Governor Paterson SNL Skit Criticized By Governor, Advocates Of The Blind

The New York Post has Governor Paterson's direct response to the Weekend Update segment that featured jokes at the expense of his blindness. The Post's lede said the governor "didn't see the humor" in the sketch.

via the New York Post

"I can take a joke," Paterson told reporters.

But he called the SNL spoof a "third-grade depiction of people and the way they look" that could lead others to believe that "disability goes hand-in-hand with an inability to run a government or business."

"I run the place I work in, so I don't have to be worried about being discriminated against," noted Paterson

An advocacy group for the blind also denounced the sketch:

The National Federation of the Blind says it considers NBC's "Saturday Night Live" skit making fun of New York Gov. David Paterson an attack on all blind Americans.

Federation spokesman Chris Danielsen says the portrayal on Saturday's television show suggesting Paterson as befuddled and disoriented because of his blindness is "absolutely wrong."

Read more from AP here and watch the SNL skit below.

See more skits from this weekend's SNL here including Amy Poehler's SNL goodbye.

PATERSON SKETCH:

Comments

[trudem2]

This was a funny skit....the impersonation, that is. Certainly not the governor's disability.

[cynicalidealist]

Paterson's full statement put it in the proper perspective. SNL has the right to do this - but it ain't funny.

Think of how the Farrelly Brothers have hand-in-hand mocked and celebrated the disabled - and have always cast many folks with disabilities in their films.

Perhaps SNL will invite his honor - as they have former Mayor Rudy Giuliani - to host the show?

[chayefsky]

I laughed then felt guilty for laughing. My inner critic is working overtime.

[Jayson F BA]

This was the worst skit by SNL this season. I could not find the humor in deplicting a disablity that way in a sketch. I don't think things should be so politically correct, however that skit was cruel and so degrading to people with a disability.

[thaggas]

Worse skip this year?!? Not even close. While SNL has had some doozies, this one was somewhere near the middle. Also, any swipes at Patersons disability were throw-away jokes. The core of the sketch had nothing to do with Paterson being blind. The upside-down graph and Paterson losing his bearings twice. That was it. The rest of the sketch was about New York politics.

I'm starting to think people are commenting without watching this. It's a skit about a governor who happens to be blind, not a blind man who happens to be governor.

[jsijason]

Just because a person has a disability means they should be exempt from a little ribbing?

This skit was hilarious and IMO, his disability was not the emphasis, his cocaine use and New Jersey were...

[Dukedraven]

Although I'm sorry that some viewers were offended by the skit, I found it very funny. Because I've worked in offices with handicapped people, I've learned to see them like everyone else. I once had a blind supervisor who was as pompous and conniving as anyone I ever worked with. So I don't see any reason why we can't tell jokes about a handicapped person--without being offensive, of course. Frankly, I also think Patterson was more angry about the drug jokes than anything else.

[Chip W]

Yeah, I thought it was funny, too, and I don't think I was laughing at him. He was portrayed as a guy who has the trait, among others, of being blind. Maybe I'd feel differently if I were blind, but I'd hope not.

[sixx]

New York Governor, Blind Activists Bash SNL Skit... WATCH

I can't.

[tploomis]

I like humor that is on the edge and has a bit of a offensive slant to it. In some ways I think it is a breakthrough to joke about somebody with disabilities on TV (I didn't think most of the humor in this skit had much to do with his blindness... there were far more jokes about his drug use and sexual proclivities). Joking about Paterson pays him the honor of believing he has the internal strength to take a little ribbing, rather than assuming he's so lacking in ego strength that he will crumble at the hint of a joke at his expense. Where I live, all ethnic groups come in for a lot of joking, including my own (white). I'm a minority in my state, and my ethnic group is the butt of many jokes, most of them very funny. In Hawaii, if you can't take an ethnic joke, you'll get a heck of a lot more joking at your expense. Fortunately, the kind of people that can't take it quickly leave.

[SinisterK9]

I didn't see anyone complain when skits of McCain involved his mannerisms with his arms that were a direct result of his disability following his years of torture.

I say everyone get over it. Everyone seems to laugh at jokes no matter how rude they are, until it involves them, or someone they love or respect etc.

[113]

that sketch was so funny...when we got in the way of amy poehlers goodbye speech i was practically dying on the floor laughing....and he's on the phone "i'll take 50 circus tickets" lol

[rebelzz]

Mocking a person's gaffes and dressing isn't the same as making fun of his disability. Being disabled isn't something that you can control. Not funny.

[cnelson706]

I don't believe in picking on or laughing at people who have a disability, but that was funny. Damn funny!

[SerenityJoy]

SNL has also done more than a few skits mocking mentally disabled children, including one earlier this year that was simply awful, but rated very very few complaints, other than how bad the entire show was. The entire show is so cruel and so disgusting, it is hard to see some of the so-called stars bragging about their children and babies. There for the Grace of God....

[wpiv926]

I agree, they went to far. A disabled person who has went as far as Paterson has ought to celebrated, not made fun of.

[YellerDawg]

When I saw the show, I knew that SNL had gone too far. Making fun of disabled people just isn't funny. It's third grade stupidity, not clever satire. The writers and performers should just apologize and get it over with.

[thaggas]

But they weren't making fun of disabled people, they were satirizing the governor of New York who happens to be blind. I think just because someone is blind doesn't mean you can't make fun of them for everything else about them. Blindness does not define them. And you shouldn't drape them in that one trait as protection, especially if they are public figures.