As if the media don’t have enough racial acrobatics to gawk at, we now have new “The View” host Rosie O’Donnell taking her shot at Asians. In what must have been an attempt to milk the ratings boost Danny Devito’s now infamous alchohol-infused rant caused weeks ago on the show, O’Donnell said, “The fact is that it’s news all over the world. That you know, you can imagine in China it’s like, ‘Ching chong, ching chong, Danny DeVito, ching chong chong chong chong, drunk, ‘The View,’ ching chong.’” And just like that, City Councilman John Liu (D-Queens) got on the case sending show creator Barbara Walters an open letter saying, “As a well-traveled and experienced journalist who has gained respect from many people around the world, you better than anyone should know that these types of derogatory remarks have consequences beyond the stupidity of the person who made them. Yet, you more than anyone stands to profit handsomely from the pumped-up ratings generated by this type of controversy. I do not believe the production and broadcast of these remarks reflects the high standards of excellence held by you or the American Broadcasting Company.” The upside of all this recent racial tumult on both coasts—from Michael Richards, to Andy Dick, to O’Donnell—is that we are finally getting some reality on our TV instead of P.C. special effects. Looks like Chappelle quit just in time.
PBS, one of the last allegedly, sort of, somewhat independent media channels in the United States took one more step toward soft-shoe obsolescence recently when announced a partnership with the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (think Starbucks for the tweed sweater wearer who likes to fancy himself a rebel). The press release from the two cozy companies states, “Sweetly balanced and smooth, with full flavor and a rich finish, PBS Blend is grown in the lush, tropical rain forests surrounding the El Triunfo Biosphere in Mexico.”
Andrea Downing, PBS’ vice president of Home Entertainment and Partnerships, gushed, “This partnership allows PBS a new way to engage and inform consumers around a quality product, provides them with another way to support public television through their every day lifestyle choices and purchases, and ensures that our member stations can continue to deliver a valuable public service in their communities.” In human-speak that means: This bean juice cash is sweet, and no, we don’t really need your donations, but please keep them rolling in. But all is not lost—PBS ombudsman Michael Getler puts his short and curlies on the line and actually speaks the truth: “I’m no businessman and this all may be none of my business as ombudsman, either. But it is hard to see this generating enough revenue to really matter and meanwhile it may make it look, to still more people, as though PBS is sort of desperate to find money anywhere it can. The purist view, which I can afford to take and PBS perhaps can’t, is that the piling up of these commercial linkages might slowly add-up to a weakening of this vital network’s standing with enough viewers that will really matter.”
