In one of the most scathing and arguably vulgar personal attacks on the Republican vice presidential nominee yet, Bernhard lashed out at Palin during opening night of her one woman show in Washington, D.C. on Thursday night. Among other controversial remarks, Bernhard called Palin a 'turncoat bitch' who "would be gang raped by blacks in Manhattan."
In one particularly abasive [sic] rant, Bernhard attacked everything from Sarah Palin's fashion sense and hair style to her political views and religious beliefs.
"Now you got Uncle Women, like Sarah Palin, who jumps on the shit and points her fingers at other women. Turncoat bitch! Don't you fuckin' reference Old Testament, bitch!" Bernhard said. "You stay with your new Goyisha crappy shiksa funky bullshit! Don't you touch my Old Testament, you bitch! Because we have left it open for interpre-ta-tion! It is no longer taken literally! You whore in your cheap fuckin' New Vision cheap-ass plastic glasses and your [sneering voice] hair up. A Tina Fey-Megan Mullally brokedown bullshit moment."
Wow. Not just raped. Not just raped by niggers. Raped By Blacks In Manhattan.
The thing I don't get here is why Palin engenders this sort of hate. Frankly this is as mysterious to me as people who think Obama is an eltist. I mean, I disagree with old girl on just about every issue you can imagine, but how that morphs into a desire to se her raped, much less raped by blacks in Manhattan, is beyond me.
Futhermore, I've got to say that as one of that number, this is wrong on so many levels. First with each passing day there are less of us here in Manhattan. Thus I doubt that brothers hungering uncontrollably for white-woman flesh could even reach critical mass. More to the point--What the fuck? Is it worse to get "raped blacks in Manhattan" than, say, "blacks in Brooklyn" or "blacks in Georgia"? I'm not offended as a black guy, I'm offended as a Manhattanite. The essence of racism is the fear of us darkies "marryin yer daughters." And I respect that, I really do. But, I draw the line at 110th street. As Chauncy says, here in Harlem, we are respectable Negroes.
UPDATE: Timeout is good, no?
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Sandra Bernhard is apparently batshit, but as a pro-choice woman who refused to get prenatal testing that might endanger my baby and who ran promptly to the doctor when my water broke, rather than taking a flight from Texas to Alaska, I am really fucking sick of seeing people fawn all over how 'brave' and 'pro-life' she is.
Yeah I here you but...Raped By Blacks In Manhattan?? Wow.
"More to the point--What the fuck? Is it worse to get "raped blacks in Manhattan" than, say, "blacks in Brooklyn" or "blacks in Georgia"?"
Or, more to the point, whites in Wasilla, Alaska. Sandra Bernhard is wrong here in so many ways, I won't even begin to list them. In one fel swoop, she's viciously insulted people on either side the this gaping ideological divide, which if you think about it, is kinda impressive.
I suggest we just let the political implications of her remark go. It's not like Sandra Bernhard is a mainstream figure at this point. Face it, she needs the attention.
"Across 110th Street,
Pimps trying to catch a woman that's weak
Across 110th Street,
Pushers won't let the junkie go free.
Across 110th Street,
Woman trying to catch a trick on the street.
Across 110th Street,
You can find it all in the street."
Palin is the right's Hillary Clinton, drawing hysterical denunciations far out of proportion to anything she might do. That said:
WTF?
and, Palin has never been to Manhattan, as far as I know. Why Manhattan? She probably won't be going to Manhattan, home of "cosmopolitans" (tm Rudy Giuliani) and "eastern elites" (tm Mitt Romney). Maybe to denounce Wall Street--except, wow, talk about the only R around who sounds cluelesser than McCain when discussing national finance. Palin rambling with even more cluelessness than she showed about fungible commodities would be a gift. And I don't see any Manhattan fundraisers this next few weeks.
Bernhard's comments highlight a dichotomy on the left about their attitudes toward blacks. Usually, you hear those on the left denying that violent crimes by blacks are more common, but sometimes that facade falls and you hear something else. Essentially: "blacks are scary, but you deserve to be scared you intolerant right-wing rubes." Bernhard's not the first to express this, but she managed to do so while flying through the far bounds of tastelessness and offensiveness -- not an easy feat, consider how far the Left has managed to push these bounds back in the service of 'art'. If she said the same shit on a street corner, she'd probably get arrested and thrown in the loony bin, but call it a "one woman show" and it's art. Please.
