Sarah Silverman: Fox News “Is A 24-Hour- A-Day Racism Engine, But It’s All Coded” (Update)
Comedian Sarah Silverman has a history of making provocative and controversial statements, sometimes in the realm of politics.
In her new book, The Bedwetter, she sets her sights on Fox News and “coded” racism in light of her own brush with being called out for stereotyping.
Newsbusters catches the short passage in her book (and audiobook, below). While discussing her interaction with Media Action Network for Asian Americans President Guy Aoki (who spoke out against Silverman for using “chink” in a joke), she essentially blamed Fox News and tea partiers.
Right-wing Americans who appear in mainstream media are not out there calling black people ‘niggers,’ or saying, ‘The Klan has good ideas.’ Instead, they’re questioning the legitimacy of Obama presidency by accusing him of being born in Africa or of being a Muslim.
And then the specifics about Fox News: “The entire Fox News Channel is a twenty-four-hour-a-day racism engine, but it’s all coded, all implied. Lou Dobbs used to scream on CNN about ‘immigration,’ not ‘filthy Mexicans.'”
Is this blanket and ridiculous statement surprising or shocking? Not really – Silverman is known for this. What’s more interesting is the lack of focus on these types of moments in her book during her PR push. I’ve watched and listened to extensive interviews with Silverman on Adam Carolla‘s podcast and Bill Maher‘s HBO show, settings it would be conceivable for this subject matter to come up, but it hasn’t. Instead the bed-wetting aspects, the title of the book, but not the majority of its content, has been a focus.
Maybe she knew the reaction that would come and wanted to avoid it. Until now. Sounds like she may have a “pinhead” designation in her future….
UPDATE: A Fox News spokesperson has responded to Silverman’s claims to Huffington Post: “Sarah’s anger is understandable having recently lost her television show. We sympathize with her need for attention considering her book is languishing near 300 on Amazon.com.”
Here’s the audio:
