WebProNews

Tag: Jason Alexander

  • Jason Alexander Enters Guilty Plea To Child Pornography Charges

    Jason Alexander – not to be mistaken with the famous Seinfeld cast member – pleaded guilty on Tuesday to possessing and promoting child pornography, according to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.

    Law & Order director Jason “Jace” Alexander could possibly face seven years imprisonment for child pornography charges.

    The 51-year-old native of Dobbs Ferry, New York, entered guilty pleas to one count of promoting sexual performance and one count of possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child. The charges against the director stemmed from possessing and file-sharing illicit and obscene performances of sexual conduct by children less than 17 years old.

    He is set to be sentenced on May 3, and he could face a maximum jail time of seven years.

    Jason Alexander was arrested in July 2015 after an investigator from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office downloaded child porn from a suspicious IP address in Dobbs Ferry. Investigators traced the location of the IP address and it was revealed to be assigned to the director’s home. A search warrant was then issued.

    The District Attorney’s Office was able to collect strong evidence against the TV director during the forensic examination of his computer and hard drives that were confiscated from his residence. Illegal digital files of minors engaged in sexual acts were discovered on his personal computer and external hard drives, Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said.

    Assistant District Attorney Laura Forbes of the High Technology Crime Bureau is prosecuting the 51-year-old director’s child porn case.

    Alexander, who remains out on bail, directed a number of Law & Order episodes since mid ‘90s. His other TV projects include The Practice, Rescue Me, and The Blacklist. Jason Alexander has reportedly served as second vice president of the Directors Guild of America.

  • Charlie Ebersol, Britney Spears Split After Eight Months Together

    Charlie Ebersol and Britney Spears have reportedly broken up after eight months of dating. The two started seeing each other back in October, but hadn’t been spotted together since the 2015 Billboard Music Awards in May.

    “I just felt that he was in it for the wrong reasons,” a source said to Us Weekly.

    That same source, however, also admitted that Britney Spears doesn’t like to be alone.

    So who is to blame for the split? Might it have been a mutual agreement?

    Britney Spears has deleted all her photos of Charlie Ebersol from her Instagram account since their split. Many of her Twitter pictures remain, however.

    Charlie Ebersol reportedly spent a lot of time with Britney Spears’s two sons she shares with Keven Federline. Ebersol even posed with Spears, Jayden, and Sean for the family Christmas card.

    Britney Spears hasn’t had the best of luck with relationships. She was previously married to Jason Alexander in 2004. Wasn’t that her 24-hour marriage? She was married to Kevin Federline from 2004 to 2007.

    Spears was engaged to Jason Trawick from December of 2011 to January of 2013, and before she became involved with Charlie Ebersol she dated David Lucado. She claimed Lucado cheated on her.

    What do you suppose went wrong between Britney Spears and Charlie Ebersol? Do you suppose they’re done for good or simply taking a break from one another?

    It seems until one or the other issues a statement to the media, that only those closest to the former couple will know the actual details.

  • Seinfeld Actress Killing Explained

    The Seinfeld show made such an impact on our culture that it is still quoted daily. You can hardly have a conversation with someone without hearing phrases like “not that there’s anything wrong with that” or “yada, yada, yada.”

    Jerry Seinfeld is seeing success with his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee series, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a hit with Veep.

    While most Seinfeld episodes were standalone shots at certain non-topics, there were occasionally running gags and even ongoing story arcs. One of these involved Jason Alexander’s character George getting engaged and nearly married to Susan. Alas, poor Susan never made it to the altar. She was killed off in the show due to poison glue on her wedding invitation envelopes.

    Now Jason Alexander has accidentally let slip to Howard Stern why that character was killed off. He was trying to soften a statement made by another Julia Louis-Dreyfus about actress Heidi Swedberg who played Susan, but he just made it worse.

    Howard Stern baited Alexander, saying, “Julia Louis-Dreyfus told me you all wanted to kill [Swedberg’s character Susan].”

