A racially niave exchange, at best, between filmmaker Michael Moore and View co-host Joy Behar on Wednesday’s show, is being interpreted by some as racisim.
No doubt that if Abbot and Costello did a racist ‘Who’s on First’ routine, it probably would have went a bit like the banter between Moore and Behar.
Within the first few minutes of a dangerous game of hypothetical racism, Moore, in order to clarify a clumsy metaphor to describe his disfavor with President Obama, quoted controversial comedian Bill Maher to drive his point home.
“I think Bill Maher had a good answer… he said that Obama, who is half white and half black,” Moore said, “he said, ‘ I went into the poles, I voted for the black guy, and what I got was the white guy.’”
The filmmaker immediately tried to undo the potential disaster after a deafening silence.
“What he means by it is that… he really… this was a historic moment,” Moore stammered, “we elected our first African American President, he could have really taken us down a path like Franklin Roosevelt or whatever.”
Behar then stepped-in to lend a hand.
“Is it that angry black man thing that he’s afraid of projecting?” Behar queried.
Behar explained to confused “View” co-hosts that the “angry black man thing” was an issue during Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. It wasn’t.
“If you get angry and you’re a black guy in this country, people turn on you for that,” Behar said.
By the end, Moore and Behar were miles away from the documentarian’s original point, which was simply to express disappointment in President Obama for pandering to Republicans.
“Like a lot of people that voted for (President Obama),” Moore began the snowball, “I’m a little disappointed in him.”
It was a feeble ‘olive branch’ metaphor, conveying Moore’s interpretation of the President’s over-tolerance with partisan Republicans, which lead into the off-color (pardon the pun) Maher reference.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that either Moore or Behar have had a spill while stirring the racial pot.
Earlier this year, Moore alleged that most guns are owned by suburban homeowners with irrational fears of poor people and black people breaking into their homes.
“That imaginary person who’s going to break in and kill you, who does that person look like? It’s not freckle-faced Jimmy down the street, is it really?” Moore postured. “It’s the poor or people of color that we’re afraid of.”
Two years ago, Behar cried ‘racism’ on the nickname ‘Black Friday,’ used to describe the Christmas shopping rush that occurs the day after Thanksgiving.
“Isn’t it a little racist to call it Black Friday,” Behar said. “But there’s a negative connotation to it.”
She later said that she was unaware of the accounting terminology equating the phrase ‘in the black’ to fiscal stability when co-host Whoopi Goldberg explained the meaning.
The Democratic Moore said that hasn’t yet decided who he’s voting for in 2012.
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