John Waters On Colbert: 'Wouldn't You Rather Your Child Be A Drug Dealer Than A Drug Addict?' (VIDEO)

John Waters, the quirky filmmaker famous for writing and directing "Hairspray," came on "The Colbert Report" last night to talk about his new book, "Role Models." He had plenty of shocking one-liners ready for the interview, and left even Colbert speechless when he ended the interview by asking: "Wouldn't you rather your kid be a drug dealer than a drug addict?" Waters takes an unconventional approach to the idea of role models in his book, saying that kids are better off as bad influences than they would be as "popular" kids in high school. Waters's own biggest role model is Tennessee Williams, he said, foregoing more traditional choices like Gandhi or Martin Luther King.

Other highlights from the interview include Waters's description of a first grade class that he recently taught, where he handed out rat skeletons ("they really liked it!") and had the children pretend to be in a plane crash. When he told Stephen that he feared looking like a child molester hanging around the school because he was there early, Colbert responded: "You can't really hang around anywhere without looking like a child molester."

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Comments

[theworldisyours]

06:03 AM on 07/02/2010

Cocaine and heroin killed 10k this year while cigarettes killed 250k and liquor killed 200k. So why are dealers frowned upon again? oh yeah b/c they don't give the government their cut. Pedophils do six years but a dealers third offense is 20 yrs to life. No matter what people claim their values are money rules the world.

[ILB]

09:10 PM on 06/30/2010

Gawd, I love this guy.

[TheBaffler]

07:46 PM on 06/30/2010

Tennessee Williams is as fine a role model as any.

[liberal123]

03:30 PM on 06/30/2010

Water's was campy and outrageous as usual. Colbert really seemed to enjoy bantering with him. Seeing Waters made me remember when I went to see Polyester (in Odorama with Divine, Tab Hunter, Mink Stole and Stiv Bators) at a midnight movie when I was a teenager.

[niceguysneverfinish]

11:18 AM on 06/30/2010

"Waters's own biggest role model is Tennessee Williams, he said, foregoing more traditional choices like Gandhi or Martin Luther King."
----------------
Finally a human being in this nation who isn't afraid to be an individual. John Waters is Jesus!

[2centsplain]

10:21 AM on 06/30/2010

Sure.

[ruskie44]

07:16 AM on 06/30/2010

hate to break it to you but if you do drugs, you sell them.. one of the only ways to keep up your habit. and although there are dealers that don't do drugs.. a lot of them do. it is all intertwined. this is a dumb question.

[Tmboy]

09:34 AM on 06/30/2010

"Dipping into your own supply" is actually a no no for drug dealers. Its a business like any other. (Except the illegal part). And most users don't sell drugs. At least not the drugs they use. Outside of weed, most drug dealers do not use, their business is there own personal anti-drug campaign. They see the effects more than anyone else.

[ruskie44]

11:44 PM on 06/30/2010

you've obviously never done drugs.

[RButler]

03:37 AM on 06/30/2010

John Waters did the commentary on the Mommie Dearest DVD. Made it 3 times as funny.

[cartach]

02:38 AM on 06/30/2010

What's the fuss,that's no different than saying "Wouldn't you rather your your kid be a politician than a constituent?"

[RevRayGreen]

12:39 AM on 06/30/2010

Make It Legal Make It Green/WHEN 10,000 PEOPLE MAIL $4.20 TO THE IOWA BOARD OF PHARMACY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjH61Gw_AcI

I also have Mutliple Sclerosis, it’s not supposed to be fun, it’s not about getting high… it’s about living, walking, working, voting, parenting.”

[nickclone]

10:10 PM on 06/29/2010

Why do people blame the dealers for the addicts' addiction? If they didn't get it from that dealer, they would get it from somewhere else. I'm an alcoholic, I don't blame Friday's for my alcoholism.

[BlazeKING]

11:38 PM on 06/29/2010

Would you say that if they were selling to addicted kids?

[nickclone]

12:11 AM on 06/30/2010

Way to go the extreme, how about if they were selling to pregnant, addicted kids who used their lunch money to buy crack?

[Tmboy]

09:36 AM on 06/30/2010

Dealers don't go looking for customers. Customers come to them. Question is why are kids using drugs? its not becuase the drug dealers sold it to them.

[simplemee]

09:56 PM on 06/29/2010

That's a tough one. I understand why one would rather their child be the dealer. However, as the child of parents who did crack and crystal-meth, I always directed my anger at the dealers who sold drugs to my parents rather than my parents, themselves. That was a long time ago, though. I think now, I blame my parents for abandoning some of their duties to me as their child, but I don't let the dealer off the hook.

[Juanon]

09:51 PM on 06/29/2010

In other words, would you rather your child harm him or herself directly, and you and your family and his or her friends indirectly, or a wide circle of people directly and their friends and family indirectly?

I hope I never experience either, but would hope I wouldn't be so selfish as to prefer the latter.

[Tmboy]

09:39 AM on 06/30/2010

I don't want to be that selfsh either... but I am. :-(. Rather the dealer than the addict, besides its easier to get them to stop dealing than to get a person to stop using.

[Juanon]

12:12 PM on 06/30/2010

Well, God only knows how any of us would react. It's easy when it's a hypothetical, it's hard when it's real. My heart goes out to all who have to deal with addiction in their families, I know it's one of the hardest things.

[Tulka2]

08:34 PM on 06/29/2010

Such a great question. Genius. "Would you rather your kid be a drug dealer or a drug addict?" It flays America doesn't it? We only see people as the user or the used and it's better to be a user. Yikes.

[Manly Pointer]

08:19 PM on 06/29/2010

Favorite John Waters quote:"If you go home with someone, and they have no books in their apartment. Don't sleep with them!"

[RButler]

03:35 AM on 06/30/2010

My favorite quote was when he was describing Jayne Mansfield walking down Sunset Blvd. in high heels, a leopard bikini with an ocelot on a leash. He then said "I respect that".

[JooJooMan]

08:53 AM on 06/30/2010

how long ago was that? because it's all on e-books readers, tablets or PCs nowadays!