So. According to Janeane Garofalo, only dumb, mean people join the Republican party, "use the word evildoer with a straight face" (I will never get why the words "evil" and "evildoer" are such stumbling blocks to some people, by the way -- I wonder what they would call someone who wanted to ban abortion? or someone who lit up a cigarette in public?), "love patriotism," and so on. Whatever, lady. Garofalo has obviously lost the ability to be funny, so she's decided to go the bitter crank route instead. She freaked out that dude from Scarborough Country, but it just makes me yawn.
About her series that Fox ABC dropped, supposedly because of her scary political views. I think that if the studio did that because they were afraid of getting hate mail, they are jerks, but that's par for the course for the Hollywood machine. It wouldn't surprise me if it were true. Of course, it was a stupid move on their part, because now they have given her a bigger axe to grind than if her show had been given a chance and failed on its own merits. But for all of the liberal views of the actors and other people that it employs, the Hollywood industry is conservative, not politically, but financially. The bottom line rules. As soon as a studio smells problems of any sort, its first instinct is to protect the bank account. They don't care what political views an actor holds so much as they care that the actor isn't going to make them trouble because of it. Middle-of-the-road actors like Garofalo, who probably does not make a great deal of money, are the ones who usually get the worst end of this deal. She has little influence despite her mouthing off, unlike more influential (and dangerous) people such as Barbra Streisand, Tim Robbins, and Susan Sarandon. I almost feel sorry for her. But she is obviously not smart enough to realise that her antics are alienating more and more people, and that unlike the celebrities mentioned above, she really can't afford to do that.
(Via Boycott Hollywood.)
Posted by Andrea Harris at June 23, 2003 03:23 PMNot to take away from your overall point, which I agree with, but I'm pretty sure it was ABC that dumped her, and not Fox.
I have a feeling one day that Grafallo is going to wake up one day and see just how stupid she was. Not necessarily in regards to her views, but how she so vehemently expressed those views turned the American public off on her.
Posted by: Brad at June 23, 2003 at 05:36 PMShe can claim victim status for her failed show and ride that 14 minutes and ticking for a while longer. She'll get all sorts of kudos and sympathy from the Hollywood crowd. Bleeuch. That's like getting a boo-boo treated by Jeffrey Dahmer.
My first choice would be to blame the failure on the fact that she has a over-inflated sense of self, no comedic timing, no sense of what is funny, and is a horrid actress. But that's just me.
Posted by: Mrs. du Toit at June 23, 2003 at 07:28 PMCalling Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon "dangerous" gives them way too much credit and plays into their narcissistic persecution fantasies.
The only dangerous celebrity I can think of is someone like Martin Lawrence, but that's only because he likes to run around in the middle of busy intersections, waving a pistol at passing cars while "exhausted". That's dangerous. Popping off like a college freshman who just read Noam Chomsky for the first time isn't.
Posted by: Sean at June 23, 2003 at 08:11 PM"ABC not Fox[...]"
Oops! My bad. One of those guys. I get all the networks mixed up.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at June 23, 2003 at 08:12 PMSean: well, that's true. I haven't heard that the Sarobbinses have been driving like maniacs or anything. I was thinking "dangerous" in terms of their power over celebrity-dazzled Democratic politicians, though that is probably a lot less than they think. They are mostly dangerous to my ability to watch any movie they are in. I mean, I loved Sarandon's work in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but -- well, you know, it's just not the same. ;)
Posted by: Andrea Harris at June 23, 2003 at 08:15 PMRepublicans should love them. They're all endorsing Howard Dean.
Posted by: Matt McIrvin at June 23, 2003 at 09:05 PMI'm willing to cut her some slack. Apparently she gave up alcohol recently, which means she used to be a drunk. This kind of ranting emotionalism is typical for the newly sober. She'll level out once she's past this phase of her sobriety.
Charleymane@dumbandmean.com
Posted by: Charleymane at June 23, 2003 at 09:26 PMYour pal Blair has the perfect wish for Ms. G in this situation: "Have fun going broke, Mate."
Posted by: Dave Himrich at June 23, 2003 at 10:52 PM