O'Reilly Factor: Dennis Miller's Homophobic Joke About Barney Frank

Dennis Miller appeared on The O'Reilly Factor tonight (Miller is a frequent guest on Bill O'Reilly's show) and went on a rant regarding what Barack Obama should do to the executives of AIG when he takes office, namely, that Obama "should flatten these punks" and "come down hard on them." After Miller finished his rant, O'Reilly chimed in that Obama's next move should be "to arrest Barney Frank, correct?" Miller replies, "Eh, Barney might want to be arrested."

It seems that Frank, the most prominent openly-gay member of the House of Representatives, is being slurred by Miller for his homosexuality. The reactions of O'Reilly and Miller confirm that Miller's joke was inappropriate, to say the least. Watch and judge for yourself.

Related: Bill O'Reilly And Barney Frank Face-Off Over Fannie & Freddie

Comments

[vincefango]

Sorry Dennis....­the only thing I enjoy about you anymore is Dana Carvey's impressions of you.

[OldLemming]

Dennis Miller has lost whatever audience he ever had when he started endorsing geo. dubya shrub ... it purely blew his cover as a "wanna be" spokesman for the intelligencia ... he was revealed as another "wizard of oz", ineffectual, arrogant [without any raison d'etre], fox-like "fair and balanced" clone ... totally inconsequential ! O'Really's show is probably the only booking he can get now and the two of them belong together ... the comprise the majority of eachothers audience.

[robotfog]

"O'Really's show is probably the only booking he can get now and the two of them belong together "

in a hotel room in Paris.

[Soundofthunder]

Dennis:

You forgot the cardinal rule of comedy: go where the funny is. You are unmoored in rightwing ideologue land, a land where gay bashing is considered funny. Worse yet, your intended audience doesn't understand your arcane references to cultural touchstones of the past 3,000 years. You are shooting blanks at blank minds. Good luck with that.

SOT

[halinphilly]

My problem with Barney Frank is that I can hardly understand a word he's saying in the first place. When he talks, it sounds like he's just popped about 8 pieces of gum in his mouth at once. I usually can't agree with Miller and O'Reilly on most issues, but I have to say, this bailout of rich frat boys and white collar blue-hairs who have been stealing our money and are now partying on our dime - does piss me off. And I think some of these guys should be looking at serious jail time. The jury, however, is still out on Mr. Frank until I can get a transcript of what he's actually been saying. IMHO. He IS cartoonish.

[robotfog]

I don't care what Barney Frank mumbles. I stopped thinking highly of him when he dropped transpeople and gender expression from ENDA.

[IcarusPoe]

Miller actually used to be funny, but 9/11 knocked something loose upstairs. Pity ...

[ceasespin]

make the media more accountable
sign the fcc petition to introduce a "News Quality Rating System"
petition is at
http://ceasespin.org/fcc_petition/fcc_petition.php
or FixNewsNow.org

[dwillisno1]

Miller reminds me of the editor of our local paper who spends a lot of time creating what he thinks are clever headlines, rather than covering the news or making sure the coverage is accurate.. Miller spends more time dredging up his obscure literary and usually insulting and rarely funny comparisons than making real commentary. His lamo attempt and Monday Night Football failed not so much because the audience found his so called cerebral humor too intellectual, but because the play was over and the next one half over before he shut up. Really good "anger comedy" only works when it is impartial and cuts both ways, and of course genuinely funny, like Lewis Black.

[alieninvader]

I've always believed that Miller hides behind his "intellectual" humor. If someone finds him unfunny, he diverts the blame onto his "illiterate" audience instead of where it belongs, right in his unfunny lap. The reasons I think he's not funny are that he has horrible timing and he comes across as extremely self-conscious. Oh yeah, let's not forget, he has lousy material.

[robotfog]

and he laughs at his own jokes A LOT.

