Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Rupert: D'oh!
Classic.0 comments
Rupert Murdoch figured he could respond to this whole (for him) unfortunate, ungainly cartoon flap by easily marginalizing Al Sharpton—by continuing to portray Sharpton as a crackpot gadfly to the New York Post's white readers—as Murdoch's properties have done since the 1970s.
But with the entrance of NAACP head Julian Bond, one of the classiest and most powerful leaders within the African-American community, and a man who has earned one of the purest reputations across the breadth of America itself, this just brought the game to a whole new—and to Rupert's interests—dangerous level.
Time to jump in and take over, Rupert.
So the Chairman and mondo honcho of all things NewsCorp-ish, put his powerful foot down, tossed the Post editors' weaselly non-apology apology out the window, pushed his staff aside and proved to his worldwide minions that he, Rupert, was the big cheese when it comes to delivering the Classic, Hall of Fame-level Non-Apology Apology.
Murdoch Apologizes for Chimp Cartoon
Kinda. But not so much.
He starts off well:“As the chairman of the New York Post, I am ultimately responsible for what is printed in its pages. The buck stops with me.
Last week we made a mistake," he wrote in a statement printed on Page 2 of the Post. "We ran a cartoon that offended many people."
Well played, Rupert. Very direct, yes. Very strong stuff.
But can he restrain himself? Can he maintain that dignified high level over a full editorial????
We hold our breath. Can he do it?
Umm. No."Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted."
D'oh!
You were soooo close, Rupert! You just can't do it, can you?
Man.
Only IF you were one of those readers who felt offended, or even insulted, we apologize. If this didn't offend or insult you, or if it even got you all kinda wet to go out and shoot down the next stimulus-writing monkey you could find, then, Hey! no prob', we're cool with that.
Rupert still hasn't learned the power of economy, because he kept going, pushing that shovel ever downward."I have had conversations with Post editors about the situation and I can assure you—without a doubt—that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation. It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such."
"It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such."
NO, Rupert. This is no simple dialog. Whether it was MEANT to be racist or not is moot. It WAS racist! This is no interpretive piffle.
What America needed to hear from you was:
"Wow. We screwed up. This had no place in our paper. I/We're sorry this happened. Heads will roll."
No reading of this can leave one with any interpretation other than that this editorial is designed to blunt and end the entire affair before Bond can follow through with his threatened NewsCorp properties boycott.
Too late, Rupert. This is simply too weak an effort. Obviously, a deliberately weak effort.
So, Gotham Notes tosses its support behind Mr. Bond and Mr. Sharpton.
Call us when you have a better apology, Rupert. A real one. And when heads have actually rolled.BOYCOTT FOX, the New York Post and all NewsCorp properties until Rupert Murdoch
takes the full and proper action of disciplining his staff which is warranted in light
of the Post's despicable Page Six cartoon picturing the Post's racist attitude
toward African Americans in general, and Barack Obama in particular.
Sign up to add your voice with the NAACP here.
posted by Gotham 3:08 PM
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