    “I couldn’t figure out how to play off of her,” Alexander said of Swedberg, “Her instincts for doing a scene, where the comedy was, and mine were always misfiring. And she would do something, and I would go, ‘OK, I see what she’s going to do — I’m going to adjust to her.’ And I’d adjust, and then it would change.”

    Alexander was chagrined when show creator told him that the character of Susan would be sticking around on Seinfeld because she and George were getting married. Fans wondered why in the world this would happen. They hated Susan. But that made perfect sense to Larry David’s warped sense of humor.

    “What he said was, what Heidi brought to the character is, we could do the most horrible things to her, and the audience was still on my side,” Alexander said.

    But the difficulty in working with Swedberg was more than Alexander could take. Once her character was expanded, other actors saw it too.

    “They go, ‘You know what? It’s f—ing impossible. It’s impossible,’” said Alexander. “And Julia actually said, ‘Don’t you want to just kill her?’ And Larry went, ‘Ka-bang!’”

    The idea of killing Susan on the show took Larry David’s sadistic use of her to new heights. He was in.

    But once Alexander’s conversation with Stern made headlines, the actor felt bad. He thought it sounded like he did not like Swedberg and that the whole cast had conspired against her. He took to Twitter to explain himself.

    “OK, folks, I feel officially awful,” Alexander wrote. “The impetus for telling this story was that Howard said, ‘Julia Louis-Dreyfus told me you all wanted to kill her.’ So I told the story to try and clarify that no one wanted to kill Heidi.”

    “People clearly liked the [George-Susan] interplay, even though I believed I was ‘off.’”

    “[Swedberg] was generous and gracious, and I am so mad at myself for retelling this story in any way that would diminish her,” Alexander continued. “If I had had more maturity or more security in my own work, I surely would have taken her query and possibly tried to adjust the scenes with her. She surely offered. But, I didn’t have that maturity or security.”

    Alexander hopes people watch the Seinfeld re-runs and now understand what happened.

  • Heidi Swedberg Was ‘F***ing Impossible’ To Work With, Gets Apology From ‘Seinfeld’ Actor Jason Alexander

    George Costanza might be known for his stinginess but the actor playing him wasn’t stingy with the apologies and praises he heaped on Heidi Swedberg.

    But that’s probably because Jason Alexander was working hard to clarify his statement that his Seinfeld fiancée was “f***ing impossible” to work with.

    During Alexander’s recent guest stint on The Howard Stern Show, he said Swedberg’s character Susan was killed off because she lacked chemistry with the show’s stars.

    Susan Ross was a recurring character who eventually ended up as George’s fiancée. She died during season 7’s finale when she was poisoned from licking the glue on the cheap envelopes that George bought for their wedding invitations.

    The 55-year-old Alexander mentioned to Stern that Swedberg was a terrific girl but he had trouble playing off her during their scenes together.

    “Her instincts for doing a scene, where the comedy was, and mine were always misfiring,” he explained.

    He said that fellow actors Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jerry Seinfeld also felt the same thing. And with the writers having problems with the direction the storyline was heading, the series’ co-creator Larry David decided to kill off the character.

    The theater actor said David got the idea when Louis-Dreyfus commented “don’t you just want to kill her?”

    Of course, she meant the character, not the actress.

    But when the interview came out, what was meant as a funny anecdote became a story on how the Seinfeld crew hated Swedberg so she was killed off.

    Alexander quickly took to social media to clarify what he said and to defend his co-star, who he described as “a sweetheart.”

    “I feel officially awful,” he wrote before insisting that he and the rest of the Seinfeld cast really liked Swedberg.

    Alexander further wrote that “she is a kind, lovely person who undoubtedly worked really hard to create Susan” and blamed himself for their lack of chemistry, citing his insecurities and immaturity.

    “She was generous and gracious and I am so mad at myself for retelling this story in any way that would diminish her,” he added.

  • Julia Roberts Will Celebrate ‘Pretty Woman’ 25th Anniversary on ‘Today Show’

    Julia Roberts will join Richard Gere and other stars of the 1990 film Pretty Woman to celebrate its 25th anniversary on the Today Show this coming Tuesday, March 24th. Costars Laura San Giacomo and Hector Elizondo, as well as director Garry Marshall will also join in the celebration.

