Jay Leno Sued Over Mitt Romney Joke After Outrage From Sikh And Indian Groups (VIDEO)

Jay Leno has been sued by a Bakersfield, CA man offended by a joke about a sacred Sikh temple that Leno told in his "Tonight Show" monologue last Thursday. In the joke, Leno mocked GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney by comparing his home to India's Harmandir Sahib, better known as the Golden Temple of Amritsar.

TMZ reports that Dr. Randeep Dhillon, a Sikh living in Bakersfield, is suing for general and punitive damages, claiming that Leno "falsely portrays the holiest place in the Sikh religion as a vacation resort owned by a non-Sikh."

The monologue joke, which was intended to poke fun at Romney's extreme wealth, cut to a photo of the temple with a voiceover saying, ""Here's a look at Mitt Romney's summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee," after showing other Republicans' modest homes.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that many Sikhs were offended by the joke on Monday, citing a Facebook group calling for Leno's boycott over the joke that has reached over 4,000 members. According to the Journal, the matter will be addressed by India’s Ambassador to the U.S., Nirupama Rao. The BBC also reported that Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said the joke was "quite unfortunate and quite objectionable."

A petition was also launched to discourage NBC and other networks from using the Sikh religion as a punchline.

NBC has made no comment about the joke.

Do you think the monologue joke is worthy of a lawsuit? Let us know in our poll.

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Does the joke deserve a lawsuit?

Yes, Leno should be more responsible about telling religious jokes.

No, comedians should be free to joke about whatever they please without risk of punishment.

I'm more offended that the joke isn't funny.

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Comments

[IB65]

04:21 PM on 05/22/2012

Yet another pompous twit seeking paradise by defending an illusion.

[zarcady]

06:54 PM on 05/17/2012

The really funny thing here is that Jay Leno (ultimate hypocrite) is making fun of the excess of Mitt Romney when his net worth is OVER 3 TIMES the net worth of Mitt Romney.

Leno's net worth is $876M, talk about a 1percenter!!

[dee2020]

07:11 PM on 02/01/2012

stupid...don't you know... it is a holy shrine...a temple.(period)

[S Khalsa]

06:58 PM on 02/01/2012

Check out the other 'sikh' view. Not everyone is as stupid as these guys suing over a joke..
http://www.sikhnet.com/news/jay-leno-has-done-no-wrong-op-ed

[myzelf]

11:28 AM on 01/31/2012

Nobody has the right to not be offended.

[adictgamer]

12:01 AM on 01/31/2012

The fact that one of his viewers has no sense of humor is no suprise to me. A more worthy story would be if Leno told a joke and it was funny.

[freeetob]

12:16 PM on 01/30/2012

Re: The survey--It was NOT a "religious" joke. If Leno (I don't boycott him; I just don't watch him because he is more full of himself than humor) had shown a picture of the Vatican would Catholics worldwide taken offense? Doubt it. Far Easterners seem to have some over-sensitivity to images as demonstrated when a political cartoon can set them off on death threats and killing rampages.

[zarcady]

07:08 PM on 05/17/2012

Perhaps it was not intended as a religious joke, but that does not obscure the fact that it was offensive to a people who hold their religious icons in great esteem and feel objectified for a bad joke.

Our culture just doesn't have the fervent faith for their religious beliefs that other countries do. Perhaps Catholics should be offended if the Vatican were disrespected and presented as a vacation spa complete with scantily clad broads on jet ski's.

[DakkonA]

01:31 PM on 01/29/2012

Wow okay... Sikh's weren't even the butt of the joke. It was Mitt Romney. He could have used the Taj Mahal or any number of other ornate buildings.

Though I do approve that they are offended by the association to Mitt Romney.

[LCDTV]

01:00 PM on 01/29/2012

dieing is easy ; comedy is hard.

[C Michael Wright]

06:38 AM on 01/29/2012

Leno must be good at making the corporate big wigs laugh hysterically because nobody I know finds him the least bit funny. He only has funny bits (occasionally). This is why Russel Peters can joke about any ethnic group in the world- he is funny!

[helioszephyr]

04:35 AM on 01/29/2012

If religion and politics where off the table for comedians, they'd be out of work.
The 2 topics are inherently funny in their contradictory and hypocritical nature.
Being an "easy" joke should give the 2 some reason for concern, food for thought and a look in the mirror.

[Amardeep]

03:29 AM on 01/29/2012

I'm SIkh and I've been fortunate enough to visit the Golden Temple of Amritsar twice in my life. No where in that skit did I feel offended...I actually found the joke to be amusing. If that man in bakersfield was truly a "Sikh", as he claims, he would not have resorted to legal action against Jay Leno. After all, resorting to aggression or taking offense to a silly skit on television, shows that this man has no clue of Sikh beliefs and values. Unfortunately, he's the one giving Sikhs a bad name.

[taoistpunk]

09:27 AM on 01/29/2012

only the idiot fringe judge a people by an individual. for most of us this is a blip that disappears tomorrow morning.

those who continue to carry this moment into the future are cut from the same cloth as the man filing the lawsuit..

[mjeffn]

07:40 PM on 01/28/2012

Another boring thread........I must have wondered innocently into the Religion section even though I had no intention of slumming around tonight.

[Highball]

06:22 PM on 01/28/2012

First, there are no actual damages here. Leno has the right to say whatever he wants as long as it isn't libelous. This guy has no actual standing. All he has is the $75 it takes to file a complaint (or whatever it is in California, these days).

Second, this is the problem with religious people: they are way too sensitive over stuff that is totally irrelevant.

[Assumed Name]

02:18 PM on 01/28/2012

Sikhs weren't a target of the joke; Romeny was. (...and who knew it was a religious site anyway? Geez.)

This a completely frivolous suit.