Jake Knotts, Slur-Spewing South Carolina State Senator, Deploys The 'Saturday Night Live Defense'

The latest chapter in the ongoing crapfest that is the South Carolina political scene occurred on a local South Carolina radio show last night, when State Senator Jake Knotts (R-S.C.) -- referring to gubernatorial hopeful Nikki Haley -- said, "We already got one raghead in the White House, we don't need a raghead in the governor's mansion."

Need it be said that Knotts does not support Haley -- who was raised a Sikh -- or her bid for the state house? Well, there you have it, in the most bigoted terms Knotts can muster. Of course, after the fact, Knotts invoked a very novel justification for his remark: the "Saturday Night Live defense":

"Bear in mind that this is a freewheeling, anything-goes Internet radio show that is broadcast from a pub. It's like local political version of Saturday Night Live, which is actually where the joke came from," said Knotts.

I'm prepared to be proven wrong about this -- so consider this something to which I'll be happy to return -- but if this joke came from the Saturday Night Live I've been watching my entire life, I sure cannot find it. As near as I can tell, the word "raghead" was used precisely twice on SNL. In Season One, Candace Bergen played a reporter interviewing "the king of a peaceful Middle Eastern country," who Bergen went on to "insult and torment," using, at one point, "raghead" as a slur. In Season Fifteen, Bruce Willis plays a passenger of a hijacked commercial flight who won't stop telling terrible jokes even after the terrorists on-board tell him that doing so will cost his fellow passengers their lives.

As near as I can tell, the term "raghead" dates back to 1921.

Again, maybe I missed the sketch where SNL ridiculed Nikki Haley and Barack Obama in this fashion. But if Knotts wanted to style himself after the sketch-comedy characters who deployed this term in SNL's storied past -- by which I mean act like an idiot-asshole -- mission accomplished.

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to [e-mail] -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

Comments

[Dick Gazinia]

03:35 AM on 06/09/2010

The simple question is which farm animal best represents this man?
An apple should give you a clue.

[banjokev]

10:42 PM on 06/08/2010

I can't be the only one to see Archie Bunker, just dumber, AND a real person. You can't make this stuff up. I've got to be late to the game on the Bunker analogy, but sheesh, incredible.

[Ricardo01]

06:28 PM on 06/08/2010

If the Saturday Night Live defense doesn't work, he can always use the Bevis and Buttheab defense.

[theobsoleteman]

08:53 PM on 06/07/2010

I usually try to avoid just saying something mean about a person's appearance, but this guy is a bloated toad, and that goes perfectly with the way he thinks. He implied we are at war with India in another interview, and clarified by saying he meant with "foreign countries." Bloated toad.

[ALRIGHTALREADY]

07:18 PM on 06/06/2010

yes , this is a racist S@#$head,,,, but, kind of ironic that Helen Thomas is in the same category and will be remembered for her bigotry more than he will

[barefoot2626]

09:23 PM on 06/07/2010

Helen Thomas will be known for the fifty years she worked in the White House asking questions that needed to be asked from presidents who were usually hiding something that should have not been hiding. Helen Thomas should have been able to have her own opinions but I guess some aren't prepared to allow for that.

[thinkingguy100]

11:47 PM on 06/07/2010

don't try to hijack the topic

[JLeeGeorge]

02:37 PM on 06/06/2010

Turbans and th purgree (spelling?) are really very elegant when worn by those who know how. I would hardly call them rags anyway. But, I do insist that wearing a fabric on your head is much better than having a head that is simply stuffed with "rags" as this governor's apparently is. Dirty rags at that. Plenty of evidence spews forth every time he opens his mouth. Kinda like another eastener said...it's what comes out of the man that defiles... .

[medicontheedge]

02:13 PM on 06/06/2010

He is NOT apologetic, nor is he admitting it was a "joke"

he, and his ilk, know exactly what they are saying... they are speaking directly to their base of redneck, racist homophobes who "want their country back."

[Msohio]

01:42 PM on 06/06/2010

knotts is a fat faced beaver. these bigots are so butt scratching happy that they can be as loud and ugly as they want to be.

[WhiteMane]

12:57 PM on 06/06/2010

Haven't seen this on any talkshows. If a Liberal had said this you would have the repugs on TV....RADIO... AND in the NEWSPAPERS, screaming their heads off...... for weeks.

[Clevelandinwi]

12:38 PM on 06/06/2010

jackNOTts is at the very least an idiot and at the most a bigotted, racist regressive SOB.

[bellabeach]

10:26 AM on 06/06/2010

Jake is a good ole boy who needs to lay off the beer and barbecue....I am happy SC has him...maybe they need to vote this racist out!!

[ramsha]

11:50 PM on 06/05/2010

What is inside your head is more important than what is outside.

[MJinCanada]

02:12 PM on 06/06/2010

Fanned. Short and sweet and oh, so right.

[Max is Back]

10:13 PM on 06/05/2010

Jake Knotts is only the most blatant member of the SC GOP yet 90% of the good ole boys that run the thing see nothing wrong with what he said and resent the fact that we do find it reprehensible...

The SC GOP has recruited black republicans to run in their primaries for no other reason than to galvanize anti black GOP voters to turn out in force against electing black people (yes even black republicans). I also recall a GOP politician in that state calling his jewish opponent in a race "jew boy" in an interview with a radio talk show.

Makes you wonder why on earth Nikki Haley would ever identify with the party of the KKK and the CCC...

[JailNeoconVicts]

09:20 PM on 06/05/2010

Is it PC to call him a "D!ckhead" ?? Because that seems pretty accurate.

[MsYellowDog]

07:44 PM on 06/05/2010

Things have come to a sorry pass,when Southern racists no longer bother to use KKK Code Words,like "separate but equal," but instead blurt out what they REALLY think.