Monday, November 23, 2015

How Funny is Murdering Prostitutes?

At the American Music Awards last night (from the BBC Story):

Actress Anna Kendrick skewered the cliches of acceptance speeches as she collected the best soundtrack prize for her film Pitch Perfect 2.
She then thanked music producer Harvey Mason Jr "for not telling anyone about that hooker we buried", before giving her final shout-out to executive producers Julianne Jordan and Julia Michaels, exclaiming: "I don't like you at all!"

This astonishing speech came amidst endless references to how Paris matters, Syria matters and how peace is possible (one wonders if Nigeria and Mali matter?  perhaps not so much?).

Now I know that edgy humour should be edgy. 

And I know that being politically correct can be very boring – but seriously, how funny is murdering sex workers?


Imagine the reference had been to another group?  A big “Thank You” for “not telling anyone about the burka babe we buried”?  Perhaps the fact that the brutal murder of (often aboriginal) sex workers is common in Canada makes me over sensitive but I see this as an appalling comment and one that is worthy of criticism.  

1 comment:

Gyor said...

The humour isn't in actual murder of prostitutes, the very idea is sickening and breaks my heart.

The humour is in the utter absurdity of the idea that this celebrity done such an extreme thing.