That is an impressive amount of unbridled, unrestrained hate. I found it amusing when she said "my Old Testament", like its something that only Bernhard herself is entitled to.
Is it me, or is the amount of crazy increasing by the day? It's starting to sound like the scenery in Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message".
Slightly off topic, but I hope you saw this Onion News peice on Obama's elitism.
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/portrayal_of_obama_as_elitist
I think it's easy to be offended by this, but more illuminating to actually deconstruct what she is saying. So, let us take just the one sentence in question "raped by blacks in Manhattan." Essentially, this phrase represents three of the right's worst fears: sex, black people and liberals. I suppose the only phrase more toxic to a Republican would be "raped by fags in San Francisco," however this wouldn't be applicable to this election since there isn't a homosexual running. Thus, we have the black part. Moreover, the rape also is a reference to Palin's consistent indifference to the victims of sexual assault, from her belief that abortion should not be available to the victims of rape, to rape victims in Wasilla paying for their own rape kit. Finally, Manhattan is the Gomorrah of the country to Republicans (San Fran being Sodom). So, really the phrase, obviously, was meant to offend, but it was meant to offend in a very pointed and visceral way, which it has. At the end of the day though, there is a more subtle and effective way of making this type of argument, but subtle was never Bernhard's strong suit.
Well, to be fairish, Bernhardt's whole schtick has always been that she's loud, obnoxious, and outrageous. Which, of course, doesn't absolve her White Negro racism---I think she's saying "raped by blacks in Manhattan" as a twisted way of saying "bitch better not come up in our 'hood", but it doesn't exactly fly out of her white mouth.
But yeah, Bernhardt is crazy. But then, she's always been crazy, so this is not necessarily news.
She's good in "King of Comedy", though. Where she plays a crazy lady.
It's hard to get beyond the idea that any woman would wish a soul crushing gang rape on another woman just because she doesn't agree with her political views. The added irony that she threw in the oldest racial stereotype in the book, priceless.
With friends like these...
But I mean, she is a comedian. I have no idea if her "one woman show" involves playing a character, or just her spouting off, but it really doesn't matter either way. It's like getting offended at Sarah Silverman.
"Palin has never been to Manhattan, as far as I know."
"As far as you know"? Of course she's been to Manhattan before. And she's going to be back there this week. There's this organization that's based in Manhattan that you've never heard of, as far as I know*, called the UN. Palin is going to meet with some world leaders while they are in town. Not that this makes Bernhard's comment any less offensive or pointless.
*See how lazy this formulation is? Since I don't know anything about you, I can claim anything I want about you as long as I add the clause, "as far as I know". Just like you just did with Palin.
"Essentially, this phrase represents three of the right's worst fears: sex, black people and liberals."
Exactly. That's why its funny. Why this is even news is beyond me.
I always thought that was Mick Jagger in drag.
This was funny? Gang rape is funny?
This is exactly the type of bizarro world liberal rationalization I am talking about.
I wonder if you guys would think it was really funny if some looney red neck "comedian" did a bit about warming Obama not to come to Birmingham or he'd be lynched? How funny would that be? The howls of outrage would be unbelievable, but because its a conservative woman, no big deal.
Black guys gang raping Sarah Palin takes on deep philosophical meaning.....alrighty then.
"Of course she's been to Manhattan before."
Is this as far as you know? Or a fact?
Libertarian,
Your sense of humor sucks. Getting offended by comedians is one of the lamest things you can do, you old crusty idiot.
I'm trying really hard to imagine how such a conversation with Palin and various world leaders at the UN might go. Will they be able to avoid rolling their eyes in front of her?
Perhaps it should be this week's SNL opener. The possibilities for hilarity are endless.
"The thing I don't get here is why Palin engenders this sort of hate."
For the very same reason that the Jews engendered the enmity of the Nazis during the 1930s.
The thought of a couple of black men raping Palin certainly is provocative, isn't it. But it is a justifiable meme.
Gang rape isn't funny. Period. Torture, also not funny. Killing animals. Not funny. Child abuse. Not funny.
It isn't my sense of humor that sucks.
