Whitney Cummings OUTS a Tv Anchor on WGN? WTF?
you may have seen Whitney Cummings
on the show before.
She was in town recently at Zanies and made at stop at WGN. Some, found her hilarious on the Morning News show, as she pulled Paul Konrad out of his weather closet!
Is GAY that funny?
Apparently.
Brian Drabik of Chicago sent WGN the following letter -
To the Editor:
This morning I turned on WGN Morning News and Whitney Cummings was on.
While on air, she was sitting at Paul Konrad’s spot at the desk and she updated his Facebook status because he had left his computer logged on. She updated it to say “Paul Konrad is gay.”
People in the studio laughed and Robin remarked, while laughing, “I think he’s posted that before.”
This wasn’t enough. You then later re-aired this clip, with the newscasters laughing and then having Paul remark about how many Facebook comments he recieved in response to the status update.
Is it funny to be gay? Am I missing some comedic gem here? I’m shocked that this was allowed and encouraged. Do you know what it’s like to grow up being gay and teased and humiliated for being different than everyone else?
I don’t understand why it’s okay to use a sexual orientation as a joke, on a news broadcast nonetheless. If the “comedian” said “Paul Konrad is black” or “Paul Konrad is a woman,” Asian or Latino, would that be as funny?
And while I know you aren’t responsible for the comments of your guests, I would expect you to have your newscasters keep their bigoted jokes to themselves. Most of all, I am really upset that it was re-aired, put the video online and you Tweeted about it! So clearly no one there understood that this was just out and out wrong.
I never write letters like this complaining, but I had to today, I am personally offended and truly saddened. I can’t watch your show anymore. I certainly don’t want to watch a station that thinks my sexual orientation is laughable.
I know you sit on the float at the Gay Pride Parade every year to show your support, but now I’ll just wonder if you’re there just to laugh at us.
I would appreciate an apology.
– BRIAN DRABIK, CHICAGO
To which WGN responded -
Dear Brian:
Thank you for writing to the WGN Morning News. We always appreciate getting feedback from our viewers.
Our anchors did laugh at the comedian for posting a false message about Paul live on Facebook.
Paul got caught leaving his Facebook page open, and the comedian was able to hijack it for all to see.
It’s unfortunate that what started as an attempt at a joke, ended up as offensive to our viewers.
I agree that as the morning progressed, the “joke” took on a life of its own with little regard for the feelings of our audience.
That was wrong and I sincerely apologize for it.
Your e-mail is an important reminder to us that we need to be vigilant against allowing or encouraging feeble attempts at “humor” that display a lack of respect for others.
I’m also sorry that, as a viewer, we let you down.
It is our goal every morning to provide our viewers with the best news, weather, traffic and entertainment in the morning.
I hope one day you will choose to watch us again, so that we may regain your trust.
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.
– GREG CAPUTO, NEWS DIRECTOR, WGN-TV
Where do we draw the line? What if it had been a Jew Joke? Paul Konrad is married. Why didn't Whitney say "Paul's out banging his mistress this morning!" - instead of PAUL IS GAY?
Watch the video clip on Chicago Now.
Greg Caputo and Brian Drabiik are GAY together.
Reply to this
While I'm sensitive to the ridicule that gay and lesbians endure as children and as adults, there is a minority in the community that are over-senstive and lacking a sense of humor.
From this report, we can gather that Paul Konrad is not gay. Whitney Cummings didn't say anything negative or derogatory about being gay. She didn't demean anyone. The very basis of humor is stating something absurd. Paul Konrad leaves his Facebook account open on a news set with a raunchy, risk taking comedienne.
Anyone on Paul Konrad's Facebook would likely know he is married with a family. Whitney Cummings hi-jacks his account and updates his Status as "Paul Konrad is Gay". Now I don't follow Paul Konrad, but I have a feeling this was a statement that was in complete contrast to what he would normally post to his Facebook account. That's funny. Maybe you don't get it. Maybe you don't find it funny. But, Cummings didn't say "Paul Konrad is gay and I hate homos" or anything of the sort.
Reply to this
Well, I guess I just didn't find it that funny. What if she had said, PAUL KONRAD IS A JEW!" Would everyone be laughing? No, it wouldn't be that funny. But gay is funny? Sure teach your kids GAY IS A BIG JOKE. We can laugh at the fags.
Reply to this
My simple answer is, it depends on the context.
I can only assume that you are viewing this from the perspective of a gay person.
The joke isn't that "gay" is funny. The joke is the contrast between what is known about Paul Konrad, sort of bland TV personality, married with kids and the punchline that he is "gay". The very same joke could be told in reverse and be just as funny.
Here in Connecticut, we have an openly gay weatherman, Scott Haney. Very popular well-liked, and everyone knows he's gay because he doesn't hide it. If the same scenario occurred with Whitney Cummings on the Channel 3 set, where she hi-jacks Scott Haney's profile and writes Scott Haney is Straight! Or Hetero! That would be funny to a lot of people. Again in that reverse scenario, neither hetero nor gay is what is funny, it's the contrast between what is known about the person and the punchline to the contrary.
You can't compare ethnicity to sexual inclination.
Unsolicited advice from a stranger, just be who you are and try not being so defensive.
Reply to this
Thanks for the comments -
much appreciated.
Derrick Sorles
Reply to this
As a heterosexual male, I thought the joke was insensitive and unnecessary. Sure, the contrast is the comedy for those in the inner circle.
However, for the rest of the people of Chicago who are unaware of the anchors personal life, the punchline is that the anchor is gay. Period. More disturbing than that is that this was permitted on a news station--people watch news for news, not for jokes.
It's also highly implausible that Whitney knew enough about the anchor to know, for certain, whether or not he was gay; in this xontext, the contrast is not viewed as the comedy as most psychology of humor students might believe but rather a reliance on simply stating "gay" alone. Sadly, gay is the punchline.
Fl;dr -- even if you think it was funny, it Jason no place in the newsroom.
Reply to this