    The release of Pretty Woman set Julia Roberts and her acting career soaring straight to bona fide stardom. Roberts earned her second Oscar nomination and her first Oscar for her role as hooker Vivian Ward. Vivian is hired in Pretty Woman to serve as an escort for Edward Lewis, a wealthy businessman played by Richard Gere. Ward and Lewis eventually fall in love, but not until a transformation akin to a modern day version of the one that takes place in My Fair Lady transpires.

    The celebration that airs on Today this Tuesday will feature a reunion of sorts. Jason Alexander, who played the rather sleazy Philip Stuckey, and who later became famous for his role on Seinfeld, is noticeably absent, however. When the gang gets together for their interview with Matt Lauer, lots of fun and laughter is in store for everyone–both on the set and for those watching at home, too.

    Julia Roberts and the rest of the cast, along with Garry Marshall, will reportedly share their favorite moments from Pretty Woman.

    Julia Roberts was just 22 when she starred in Pretty Woman, and the only big credits under her acting belt at that time were Mystic Pizza and Steel Magnolias.

    Will you be tuning in to the Today Show on NBC on Tuesday morning to see Matt Lauer interview Julia Roberts, Richard Gere and more as they celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pretty Woman?

  • ‘Seinfeld’ Reunion Feels Like The Show Never Ended

    Ok, so it wasn’t exactly a Super Bowl ad — at least not in the typical sense. What was declared by comedian Jerry Seinfeld as a “big, huge, gigantic project” that he and co-writer Larry David put together, was in fact, a promo for his Crackle.com web series  “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.”

    The 2-minute promo that aired during the Super Bowl was a snippet of a ‘Seinfeld’ webisode featuring  Seinfeld playing the TV version of himself, Jason Alexander as the neurotic George Costanza and Wayne Knight as Newman the postal worker. Though the show has been off the air for 16 years, the guys seamlessly stepped back into their much loved characters.

    The promo features Jerry and George taking a short car ride over to their favorite New York meeting place, Tom’s restaurant. As usual, it’s not long before the two end up having a heated conversation. Jerry admits to George that he was disappointed about not being at the Wasserstein’s Super Bowl party. Apparently, the previous year George “over-cheered” at the party and also failed to use good bathroom etiquette after relieving himself in the Wasserstein’s master bathroom. Toward the end of the clip, George gives Jerry his blessing and tells him to go watch the second half of the Super Bowl without him. Just before Jerry could even get out of his seat, Newman (Jerry’s archrival) enters the scene. Ahh…feels like the show never ended.

    In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, Seinfeld was asked in a radio interview whether or not his Super Bowl short film was ‘Seinfeld’ reunion or a promo for his web series. Seinfeld said,  “It’s not. But “It’s not-not” either of those things.  In retrospect, that now seems like a reasonable answer from a comedian trying to be evasive.

     Seinfeld said in a statement, “Fox approached Larry and me about doing some kind of ‘Seinfeld’ reunion for the halftime broadcast because of the New York connection. So we thought throwing Jerry, George and Newman into a Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee was a fun way to do it.” 

    So far the mini reunion is a hit — the fans love it.  See the full 6-minute webisode on Crackle.com.

    Image via Youtube

  • ‘Seinfeld’ Reunion: Will They Do A Super Bowl Commercial?

    Fans of the TV show ‘Seinfeld’ could be in for a treat. On Jan. 6, comedian Jerry Seinfeld revealed that he was doing a “big, huge, gigantic” project that he co-wrote with Larry David. About a week later he was spotted at Tom’s Diner in Manhattan with former cast member Jason Alexander. Tom’s Diner was the Seinfeld crew’s meeting place on the show.  So, is this a sign of a reunion?

