that the many other issues surrounding the military today are what people should be focusing on and trying to address, rather than an insignificant joke about the elderly. At the end of her statement, Leggero invited readers to donate to the Disabled Veterans of America organization via a link to the website’s donation page.
Main image courtesy The Tonight Show With Jay Leno via YouTube.