Hillbilly Stereotypes Spark Controversy in Kentucky Election

A controversy about Eastern Kentucky stereotypes has developed in the Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture race. Agriculture Commissioner is a statewide elected office in Kentucky.

The Republican nominee, State Representative Jamie Comer, released a video this week showing his Democratic opponent, Bob Farmer of Louisville, joking about Eastern Kentucky during a comedy performance in Indiana.

Comer posted clips of Farmer saying "Eastern Kentucky" is a "different kind of place" where "cars are on blocks and houses are on wheels."

Another clip showed Farmer saying that the FBI would not do work in an Eastern Kentucky county because "all the DNA is alike and there ain't no dental records."

Another clip had Farmer saying that people in Eastern Kentucky don't trust him. "You know, I had shoes on, I got all my teeth."

WYMT in Hazard did a report on the controversy showing a clip of Farmer saying that "they don't move their lips when they talk" and making fun of the speaking style.

In a statement to the news media, Farmer apologized for the remarks. He said that "I apologize if it offends anyone. I don't want to offend people."

Farmer told the Lexington Herald Leader that he had done the comedy routine for 25 years and no one has complained.

The Republican Party of Kentucky has called for Farmer to withdraw from the race. That is extremely unlikely as it would leave Comer as the automatic winner.

Kentucky law does not allow replacing a primary opponent after a nominee is chosen.

The law about not allowing a party to replace a nominee was passed a Democratic legislature after the 1978 Congressional election. The Republican party got its 6th district Congressional nominee, Mary Louise Foust to resign and she was replaced by the eventual winner Larry Hopkins after a weaker candidate, Tom Easterly upset incumbent Congressman John Breckinridge in the 1978 Democratic primary.

According to the Lexington Herald Leader, Pike County Judge Executive Wayne T. Rutherford, who is a Democrat, sent a letter to the Herald Leader saying that Farmer is "no longer welcome here."

The Herald Leader also quoted Rutherford saying, "During his visit to Pike County in April of this year, he was treated with the utmost respect," Rutherford said. "And, by the way, I don't know if he noticed but I had shoes on and all of my teeth."

Just like in the case of former Congressman Anthony Weiner, the first bit of news breaking from YouTube and social networks has sparked additional information about Farmer to hit the internet.

Jacob Payne, a well respected investigative journalist who blogs for the website, Page One Kentucky, posted on his website a longer YouTube version of Farmer's comedy routine.

Along with the remarks that Comer posted in his video, in the video posted on Page One, Farmer makes additional remarks about a woman from Eastern Kentucky named Pamela Sue. "I looked at the beauty mark that Pamela Sue had, like Marilyn Monroe and I found out it was a tick." He mentioned that his wife Jo Ann is from Eastern Kentucky saying, "notice that they all have two or three names."

Farmer said that he saw Pamela Sue with one shoe. "Hey Pamela Sue did you lose a shoe?" The response from Pamela Sue was "no I found one."

For decades, Eastern Kentucky has suffered the brunt of stereotypes. Television shows like the Beverly Hillbillies and plays like The Kentucky Cycle made millions of dollars off those stereotypes, although Appalachian activists like Gurney Norman have waged a fierce battle to keep the image out of the media.

Don McNay is an award winning columnist and author. He was selected to be an honorary Duke of Hazard by the late Hazard, Kentucky Mayor Bill Gorman. You can read more about McNay at www.donmcnay.com

 

 

 

Follow Don McNay on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Donmcnay

Comments

[Deep Thinking Man]

05:23 PM on 06/23/2011

i've been to many Southern states, and every person, both women and men, were very cool people. there was a man that i spoke with in Eastern Tennessee, he and i were there for weddings. i mentioned that i was from Illinois, and he said "we got Yanks comin in from Pennsylvania fer a weddin." i explained to him that my father was from the Ozarks in Southern Missouri, and i think that i made a friend.

i also went into a small cafe, while there, and i saw this man who seemed to know everyone who came in, because he spoke to/with everyone. he had a bit of a "thicker " accent than the first man. as i sat there listening; i caught myself smiling simply because i love listening to a Southern accent. he noticed, then with a smile on his face he asked, "how you?" we chatted for a bit, then i had to leave.

i also met a girl that worked in the State Park where i was staying in a log cabin. we spoke on several occasions.

these three people taught me a very valuable lesson, that all people are human.

as for Larry the Cableguy, he makes me sick !!!!!...he has a mean-spirited habit of de-grading people with dis-abilities in his routines, and i find that as obnoxious, and dis-respectful.

as for this politician, his mouth will work either for, or against him.

