Joan Rivers: I'm Not Apologizing For a Joke I Told, So "Calm the F*** Down"

She told a joke, and now it's being demanded that she "apologize" for having done so.

She said "No."

While promoting their WEtv reality series "Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows Best," the mother and daughter duo were asked what it was like living together. The elder Rivers has been residing at Melissa's home in Malibu, Calif., during the taping of the series.

"Those women in the basement in Cleveland had more space," Rivers said.

Gabe mentioned this story on the podcast. It's not a "Too Soon" joke, I don't think, as this story is a year old. I didn't even know what "women in the basement in Cleveland" she meant when Gabe quoted the joke.

Following outrage on social media...

Of course.

...and calls from two of the victims' attorneys to apologize...

Of course. Their attorneys. People whose income relies upon conflict.

...Rivers remains defiant.

"I'm a comedienne," she told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "I know what those girls went through. It was a little, stupid joke. There is nothing to apologize for. I made a joke. That's what I do. Calm down. Calm f------ down. I'm a comedienne. They're free, so let's move on."

The only people in the whole world who even have something close to a right to ask for an apology are the affected women, not the ten million bored, empty sh*t-for-brains who do nothing but link Outragey stuff on FaceBook and Twitter all day.

We've expanded the concept of an "apology" from a personal regret about visiting a wrong on someone, delivered to that person personally, to this sad state of fake rage and emo Sadness Theater, in which ten thousand bored, empty outrage junkies take offense on someone else's behalf and then go into ridiculous Power Tripping mode where the mob demands appeasement to prove they haven't actually wasted all of their free time on the Internet this week.

See, Dad? I did something this week. I got the #ApologizeJoan hashtag trending and then I got coverage of it. And I think that's a little more important than looking for a job, don't you?

I'm glad Joan Rivers is telling them "No," and without being mealy-mouthed about it.

My rule would be she actually should apologize to the women, personally, in a phone call, and not on Twitter or the media, if they really want such a thing.

If it's just their lawyers "advising" them to be offended, then, no.

But if they're really upset, then they should probably be willing to take a three minute apology phone call.

Either way, this shouldn't be on Anti-Social Media. The whole reason people want this on Anti-Social Media is so that they can have closure for these little stupid mob-power-trip psychodramas they create to distract themselves from the yawning voids of their own lives. They want to see the end of this little stupid movie they're creating.

And they should be denied that. If this really is a cause for offense, it should be dealt with as an offense, and that means private discussions.

Not in the public Twitter Playhouse Theater format the drama-lovers prefer.

I don't know if the women really want an apology, of course.

And I don't know if Rivers would actually even be willing to do that.

And I support her for not be willing to do that, actually. When I say she would owe them an apology, I mean kind of... barely, if she wanted to fulfill all of her low-level social obligations.

If she doesn't, then that's kind of fine too.

It's really none of my business, as it's no one's business, except for the four people directly involved.

posted by Ace at 01:47 PM

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