Remember how late-night comics savaged first lady Michelle Obama? No? That’s because it didn’t happen.
First ladies are generally off limits for most comedians. Their husbands are always fair game, of course. Their spouses didn’t choose to be in office and typically use their clout for less divisive missions. Think Laura Bush’s literacy efforts or Michelle Obama’s nutritional initiatives.
Comedians mostly avoided mocking Hillary Clinton during her days in the White House, just as they did with Laura Bush and Michelle Obama. And that’s a good thing in our increasingly coarse culture. We need a few satirical timeouts these days.
That was then.
Now, “brave” comics like Jimmy Kimmel gleefully mock Melania Trump in ways that would stir the Social Warrior Brigade. Only they haven’t ridden to her rescue.
Why? Wrong party.
Earlier this week Kimmel mocked Melania Trump’s Slavik accent during one of his typically partisan rants.
https://youtu.be/EfjtBa3INBw
A laugh riot, no? Of course, mocking someone’s accent is no longer acceptable as a comic device. Even liberal icon Stephen Colbert caught flak in 2014 when he attempted a generic Chinese accent. The incident sparked a #CancelColbert hashtag and plenty of righteous indignation.
Why no similar uproar for Melania? Kimmel attacked Mrs. Trump, someone who is fair game for, well, anything according to our modern liberal scolds and media outlets. Her unofficial membership in the GOP makes it so.
Only Kimmel isn’t the only “brave” comic to mock Melania Trump. Last year, Comedy Central’s Jim Jefferies used his late-night show to sexualize the first lady and call her “wooden” and “dirty.”
Once again, no outrage in the media nor from feminists.
No one rushed to the first lady’s defense when “Saturday Night Live” concocted a series of skits dubbed “Melania Moments.” The fuzzy clips paint her as detached and dumb. She speaks five languages, mind you.
Sean Hannity called Kimmel out for his attacks on the first lady. So Kimmel offered an apology and agreed that those kind of ugly, divisive attacks on the first lady are out of bounds.
Just kidding.
He lashed out at Hannity with a series of sexual insults that were both crass and humorless. Naturally, the media still didn’t object to Kimmel’s attacks, cheering him on for slamming the Fox News host.
For context, TBS groveled for forgiveness when it shared a tweet comparing Hillary Clinton to a hyena. That was outrageous, said far-left comic Samantha Bee. TBS suits agreed.
“This post was obviously a poor attempt at humor and has been taken down,” TBS said this morning in a statement of the post, presenting a video produced by one of its comedy sites. “Moving forward we’ll leave political satire to professionals like Samantha Bee.”
The Era of Double Standards shows no signs of slowing down. Nor will comics let up on the current first lady, further alienating audiences in the process.
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