David Paterson: SNL Insensitive To Bad Governors

David Paterson is complaining about SNL's treatment of him again. He says the show's continued parodies hurt disabled people not in a position to fight back.

What Paterson doesn't understand is the show isn't making fun of him for being blind. It's making fun of him for being a lame governor. From his bizarre pick of Annie Oakley to represent New York in the Senate to his regressive, terrible budget. Also, it's references to your past of youthful drug use and womanizing are historically unchallenged.

SNL doesn't hurt disabled people not in a position to fight back, it hurts lame Governors who are facing increasingly tough reelection bids. So stop complaining, you're starting to remind me of Sarah Palin.

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Comments

[coco51]

Like I said sometime ago, Patterson is simply a bandaid, not glue. He's gotta go.

[normathumb]

If you can't stand the heat... It's a joke, a parody, a satire. Maybe the SNL publicist has Patterson on the payroll. How can we draw more attention to the show? I know, make it out to be controversial! Good job, Guv. Now all the people who originally passed on it will look it up to see what the fuss is about.

[7ShallFall]

SNL makes fun of EVERYONE and Governor Paterson is making the target on his back bigger with
each cry baby remark he makes. When you announce that you've used cocaine and are a womanizer
on your first day at work comedy writers pay attention, it's their job. As for SNL, sometimes it's funny
sometimes it not (like every show), I don't like MAD TV and I understand that it's being canceled. That's unfortunate, the economics of television are going to leave us all watching YOU TUBE and that's really going to blow. Common knowledge is the friend of comedy and we're becoming a fractured population. I thought the portrayal of Paterson was hysterical and well written. Comedy lives and dies by political correctness. Are you as outraged by Will Ferrel's portrayal of Bush and his obvious disability?

[JaneaneTheAcerbicGoblin]

Actually, the sketches lampooning Patterson are poorly written and performed. They make fun of him simply because he's blind. They don't really go after his questionable policies, which is where they should go.

[rini]

Mocking Patterson as a human and a governor is fair game. He is powerful.

I think the argument can me made that if you can make fun of BaBa Wawa's lisp, as part of an entire impression, it is ok to mock his disability.

To make fun of a disability itself without any context or character is different. That's insultiing and wrong.

[engineer68]

Sorry Ryan, but the choice of Gillibrand is a good one for those of us who live in western NY.

[SeanGardner]

Um, Ryan, SNL's shot at Patterson had nothing to do with his politics. They took a shot at him because they could.

SNL has been criticized because they let Fred Armisen to play Barack Obama, instead of actually picking an African-American to play him. Armisen is not good as Obama. Armisen may be a nice guy. I hear he is. That's cool. But his "ah, yep, ah, yep" intonations as Obama during last year's primary season left a bad taste in my mouth. It was reminiscent of those old movies when African-American men and women were made to look stupid, and inarticulate. I didn't like it. Most blacks didn't either.

I didn't like what Armisen did to Patterson either. But for a different reason: because it was making fun of his disability. I have relatives with disabilities, and they didn't find it funny. And you have the nerve, the mitigating gall to blame Gov. Patterson for Fred Armisen's criminally irresponsible and utterly insensitive skit? Patterson is to blame for what Armisen did? I don't believe you're even advancing that lame a$$ argument.

Patterson has made some mistakes. Look at you: you made a big mistake with this blog post, and you'll make even more mistakes. Why should I judge you or Patterson exclusively by what you did wrong?

SNL is not GOD, and is not above criticism. No one is. You should stop being an apologist for inexcusable behavior. Now guess who you're starting to remind ME of?

[SeanGardner]

Um, Ryan, SNL's shot at Patterson had nothing to do with his politics. They took a shot at him because they could.

SNL has been criticized because they let Fred Armisen to play Barack Obama, instead of actually picking an African-American to play him. Armisen is not good as Obama. Armisen may be a nice guy. I hear he is. That's cool. But his "ah, yep, ah, yep" intonations as Obama during last year's primary season left a bad taste in my mouth. It was reminiscent of those old movies when African-American men and women were made to look stupid, and inarticulate. I didn't like it. Most blacks didn't either.

I didn't like what Armisen did to Patterson either. But for a different reason: because it was making fun of his disability. I have relatives with disabilities, and they didn't find it funny.

And you have the nerve, the mitigating gall to blame Gov. Patterson for Fred Armisen's criminally irresponsible and utterly insensitive skit? Patterson is to blame for what Armisen did? I don't believe you're even advancing that lame a$$ argument.

Patterson has made some mistakes. Look at you: you made a big mistake with this blog post, and you'll make even more mistakes. Why should I judge you or Patterson exclusively by what you did wrong?

SNL is not GOD, and is not above criticism. No one is. You should stop being an apologist for inexcusable behavior. Now guess who you're starting to remind ME of?

[Doofus]

David Paterson makes the mistake of looking too much like SNL's Fred Armisen, is all.

Sometimes comedy is just about having an opportunity & taking it.

[mexamerican]

what really insults me about snl is that it hasn't been funny if fifteen years.

[SeanGardner]

Amen! I can't even remember when SNL has had two straight shows that were funny. Whenever Justin TImberlake was on the show, it was funny. Very funny. But's its just not a good show. MAD-TV is so much funnier than SNL. And every TV reviewer knows it.

[Clarke]

Dude, SNL may not be what it once was, but Mad TV isn't even funnier than Law & Order: SVU.

Whenever somebody presumes to lecture others on what is and isn't funny, there's a 99% chance that person has a lousy sense of humor.

[alphonsegaston]

SNL does not need to make fun of physical disabilities to get a laugh--or does it? They usually make fun of things celebrities do, not their disabilities. Like, Michael J. Fox & Parkinson's disease? Have they done that one, missed it. I thought their pieces on Paterson were tasteless and boring especially the one where they ruined Amy Pollard's last show. Instead of focusing on her, they had to make a cheap joke about a blind guy.

Actually, I think Paterson is known for having a good sense of humor. Maybe that has left him now that he has to try to govern New Yorkers, not known for their tolerance of everyone. (Disclosure: I am a native New Yorker long in exile.) His mess with Caroline Kennedy was hardly his fault, she was so above everything and entitled to it also. And the woman he chose actually represented upstate New Yorkers. Wow. I heard several talking heads saying that New York City would have to get after him for that, and that they would need to take the seat back. Indeed. Why don't they make NYC a state? But I digress.

[Nommo]

NYer in exile, do you remember the Breslin/Mailer mayoral campaign in the 70's? It was based on the premise that NYC should be a state. We could certainly do better than to continue with that millstone NYState around our collective neck.

[undrgrndgirl]

um...SNL is insensitive to EVERYONE..­.

[Nommo]

Not to mention comedy.

[SouthJerseySteve]

Two words... Sarah Palin ...... Tina Fey.... OKAY, FOUR words!

[pdxsean]

I'd like to file a complaint that Governor Patterson is insensitive to those of us who have a sense of humor. Seriously, my feelings are really hurt. I love comedy, is that a crime?

[Takae]

"I love comedy, is that a crime?"

Yes. Seek Lenny Bruce for proof.

Come on, you know you were begging for it with that question. :/