Jay Leno "Pulls A Cosby"

Playahata Times: Entertainment Section
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Jelani Cobb

Jay Leno, the comedian and host of the highly rated "Tonight Show," interrupted his monologue yesterday evening to deliver an unscripted tirade about the "white people who think Spam is a food group." After making a joke about famed white rapper and trailer park alumnus Eminem, Leno paused for several seconds before looking directly into the camera and asking if he could "speak truthfully" for a minute.

For the next 86 seconds, the host held forth on "these slobs who sit around smoking Crystal Meth all day, ignoring their kids and those six half-starved dogs tied to the engine block in the front yard." He appeared to be particularly upset about the lack of a work ethic and the low priority placed on education. "Let's be honest," he said "poor white people are behind most of America's problems right now. They sit around in cut off shorts, with their Miller beer and play Grand Theft Auto, meanwhile little Brittany and Amber don't know how to read."

When one audience member angrily yelled "What about the black people?" the comedian responded "Listen, way more of your tax dollars are going to trailer parks than housing projects. It takes a lot of dumb kids to become 17th in the world in math and not all of 'em live in Harlem."

Critics have accused Leno of stealing material from Bill Cosby, the sitcom star and pudding pitchman who delivered a politically incorrect critique of poor black people at an NAACP dinner last year. Cosby, who had faded from the public eye since the cancellation of his most recent television show, immediately became a hot topic of conversation. Some argue that Leno's speech was an attempt to stave off a dip in the show's ratings. There is also speculation that Mr. Cosby has set into motion a new Hollywood fad (Margaret Cho, George Lopez and Ellen DeGeneres were reportedly approached to do similar attacks on Asian Americans, Hispanics, and lesbians respectively.)

Among Mr. Leno's more controversial statements was his allegation that "Twenty years ago, you had probably a couple hundred black guys smoking crack and it's the end of the freakin' world. Now you got every part-time Wal-mart employee in the country doing crank (and that's at least a couple of million people) and its like 'The Sound of Music' out here."

Executives at NBC immediately distanced themselves from Leno's comments saying that the network was "committed to diversity - even among white people." Leno was immediately criticized by conservative groups. Ken Melman, the director of the Republican National Committee pointed out that "the people he's talking about have never had affirmative action to fall back on, they aren't sought out by the entertainment or sports industries; there's really no comparison. White people have never had the attention of guilty white liberals." When word of Mr. Melman's comments reached Mr. Leno, he fired back acerbically, "Yeah, what do you call FDR?"

Mark Pittman of the Christians for Capital Punishment Coalition remarked that "A lot of people are accusing Mr. Leno of being a far right conservative, but that's ridiculous - blaming white people for the problems in this country is about as liberal as it gets."

The negative response has not been confined to political quarters. Whites in Vermont, Maine, