Chicago Teachers Union President Forced To Apologize After Mocking Education Secretary’s Lisp

Here’s another example of how not to get your point across. Last month, Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teacher’s Union, made a 35 minute speech at a union event. However, the only moment most people are remembering now is a joke she made pointing out Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s lisp. Lewis has now even had to make an official apology which Duncan has accepted.

In the speech, Lewis quoted Duncan, impersonating the way he talked. She then said she could tell he “went to a private school, because if he had gone to a public school, he would have had that lisp fixed.” A clip of that moment was soon circulated by a nonprofit group and many were accusing Lewis of being a “bully.” At first, the union released a statement saying that Lewis was just trying to “‘lighten the mood.” However, she’s since had to apologize.

So what do you think? Over the line or just a harmless joke. I usually consider the rule to be that you should never make fun of anyone for something they can’t change (disability, physical appearance) but a lisp is kind of borderline.

Watch a news report on the story from Chicago’s WLS-TV below:

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