A google on "Palin, Manhattan, not Bernhard" suggests a fundraiser in mid-October; however, it was announced before the markets got exciting; who has deep pockets this week? Fred's meetings with world leaders at the UN hasn't made the news; since she hadn't met any by the time of the Gibson interview, I'm guessing no Manhattan. (No airports in Manhattan, so the Ireland waffle is not on the table.)
Wait, I live on 104th, I don't count as respectable?
also, I walked down 125 from Morningside to Lex last night, and never before had I seen that many cops in the same place. Like 2 groups of 5-15 cops every 50 feet. Then one of them told me there was a shooting, and had to walk down 124 instead.
"Gang rape isn't funny. Period. Torture, also not funny. Killing animals. Not funny. Child abuse. Not funny."
It's all in the way you look at it. For example, all of the above are funnier than Larry the Cable Guy.
I wonder if you guys would think it was really funny if some looney red neck "comedian" did a bit about warming Obama not to come to Birmingham or he'd be lynched? How funny would that be? The howls of outrage would be unbelievable, but because its a conservative woman, no big deal.
Gosh, in the entire comment thread, I see exactly one person who thinks it's funny. So maybe you should calm down a litte.
Listen, if we have to start explaining why things are funny, they obviously cease to be funny. But suffice to say Libertarian has a shitty sense of humor...
I'm sorry Libertarian, but whether offensive or not, y'all lost all rights to make fun of black people because of 400 years of you know what. Light punishment indeed.
'cept for Jeffrey Ross. That nigga's funny as hell
Stop speaking right now, Sandra.
The old testament reference is, of course, a reference to her being jewish. Lewis Black has a funny bit along similar lines, but the difference is that Black is clever while Bernhardt only strives to be contraversial.
But this rant signifies nothing more than Bernahrdt's belief that the rant will be contraversial, and so popular with her admirers.
I do agree that the whacko in King of Comedy was a role that she pulled off perfectly though.
"Guanatamo Bay. Come for the beaches. . . stay for the waterboarding"
See, torture can be funny, I saw that on a T-shirt here - http://tshirtinsurgency.com/guantanamo-bay-t-shirt
"Gang rape isn't funny. Period. Torture, also not funny. Killing animals. Not funny. Child abuse. Not funny."
This sounds oddly like that irritating clip on tv from Axe bodyspray in which someone insists that jokes about sheep aren't funny.
It is hard to think of how one would come up with a funny child abuse joke, but it does seem doubtful that it couldn't be done. And I can think of funny jokes about rape, although don't known any offhand about gang rape. Torture though seems an easy target for humor. And have animals really become that sancrosanct. I can think of good jokes about killing animals.
Maybe the problem here is a confusion between making a joke about a topic and endorsing a behavior in the joke. That would seem to miss the fact that it is a joke.
I've got no defense for Bernhard and the rape stuff. That's disgusting.
However, I can explain why Palin inspires a visceral detestation. She reminds some women, me included, of all the mean girls that made our lives a misery in school. She's shallow, vapid, dishonest, ignorant, intellectually lazy, more concerned about style than substance, and vindictive. What's not to hate?
I do not wish rape on anyone. Boiling oil, on the other hand...
"It's like getting offended at Sarah Silverman."
Big difference: Sarah Silverman is actually funny. Bernhard isn't.
Let's break this down a little, shall we?
"Rape" does not equal "sex". Shouldn't have had to explain that to a woman, but there you go. Republicans aren't afraid of sex, and a woman who has had five kids certainly isn't afraid of sex.
i doubt she literally wants to see palin gangraped by anybody.
it's called "shock comedy" where you try to elicit laughs by shocking your audience.
it's not for everyone but let's not pretend she really wants palin gangraped, ok?
Applying Lon's comment to the example given, it would seem that Sandra Bernhard's rant is NOT a joke. Saying vicious things about someone you actually hate doesn't count as joking unless the wordplay is very, very clever. Oscar Wilde could get away with it. It takes a certain touch.
Heavy-handed tirades almost never work. They're predictable and boring and come off as mean-spirited. They may be intended as jokes, but they are bad jokes at best. And often not even that.
Apparently Sarah Bernhard is one of numerous celebrities and/or comedians who believes her views on politics to be either insightful or funny. I don't even know what she said, but I read a couple of days ago that Lindsay Lohan had weighed in on the election. Who cares? Fame does not translate into insight.
Actually I agree with "Libertarian" that there are some topics that just aren't funny, but I'm an older person, so maybe this is just another one of those opinions that come with age. South Park has some hilarious moments but then some that are just offensive, not clever. Humor and outrageousness aren't the same thing, but some comedians and some audiences can't tell the difference.
Let's admit it, folks. We would all love to see Sarah Palin being gang-raped by some black men . .
it would serve her right.
What SB said is simply not funny. That is not to say that whole categories of awful tragedies can't be funny.
You can joke about rape. As George Carlin (peace be unto him) once said "think about Elmer Fudd raping Porky Pig". This is sort of funny. There was at least one good rape joke in Blazing Saddles too (You said rape twice? [response] "I like rape.").
I guess my point is that an offensive joke is less offensive if it is funny. I have heard and told funny allusions to torture and abuse (our host offered a funny allusion himslef the other day: "and keep feeding you, and feeding you", a reference to the hilarious Wu Tang clip called "Torture" (I think that is what it was called)).
And don't get me started on race. Whether its white, black or everything in between, there are few things funnier than good natured racial humor.
And this: "y'all lost all rights to make fun of black people because of 400 years of you know what."
African-American please. I'm not going to stop making jokes about black folks out of white guilt. I mean, I love you guys and all, but you all are way too funny for me to sick back and pretend not to be amused.
Deleted.
I might be a lil weird here, but if I'm gonna get royally screwed, in a political/civil rights/etc sense, then I want it to be by a white guy per usual. I'm a black woman and experience has shown that a black or feminine face in a high place is not a necessarily a sign of progress.
Palin inspires the same highly visceral negative reaction in me that Clarence Thomas does. I do hate her cos she's a woman trying to screw me over with a smile on her face and claiming to be a feminist all at once. If she's a feminist, then what the hell does that leave me?
Michael Richards was basically banned from public viewing after his bit of "shock comedy" directed at black hecklers in L.A. If you want to defend Sandra Bernard, then you're stuck defending Kramer too.
If you go to a place where people are starving, they will tell you that heaven is a Feast.
If you go to a place where young men cannot find women to marry, they will tell you that heaven is a brothel.
The Church Fathers, at a time where they were being ground by the millstones of the lion's teeth to make the flour that would become the bread of Christ, explained that part of the pleasures of Heaven would be watching the wicked be tormented in Hell.
I think that SB's observational humor fits quite well with the viewpoint of the Church Fathers... but that pretty much only works if you see her positions as Religious.
They make absolutely no sense to me through any other filter than the one that says "Cosmic Justice would entail Ironic Punishment!"
"Michael Richards was basically banned from public viewing after his bit of "shock comedy" directed at black hecklers in L.A. If you want to defend Sandra Bernard, then you're stuck defending Kramer too."
You are a fucking idiot, Juan. Richards stopped his show and was directly talking to two black dudes in the audience. Cute try, though. And its not about defending SB, its about not getting riled up by what a comedian says during a show. The fact that some dumb-ass blogger has this on her "Sarah Palin sexist watch," is beyond dumb.
Stacy,
Where's your sense of humor now? It all depends on whose ox is getting gored. If you want to defend wishing graphic acts of violence on someone as being humor, then you you're stuck defending it in both instances.
BTW, unlike the black guys in Kramer's audience who heckled and insulted him in the middle of his show, Palin did nothing to warrant the ire of the ugly, untalented Bernhard.
I forget who it was that said that there was a line that comedians step up to, basically pushing the envelope of offensive subjects without being explicitly offensive. Some comedians crossed that line (including many otherwise great ones) and ceased being funny.
I agree with that sentiment. Sandra Bernhardt was never smart enough to sense that line and made her career on crossing it (e.g. being mean). Her limited popularity has been a product of people taking a stake in her bullying behavior. In that regard, I think the inadvertent comparison to Larry the Cable guy is apt.
Ta-Nehisi, let me just say that it is so great to have you here at The Atlantic. I look forward to picking up your book. Your comments are so great, and your perspective is a breath of fresh air. Thank you.
As far as Ms. Bernhard, uh....she's crazy!
Juan,
I wasn't offended by what Richards said. It was obviously dumb, and ignorant, but I certainly wasn't offended. Also, it wasn't a joke. He was just calling them niggers. If you can't see the difference, then I don't know what to tell you.
