I do not understand how you can reconcile having a problem with adults "being subjected to a tasteless joke" with calling a woman who was threatened with a rape joke "a dumb cunt". Was the guy in the Michael Richards incident "a stupid ****** who should have expected what he got"?
First of all, though I didn't mean it to come off that way, I apologize to the few women here who might have been offended by me referring to the woman in the Tosh situation as a cunt. I didn't mean it in a prejudicial manner, I say cunt all the time without thinking about it, but I should have used a better term.
You know why I'm apologizing? Just like people who attend WWE's shows shouldn't have to fear what kind of offensive humor they might hear, people who come to this section of the forums shouldn't have to worry about prejudicial remarks since it clearly states in our rules that it is forbidden. There's a place for those kind of jokes. As it pertains to the forums here, the Bar Room is the place. As it pertains to live shows, any company that markets itself to be "Family Friendly" shouldn't be airing rape jokes.
Also, there's a huge difference between the Michael Richards and Daniel Tosh situations. Michael Richards was bombing when a few people showed up a little late to the show and were making some noise. Instead of doing what every other comedian would have done (ask them to quiet down, possibly ribbing them a bit,) he decided to try and save his show by spouting racist shit.
The woman in Tosh's situation was a heckler. She wasn't randomly attacked for no reason, she shouted her opinion out, which is completely against any rules and downright disrespectful to the performer, and subsequently and rightfully got trashed for it. She didn't like one of his jokes. There's nothing wrong with that. However, no one paid to hear her opinion and for her to break the rules and interrupt the show that a room full of people paid to see is despicable. If you go to a show, it is your responsibility to make sure it's a show you want to see. A stand up comedian who has a show on Comedy Central? There's plenty of research materials. One episode would have shown her that nothing is off limits with him and she probably shouldn't go to the show. She did, she got offended, her fucking fault.
The parents got the reference. A.W. had to make a public apology. That non-punishment seems right in line with the non-crime that was committed.
Despite all of this other shit, I totally agree with you here and with the majority of your other post.
That was a PPV. Whereas this was a televised event, it's totally different. What happens on PPV is unknown. TV has limits.
They market the show as being family friendly, whether the show is on PPV or TV is totally irrelevant.
You realize PG doesn't mean Teletubbies, Scooby-Doo, Power Rangers and kiddie crap right? The joke technically fits under the TVPG guidelines:
http://tvguidelines.org/ratings.htm
That doesn't change the fact that they market the company as being family friendly. I don't know whether or not they technically broke any laws, I know that AW violated the trust of the audience by making an offensive joke during a family friendly program.
Seinfeld, The Office, Martin and Married with Children had similar jokes and they were TVPG.
Those shows did not feature rape jokes.
It's a wrestling show; a product which has a history of being politically incorrect even in recent years(Cena/Rock feud anyone?). Oh and Big Show said something similar to John Cena 8 years ago on SD, which was a TV-PG show, and no one cared.
In my very first post, I said that I didn't think anyone would be upset since they ignored his previous racial remarks. I'm completely aware that the WWE is inconsistent in it's policies.
It's on cable TV on a show that ends at 11pm EST. It wasn't as if he dropped an f-bomb or anything.
It's WWE Raw, it's marketed as a family friendly program. They shouldn't allow rape jokes. How the fuck can anyone argue this?
I hate taking this stance as I am certainly one to make awful, awful jokes all the time and I defend them at every turn. However, forcing offensive jokes onto people who aren't in a place where it is to be expected is unfair.