[Sensayuma]

It's really amusing to watch the indignation that has been birthed by the loss of any sense of humor regarding the ability to joke about human foibles. Watching that video was actually funny, especially the reactions by O'Reilly and Miller.

When people like Barney Frank actually become, as he has, a caricature, then he himself has declared open season on his behavior with respect to humorous sarcasm.

Lighten up and get a life oh you of the thin skin.

[dwillisno1]

So now being gay is a "human foible?" Glad to see you are progressing from abomination to foible, but I think you are far too bigot yet. What is caricature about Barney Frank? No more so than Miller or O'Reilly.

[SimonOne]

Yeah, it's such a pity that circus freakshows are a thing of the past. Now we have to make do with The O'Reilly Factor.

[Justtellthetruth]

Forget that Barney Frank is gay. Who Cares? Of what relevance is it to any thinking person?

However, Please DO NOT forget that Mr. Frank helped prop up Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae at a time when they were doing Maximum damage to the US economy and many others (from both sides of the aisle) were already frightened by the damage that they could cause in subprime mortgages and the housing bubble.

Fannie and Freddie did not cause the current crisis exclusively, but they contributed significantly, and Barney Franks Judgment and ability to lead in these (or any) matters should be VERY suspect. He had personal ties to freddie insiders, and instead of recusing himself, he got right in the middle and propped them up when they were doing the WORST damage to the US economy.

He, along with many others in congress, should be shown the door.

[noamjunior]

blaming fannie and freddie is a con myth and complete nonsense
the cause of the housing bubble was the unregulated trading of mortgages as if they were investments or commodities
in an effort to gain more mortgages that could be packaged as investments -banks gave loans to anyone who signed thier name.

The GOP ran congress for 6 years and did nothing, bush did nothing- this is ALL on the gop's unwilling to regulate investments based in mortgage securities, blaming Frank is like blaming the fire department for causing the fire becasue they were there when the building burned down

[martykz]

It's a ridiculous and offensive comment, but it brings up an interesting point: Should certifiably gay men be incarcerated with other men or perhaps with women? Threaten me with time in a woman's jail and I might have to think twice.

[alieninvader]

I doubt you've ever had two thoughts.

[martykz]

Meowww...

[Gatogorra]

How about a Dennis Miller and Denis Leary face-off? I've come to realize that the stated political ideology behind certain gravelly, ranting persona is arbitrary when, in the end, they always seem to blurt out something wrong, inhumane and bullying. They're both on the boor spectrum, each hovering somewhere in the wimpy, showbizy right-or-l­eft-of-cen­ter between Stalin and Mussolini.

[alieninvader]

My question is, who is Dennis Miller's audience? Most of O'Reilly's fans wouldn't know a simile from a jelly bean, yet Miller's obscure similes are his entire shtick. Despite the pseudo intellectual references, his jokes are still very base and low-brow and most of all, not funny.

[MKBARNUM]

How can so muchg attention -- not to mention, apparent anger -- be prompted by a single nasty joke?
I'm sure that Franks, who I very much admire, dislikes that joke but suspect that he can take it without .outrage.

[Riker]

I agree that Miller has never been funny; he's just arrogant and angry. In fact, I can't think of any really funny Republican comics. Bob Hope was a snore as a stand-up. Drew Carry? Please. Who else is there? (And by the way, if you have to call yourself a maverick, you aren't.)

[alieninvader]

Republicans are only unintentionally funny.

[noamjunior]

John Swartzwelder, the most prolifilic writer of The Simpsons and author of a number of funny books- Conservative
Don't forget the writers of south park, also very conservative

[LeftistGuerrilla]

Dennis Miller was lame before he came out as a conservative, he is even less funny now. He played Prarie Meadows casino where all the useless celebrities go. It would be nice if he just went away.

[jcapflorida]

Dennis Miller is a tool. And O'Reilly..­.. I doubt they'll print what I'd really like to say... total jerkoff? Can I say that on here??