Culture

Kathy Griffin says "no thanks" to Jesus

by Kaitlin | September 11, 2007 at 09:28 am

1156 views | 7 Recommendations | 5 comments

In a pre-ceremony for this year's Emmy broadcast, comedian Kathy Griffin poked fun at people who thank Jesus in their award acceptance speeches when accepting an award for her show My Life on the D-List:

"A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award," Griffin said in her speech. "I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus."

She went on to hold up her Emmy for best reality show and add: "This award is my god now!"

The speech rankled members of the Catholic League, who urged entertainment television network E! to cut the offending part of her speech before they rebroadcast it. And E!, for their part, said "Calm down, Catholic League, it was a joke!"

Um, maybe not. In reality, E! is cutting Griffin's speech considerably before broadcast. And while this might not seem like a big deal, consider this: Griffin didn't say Jesus didn't exist, or that Catholicism is wrong, she simply said that Jesus had nothing to do with her award (she may have also told Jesus to suck it...ahem). She made a joke, expressing a personal belief, and it will be edited out for TV. Hmm.

E! is entirely owned by Comcast, which in turn also owns the Style Network, G4, Versus, the Golf Channel and several local stations across the country. Comcast also has interests in various sports teams and is the cable provider to over 24 million people in the United States.

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moonwolf

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:32 on September 11th, 2007

Wow! Courage is springing up in the most surprising places. Good for you Kathy!

Good stuff.

Victoria Revay

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 13:14 on September 11th, 2007

blainewad

at 16:03 on September 11th, 2007

it's called 'comedy' for a reason. anyone taking it seriously ought to focus elsewhere. if you don't find her funny, fine... don't laugh; but she has the freedom of speech to say what's on her mind the same as those who voice complaints about her routines. unfortunately for her 'haters,' controversy only provides her w/ more publicity.

i happen to think she's hilarious. bring on the verbal backlash.

hollywoodsnoopy

at 17:23 on September 11th, 2007

I have been a fan of Kathy's for quite awhile now and I think she is greatly funny and hugely unappreciated. It is for that reason I believe she should be able to say whatever she feels like saying, pushing the envelope or not. Anyone that has watched her show knows she cannot be caged or silenced and she will pretty much say what she wants. Good for her. I agree that a lot of people thank God and Jesus for awards, but I bet you won't see them on the pew next to you at any Sunday mass. I think for the most part it's phoney and they think it makes them look good. If you're 50 cent and you rap about killing mofos(as an example only), can you really be thanking God. Kathy is awesome and I love her, freedom of speech should be kept alive!!!!!! ROCK ON KATH!

Nikki Zalewski

rugbykats

at 09:05 on March 6th, 2008

I'm all for freedom of speech and can take a joke, even if it offends me. However, I don't really see the humor in what she said. Nothing really seems humorous or ironic about it. It seems like the juvenile fallback: I'll say something reprehensible, then play it off as a joke.