    (image)

    In a Thursday interview with Boomer & Carton on WFAN radio, Jerry Seinfeld hinted at a reunion of the cast of  ‘Seinfeld’. He said that he and his old crew had gotten together to film a one-off scene of some kind, a short film a bit longer than 60 seconds in duration. Seinfeld also said that the mystery project was scheduled to air “very soon”. In the interview, Seinfeld was asked if the film was a  promotion for Sunday’s game or for his popular web series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.” The comedian gave a typical “Seinfeld answer” — “It’s not. But “It’s not-not” either of those things, he responded.

    “I gave you more now than I’ve given anyone,” said Seinfeld. “I told you what it isn’t. And then I also told you that it isn’t not that, either.”

    Sounds like a Super Bowl commercial. Could it be?

    On Friday, Seinfeld’s publicist Tom Kearney was also being mysterious about the project. Kearney quickly dismissed the idea that the short film was a commercial but did confirm that the public would know soon.

    This reunion is not the first for the cast since the show ended its run in 1998. Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards last appeared together in one episode of Larry David’s ‘Curb your Enthusiasm’ in 2009.

    (image)

    Ok, so we don’t really know what they’re up to but whatever it is will likely be entertaining and funny.

    Yada yada yada, still sounds like a Super Bowl commercial.

    Images via Wikimedia Commons

  • Seinfeld Reunion Will Happen Soon, Very Soon

    Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander and Larry David walk into a diner, not just any diner, but the now landmark NYC Tom’s Diner which served as the framework for Monk’s on the Seinfeld show. A picture is taken of Seinfeld and Alexander walking towards Tom’s and is tweeted for the whole world to see. That, along with Seinfeld discussing a “secret project” during a Reddit AMA and an interview on the WFAN sports radio show Boomer & Carton are steering hopeful fans in the direction that they will get to see George, Jerry, Elaine and Kramer back in action.

    Boomer and Carton pressed the comedian on what he was doing with Alexander and David. Were the old friends simply getting coffee like Jerry and George did on the show every week? Was it part of Seinfeld’s web show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee? Were they planning some other future project? Although the radio hosts did not get all the juicy details, Seinfeld coyly confirmed that there was some sort of Seinfeld reunion in the works.

    Seinfeld told Boomer and Carton, “It’s a secret project. I gave you more now than I’ve given anyone. I told you what it isn’t, and then I also told you that it isn’t not that either.” What? Okay, here’s what we do know. Seinfeld described the secret project as a “one and done” experience, that we will get to see it very soon, it’s not a commercial for the Super Bowl and it may even have already been filmed. So fans everywhere can certainly get excited but expectations should be kept in check as the project could be any number of things.

    #seinfeldreunion quickly became a popular trend on Twitter:

    What is your excitement level at the prospect of a Seinfeld reunion?

    Image via Facebook

  • “Seinfeld” Reunion: The Cast Is Back Together For A New Project

    After having a popular sitcom for many years that is still a beloved treasure to many people, the cast will be getting back together and having a Seinfeld reunion.

    The cast members of Seinfeld have all gone their separate ways since the end of the show in 1998, but as a group of people that worked together for nine seasons, they have continued to remain close friends.

    It still has not been revealed what the new project will be about, but rumors started swirling around after Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander were seen outside of Tom’s Restaurant, along with Larry David.

    The restaurant was used on the the Seinfeld set for Monk’s Cafe, which was a frequented location for Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer.

    People started talking about a possible Seinfeld reunion immediately, and now the news has been officially confirmed, although a small amount of details about the project have been released. Some people thought that it could be for a Super Bowl commercial or for Seinfeld’s web series.

    Both of those rumors have been shut down, although fans have not learned much else yet. In a recent interview where he denied that the Seinfeld reunion would be either of those things, Jerry Seinfeld said “But, it is not not those things, either. It’s a secret project. I gave you more now than I’ve given anyone. I told you what it isn’t, and then I also told you that it isn’t not that either.”

    He said that it was a film project, and that other Seinfeld cast members were involved, adding that Jason Alexander will be playing George. The project has been described as “one-and-done,” and Jerry promises that fans will be able to see it “very, very soon.”