I have always felt that a lot of comedians try to have it both ways. They want to be taken seriously as social commentators, yet when you take their social commentary seriously, they say "whoa, I am just a jokester". Like when Michael Moore said to Lou Dobbs; you can't have inaccuracy in comedy, then are we to assume that his documentaries and books have a deep lack of accuracy or seriousness? If Bowling For Columbine is a comedy piece, he should return his Oscar.
If people didn't find comedians offensive, Michael Richards would still be fondly remembered as the loveable, hipster doufus from Seinfeld.
I'm not sure that Bernhardt's rant means something about Palin, or that Palin is actually generating more hate then other prominent public women. *
Get an oldster to tell you about the sort of stuff that was said about Eleanor Roosevelt. Not to mention all the Hillary stuff over the last 15 years.
Weird and sad as it is, whenever a woman is at all a public figure of discussion, even in some much more trivial way then Palin, rape jokes and threats always come up.**
I don't know if you remember the Kathie Sierra blogosphere controversy of last year, but something that ought to have been a total tempest in a teapot--had to do with opinions about software usability--blew up because folks who disagreed with a *web design column* decided to express themselves in--you guessed it--rape threats.
Run for President, be married to a President, be on TV, be on the internet, run for the condo board--these are just a few of the things a women can do to get herself threatened with violent sexual punishment.
People on the right do it, and some people on the left. Men are most often the perpetrators, but sometimes, as with Bernhardt, it's women.
Whatever. It has nothing to do with how nice or horrible the woman is--all you need are the right chromosomes and you too can play. It's horrible, but it's not stopping anytime soon.
* Bernhardt's repulsive triple play of race, sex, and violence is of course, a whole mess in itself that means a lot about Bernhardt. 'M just talking about the pattern "woman does public stuff=nasty humans use the rape threat thing"
** Palin's nomination infuriates me too for a variety of political reasons. That's irrelevant to the fact that these sort of events are still scummage.
Stacy,
You're playing dumb. Richard didn't just call the men niggers (just like Bernhard didn't just call Palin a traitorous bitch), he said he'd like to see them lynched (just like Bernhard said she'd like to see Palin gang-raped). You're being dishonest in claiming that one of these 'comedians' was being funny and the other was being offensive. Either both were being offensive and over the line or neither were.
I think what Bernhard said was stupid, not funny, and managed to offend a whole lot of people shotgun-style. Sounds like her whole career.
She doesn't represent anyone but herself, and doesn't do herself any favors with this rant.
This Palin-hatred is really idiotic. I have much more of a healthy fear of her, in terms of her views and intentions, than any hatred.
Anyway, if you want to see funny, check out the Onion video mentioned above by JimS. Brilliant.
Juan,
You truly are an idiot. I didn't say that he 'just" called them that. I said that it wasn't part of his routine. He wasn't joking. He's was very pissed and his true colors came out. He wasn't even TRYING to be funny. Do you really not get this? I also said I wasn't offended by Richards. How would I be in a position to be offended?
The essence of racism is the fear of us darkies "marryin yer daughters." And I respect that, I really do.
As a white person, I just have to thank you, TNC, for being so understanding about our little foibles.
I guess she's trying to allude to the Central Park Jogger case... you know, the one where Black teenagers were villified for raping a white woman only to find out years later that the confessions were coerced and that she was not raped by those boys? You remember, right? Still playing up the old racial fears... the ironic thing is that she does it during a rant about female solidarity of some sort. What an idiot.
Williams says "Let's admit it, folks. We would all love to see Sarah Palin being gang-raped by some black men . .
it would serve her right."
Rape doesn't serve anybody right. Rape is rape. It's a violent crime. I'm not saying, "I disagree with Williams, so being raped would serve him right."
It's a little weird for Williams to claim that "we would ALL love" to see her not just raped, but gang-raped. What makes you think we would ALL love to see that, Williams? I think it's mostly just you.
Stacy,
"I also said I wasn't offended by Richards. How would I be in a position to be offended?"
As a decent human being, you ought to be offended anytime someone wishes an act of violence on someone. Set aside your overpowering political bias for a moment and think about that.
lizkdc, great points and the reason why the joke's not funny any more, if it ever was.