[librldem]

01:17 PM on 06/23/2011

I lived in Louavull years ago and remember that a new fangled digital watch would not go past 1951!
The cell phones in KY all have rotary dialers.
Toilet tissue replaced the Sears Roebuck catalogue.
A lucky few still brush their tooth at bedtime.

[djJazzyJoe]

12:59 PM on 06/23/2011

I'm surprised no one has commented on the shameless tactics of the Rep party. Really? This is the best argument you have that you are a better candidate than your opponent? You dug up this video and told people to be upset and offended and are now asking him to withdraw from the race so that your guy can get the automatic win? "Hey, he told a joke about you. You should be pissed off at him even though I think gay teachers want to make your kids gay and all Muslims are terrorists." Laaaaaaaaaaaame... Also, anyone that is acting offended by these jokes has absolutely NO sense of humor. "He should have known better if he was running for office" = "I'm dumb enough to think that jokes told during a COMEDY routine are more important than the issues." As a Kentuckian, the only thing I find Farmer guilty of is a lack of creativity and repeating mediocre jokes that have been told for years.

[Bluegrass Belle]

12:40 PM on 06/23/2011

As a native of Southeast Kentucky, I am stunned by the ignorance abounding in these comments. I'm aghast at the revolting assumptions about an entire region of people based on the misfortunes of a few who live there. If I, an educated, middle-class, Caucasian woman made such comments about the ghettos of a city, I would be accused of bigotry. For the most part, Mr. Farmer's jokes are way off base. The only grain of truth are the circumstances of poverty which lead to people living in poor conditions. Further, the "inbred" comments are nauseating and stir up images of "Deliverence," which is, in my opinion, one of the most malicious pieces of propaganda I have ever seen. It is also laughable that people here assume that Eastern Kentuckians vote Republican. Pike County and Harlan County, for example, are heavily Democratic in registered voters. Read some history and you will know that, and will understand why. Overall, it is simply shameful that these comments are made so flippantly about a region that is full of "normal" people, with feelings, hopes, dreams, values and intelligence similar to any cross section of the U.S. An accent is an accent -- it has no bearing on the value of the words being spoken.

[theprez21]

11:06 AM on 06/23/2011

Kentucky, especially Eastern Kentucky, is one of the most dependent Social welfare states(farm subsidaries, welfare, SS, Medicaid) in the Country yet they elect a Senator wants to eliminate all of those programs if he could. While Farmer was foolish in his descriptions of the KY region, his underlying message was not far off base.

[juandiggla]

10:21 AM on 06/23/2011

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A REDNECK IF.... YOU'RE READING AN ARTICLE TITLED..

Hillbilly Stereotypes Spark Controversy in Kentucky Election

[aidendamien]

10:15 AM on 06/23/2011

Well hey, quite being hillbillies and the jokes will stop. The FBI joke was hilarious.

[coreypaul]

07:55 AM on 06/23/2011

ps, just had a thought, maybe they see Tracy Morgan running around apologizing in hopes they too would get everyone to do the same....

[coreypaul]

07:54 AM on 06/23/2011

Conservative Christian whining AGAIN.....you don't say. Seems to me, the "right" doesn't seem to mind to say: "All Muslims are terrorists", "All on welfare are just lazy", "All gays want to turn your children gay" etc.... and this is what they say in US Congress, and I'm not talking about those who want to be in politics I am talking about our current senators and reps at local and federal level. It is a well-known fact that "red states" have the least informed people residing there. They surely make fun of us in the North East with our "immoral" ways, and stereotyping that we are all "liberal elite" and not in a good way. I would like to say "why do these fools act this way, so hypocritical?" But I know the answer: First, they are and always will be hypocrites, secondly, they love being the "victim" and I mean LOVE, they would marry the ideal and create constitutional protections for it if they could, and thirdly, their bible tells them to be this way. It states that they will be persecuted, to expect, actually to welcome it, as a showing to their god how much they are willing to sacrifice. The more persecution, the better in his eyes. So why don't they just stop complaining or at least have a disclaimer stating their god told them to act this way?