    Larry David, who was the creator and executive producer of Seinfeld, is also set to have a part in the upcoming Seinfeld reunion, although he will not be seen on camera. Since leaving Seinfeld, David has enjoyed great success with his HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm.

    As fans wait in anticipation, the Seinfeld reunion is getting closer, and the big fans are likely to be creating a ton of buzz with this news. What does everyone think the reunion will consist of?

    Image via Youtube

  • Jason Alexander Says His Haters Have An Average Of 21 Twitter Followers, Are Mostly From Texas And Arizona

    Actor Jason Alexander, who has been no stranger to controversy this summer, has been talking about gun laws on Twitter, and striking more than a few nerves in the process. He has plenty of supporters and plenty of “haters”.

    Either way, all the attention he has received for his commentary earned him a nice opportunity to plug the episode of TNT’s Franklin And Bash he directed, which aired last night.

    Alexander doesn’t appear to be too concerned with his “haters,” though. He tweeted this morning:

    I get the idea that this isn’t the last Alexander will have to say on the subject. Here are some of the responses he has gotten to that one so far:

     

    After Alexander’s initial tweet on the subject, which of course followed the shooting tragedy in Colorado, Alexander posted an extended tweet with additional commentary. Here’s a snippet from that:

    Clearly, the angry, threatened and threatening, hostile comments are coming from gun owners and gun advocates. Despite these massacres recurring and despite the 100,000 Americans that die every year due to domestic gun violence – these people see no value to even considering some kind of control as to what kinds of weapons are put in civilian hands.

    Many of them cite patriotism as their reason – true patriots support the Constitution adamantly and wholly. Constitution says citizens have the right to bear arms in order to maintain organized militias.

    Before his latest tweet, Alexander retweeted this gem:

  • Jason Alexander Takes Time Out From Twitter Gun Debate To Plug Franklin And Bash

    Twitter can be quite the marketing vehicle, and actor (and apparently director) Jason Alexander knows this. He took the time to plug an episode of the quirky TNT lawyer series that he directed with a few tweets right at a time when his Twitter account is getting a great deal of attention from the media. Smart move. I wonder what kind of impact it had on the episode’s ratings.

    Alexander, known to most as Seinfeld’s George Costanza (despite memorable appearances in films like Jacob’s Ladder and Pretty Woman), has sparked debate on Twitter about gun laws, in the aftermath of the shooting in Colorado last week.

    Alexander tweeted, “I cannot understand support for legality of the kind of weapon in this massacre. It’s a military weapon.why should it be in non- mil hands?”

    He then tweeted a much longer piece of commentary.

    Gun control is obviously a hot button issue, and Alexander has had his share of Twitter reaction. While he’s responded a bit, it looks like he’s been more interested in promoting Franklin And Bash.

    Last month, Alexander was also making headlines for his Twitter behavior, having made an apology via Tweet for comments he made about Cricket on the Craig Ferguson show.

  • Jason Alexander Sparks A Twitter War About Gun Laws

    Jason Alexander, best known for his role as the goofy and curmudgeonly sidekick George on the 90’s sitcom Seinfeld, has stirred up controversy once again after tweeting his opinions on gun control in light of the Colorado shootings. He was recently in the news for some questionable remarks made on a talk show regarding the game of Cricket, and he later took to Twitter to clear things up.

    Update: Since this story was originally written, it appears that Alexander has utilized the situation to get a little marketing power of Twitter.

    Now, the comment that started a heated debate was made on Twitter, and Alexander has written a lengthy post about it.

    That comment sparked a rather large debate on whether or not the right for Americans to arm themselves was meant for private citizens, and after Alexander received a staggering amount of responses on Twitter, he composed a longer tweet to address his concerns in depth.

    Among other things, Alexander argues that the type of guns we have access to are the problem; this only sparked more ire from Twitterers.

    …I get messages from seemingly decent and intelligent people who offer things like: @BrooklynAvi: Guns should only be banned if violent crimes committed with tomatoes means we should ban tomatoes. OR @nysportsguys1: Drunk drivers kill, should we ban fast cars?

