Tuesday, July 08, 2003

Savage television
After a very relaxing four day weekend (called in sick yesterday) it seems that I may have missed a few things, among them: Radio talk show host turned television show host Michael Savage was fired from his MSNBC show yesterday :
The incident that resulted in his firing began innocently enough. Savage was taking viewer phone calls about airline horror stories, and a male caller began talking about smoking in the bathroom.

"Half an hour into the flight, I need to suggest that Don and Mike take your ..." the caller said, before he was cut off and his words became unintelligible.

"So you're one of those sodomists. Are you a sodomite?" Savage asked.

The caller replied: "Yes, I am."

"Oh, you're one of the sodomites," Savage said. "You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig. You got nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage. You have got nothing to do today, go eat a sausage and choke on it."

He asked for another phone caller who "didn't have a nice night in the bathhouse who's angry at me today."

These bums "mean nothing to me," he said.
Can't say I'm surprised either, Myself has always wondered why this man, who apparently has an opinion against gays (to put it nicely), chooses to live in San Francisco? But I digress, Myself has listened to his show, (know your enemy, and all that) and try as I might, Myself can listen for ten minutes or so until he goes on a rant, then Myself has to turn the station. After five minutes or so turn back, if he's not braying about the hell in a handbasket the country is and/or has become because of liberals/democrats or anyone to the left himself, he can actually be entertaining at times. But unfortunately he never stays on nuetral topics for long. So the question is: Did the GLBT Political action wing cause his cancellation? Maybe in part, surely they were a thorn in his side at the very least, organizing sponser boycotts and the like. But not entirely Most of the blame rests squarely on Savage himself. He snapped, his very subjective behavior, with regard to gays got the better of him and he snapped, and he insulted a gay caller, (he regularly insults and yells at radio callers who don't kiss his ass on the air). And he paid the price. Although he does issue an apology claiming he thought he was off the air (which is hard to believe, reading the transcript), Myself doubts anyone other than his loyal followers, and maybe other conservatives believe him. Savage, Rush and Dr. Laura who have all tried and failed at converting their radio show to TV. They are on the radio for a reason, that reason is because, in reality, no one want to look at them, nor does any one want to merely see their radio show. Let's face it none of these are exactly "lookers" if they were they'd be on TV in the first place. Further when you listen to a radio show 9 out of 10 times you are doing something else, working, driving to somewhere, whatever. A TV show requires you to sit and pay attention and watch, the most you can do is eat or drink. And if Myself has to give either of the three aforementioned people his relatively undivided attention and look at your face.. well forget it