[dave elliott]

07:03 AM on 06/23/2011

doesn't matter one bit anyway, eastern ky, will never ever ever, vote democrat, they are 99% republican, jesus believing, gun loving, racial biased people. i have heard the "N" word down here, more than when i lived in southern ohio. and it slips off their tongue just as if it is an ordinary everyday word. those of you who dont believe it, i invite you to come down and see for yourself.

[Woodn88s]

07:34 AM on 06/23/2011

been here in Ky for 10 yrs
you are 100% right
you did forget greedy as h*ll, two faced,shallow.................oh sorry, you did say republican

[authorRick]

10:33 AM on 06/23/2011

Just checked the Ky Secretary of State web site and Pike County (referenced in Don's article) is 74% Democrat.

[atexasdem]

06:59 AM on 06/23/2011

Open mouth, insert foot. A politician, any politician should know better. If he doesn't, he shouldn't even consider being a politician. I think this is what is called a "maka moment". Bud, you blew it.
Neither party holds a monopoly on stupid. It's rampant and nearly impossible to fix.

[Jehosafats]

06:50 AM on 06/23/2011

Conservative whites advocating political correctness? You don't say...

[dave elliott]

06:45 AM on 06/23/2011

well for one thing i live in south east kentucky and what he jokes about is about 60 to 80 % right like it or not. but.....it depends on the county some counties are so mountainous and full of hollers that these people do live the way that they are stereotyped as. people would be really surprized at the number of people down here that have never left the county in their lives. they truly are different down here. so different that the best way to describe them are indeed by the stereotype, and that may be sad, but unfortunately it is true. it's hard for people to believe if they have never been to a holler or one of the small towns with 1 red light, 1 store, a gas station and thats it.

[atexasdem]

07:00 AM on 06/23/2011

I'm sure your absolutely correct however you don't rub people's noses in it and expect them to support you.

[dave elliott]

07:07 AM on 06/23/2011

you don't understand the politics down here, these people would never vote democrat, ever. so he is not losing any votes in eastern ky. you ask, then how did you end up with a democratic governor? i tell you to look at a political map of ky and see where the dems get elected from. louisville area thats where.

[syhy71]

07:02 AM on 06/23/2011

so, because it is true it is ok? is it ok to stereotype people from ghettos? or mexico? I don't have a problem with comedians making jokes, but he is running for office- a position that is supposed to be held to higher standards than the rest.

[arizonabay]

04:00 AM on 06/23/2011

Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Ron White, and Larry the Cable Guy make the same exact jokes, but I don't hear any one telling these guys to quit.

[wwaynemcg]

05:18 AM on 06/23/2011

They are not running for a state-wide office in case you didn't notice. By the way...most people find them funnier.

[syhy71]

07:04 AM on 06/23/2011

Thank you wayne, my thoughts exactly. I have baggage and have a foul mouth at times, so I would be considered "unelectable"...what ever happend to "higher standards?"

[friendlier]

06:31 AM on 06/23/2011

Hello! Foxworthy et al are not politicians!

[hsspringman]

04:00 AM on 06/23/2011

If it had been Jeff Foxworthy the would have laughed themselves out of the overalls.

[wwaynemcg]

05:20 AM on 06/23/2011

I've worn overalls before. It's a working man or farmer's outfit. You know...hard work...that stuff that people do for you that you won't (or can't) do for yourself?

[syhy71]

07:05 AM on 06/23/2011

wayne- you are fanned!

[hsspringman]

12:42 PM on 06/23/2011

Listen up chair force, I was born on a farm in south west Georgia and I am fairly sure that I have spent more time working the fields than you have breathing. I am also and Army vet that utilized my GI benefits to earn and education and expand my knowledge base and therefore my horizons. I know it is hard for you wingnuts to realize this but liberal does not equal lazy but just the opposite and that you are just projecting your own feelings of inadequacy due to your self perceived impotency to change your lot in life?