    I’m hoping that right after they hit send, they take a deep breath and realize that those arguments are completely specious. I believe tomatoes and cars have purposes other than killing. What purpose does an AR-15 serve to a sportsman that a more standard hunting rifle does not serve? Let’s see – does it fire more rounds without reload? Yes. Does it fire farther and more accurately? Yes. Does it accommodate a more lethal payload? Yes. So basically, the purpose of an assault style weapon is to kill more stuff, more fully, faster and from further away. To achieve maximum lethality. Hardly the primary purpose of tomatoes and sports cars.

    While shooting deaths have clearly been a problem in the U.S. for a long time, it’s been a recurring issue in recent years, starting most notably with Columbine and ending with the tragic ambush on the Aurora movie theater where 12 people lost their lives. And, judging by this Twitter debate, a change in gun laws isn’t something we will all agree on for quite some time.

  • Jason Alexander Tweets Epic Apology For “Cricket Is Gay” Comments

    Last week, former Seinfeld star and current poker fanatic Jason Alexander pissed some people off with some comments he made on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. During the interview, Alexander referred to the sport cricket as a “gay game.”

    “Have you ever played cricket,” asked Ferguson.

    “I’ve watched cricket,” said Alexander

    “Cricket’s an amazing game,” said Ferguson.

    “It’s a gay game,” said Alexander.

    “People wearing white, a lot of people wearing white – people wearing helmets for no discernable reason, people not wearing helmets that looks like they should have helmets. Everybody breaks for tea in the middle…” he continued. He then went on to describe the motions of the pitcher. Check it out below (skip to around 9:00):

    After the comments, Alexander found himself in a bit of a pickle, as folks took to Twitter to address their problems with the joke. For instance:

    @IJasonAlexander having been a bullied gay kid, there are things I’ve learned aren’t funny
    4 days ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    He defended himself against the attacks:

    And 4 the record, tho I don’t follow the rules of cricket, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching it played. But if we can’t laugh, we r doomed.
    3 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    But now Alexander has issued an apology via Twitter and I must say, it’s one hell of an apology. Alexander is definitely not the first comedian in recent memory to catch flak for an offhanded comment he made, and most of the time I would make this into a debate about political correctness, comedic license, and oversensitivity – but when someone writes such a clear and heartfelt apology for something like this, you can just sit back and applaud:

    A message of amends.Last week, I made an appearance on the Craig Ferguson show – a wonderfully unstructured, (cont) http://t.co/Ef38YUjF
    1 day ago via TwitLonger Beta · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    A message of amends.

    Last week, I made an appearance on the Craig Ferguson show – a wonderfully unstructured, truly spontaneous conversation show. No matter what anecdotes I think will be discussed, I have yet to find that Craig and I ever touch those subjects. Rather we head off onto one unplanned, loony topic after another. It’s great fun trying to keep up with him and I enjoy Craig immensely.

    During the last appearance, we somehow wandered onto the topic of offbeat sports and he suddenly mentioned something about soccer and cricket. Now, I am not a stand-up comic. Stand up comics have volumes of time-tested material for every and all occasions. I, unfortunately, do not. However, I’ve done a far amount of public speaking and emceeing over the years so I do have a scattered bit, here and there.

    Years ago, I was hosting comics in a touring show in Australia and one of the bits I did was talking about their sports versus American sports. I joked about how their rugby football made our football pale by comparison because it is a brutal, no holds barred sport played virtually without any pads, helmets or protection. And then I followed that with a bit about how, by comparison, their other big sport of cricket seemed so delicate and I used the phrase, “ a bit gay”. Well, it was all a laugh in Australia where it was seen as a joke about how little I understood cricket, which in fact is a very, very athletic sport. The routine was received well but, seeing as their isn’t much talk of cricket here in America, it hasn’t come up in years.

    Until last week. When Craig mentioned cricket I thought, “oh, goody – I have a comic bit about cricket I can do. Won’t that be entertaining?”. And so I did a chunk of this old routine and again referred to cricket as kind of “gay” – talking about the all white uniforms that never seem to get soiled; the break they take for tea time with a formal tea cart rolled onto the field, etc. I also did an exaggerated demonstration of the rather unusual way they pitch the cricket ball which is very dance-like with a rather unusual and exaggerated arm gesture. Again, the routine seemed to play very well and I thought it had been a good appearance.

    Shortly after that however, a few of my Twitter followers made me aware that they were both gay and offended by the joke. And truthfully, I could not understand why. I do know that humor always points to the peccadillos or absurdities or glaring generalities of some kind of group or another – short, fat, bald, blonde, ethnic, smart, dumb, rich, poor, etc. It is hard to tell any kind of joke that couldn’t be seen as offensive to someone. But I truly did not understand why a gay person would be particularly offended by this routine.

    However, troubled by the reaction of some, I asked a few of my gay friends about it. And at first, even they couldn’t quite find the offense in the bit. But as we explored it, we began to realize what was implied under the humor. I was basing my use of the word “gay” on the silly generalization that real men don’t do gentile, refined things and that my portrayal of the cricket pitch was pointedly effeminate , thereby suggesting that effeminate and gay were synonymous.

    But what we really got down to is quite serious. It is not that we can’t laugh at and with each other. It is not a question of oversensitivity. The problem is that today, as I write this, young men and women whose behaviors, choices or attitudes are not deemed “man enough” or “normal” are being subjected to all kinds of abuse from verbal to physical to societal. They are being demeaned and threatened because they don’t fit the group’s idea of what a “real man” or a “real woman” are supposed to look like, act like and feel like.

    For these people, my building a joke upon the premise I did added to the pejorative stereotype that they are forced to deal with everyday. It is at the very heart of this whole ugly world of bullying that has been getting rightful and overdue attention in the media. And with my well-intentioned comedy bit, I played right into those hurtful assumptions and diminishments.

    And the worst part is – I should know better. My daily life is filled with gay men and women, both socially and professionally. I am profoundly aware of the challenges these friends of mine face and I have openly advocated on their behalf. Plus, in my own small way, I have lived some of their experience. Growing up in the ‘70’s in a town that revered it’s school sports and athletes, I was quite the outsider listening to my musical theater albums, studying voice and dance and spending all my free time on the stage. Many of the same taunts and jeers and attitudes leveled at young gay men and women were thrown at me and on occasion I too was met with violence or the threat of violence.

    So one might think that all these years later I might be able to intuit that my little cricket routine could make some person who has already been made to feel alien and outcast feel even worse or add to the conditions that create their alienation. But in this instance, I did not make the connection. I didn’t get it.

    So, I would like to say – I now get it. And to the extent that these jokes made anyone feel even more isolated or misunderstood or just plain hurt – please know that was not my intention, at all or ever. I hope we will someday live in a society where we are so accepting of each other that we can all laugh at jokes like these and know that there is no malice or diminishment intended.

    But we are not there yet.

    So, I can only apologize and I do. In comedy, timing is everything. And when a group of people are still fighting so hard for understanding, acceptance, dignity and essential rights – the time for some kinds of laughs has not yet come. I hope my realization brings some comfort.

    Thanks,
    Jason

  • Netflix Relief Fund: The Upper Middle Class Needs Your Help

    Netflix Relief Fund: The Upper Middle Class Needs Your Help

    It’s been a little over two weeks since Netflix announced their new pricing structure, essentially ruining the lives of everyone in its path. Now if you want to enjoy the connivence of DVD’s delivered to you and streaming content together, you’ll have to pay an additional $6. The humanity.

    Luckily someone is looking out for those affected by this horrendous tragedy, The Netflix Relief Fund.

    “Tsunamis… wars… earthquakes… but one tragedy eclipses them all… Netflix has raised their prices. This is literally the worst thing that has ever happened to white people.”

    As the video states: For just dollars a month you can help an upper middle class American keep their access to DVDs and streaming. Will you do your part?

    Did anyone expect to hear a Sarah Mclachlan song playing?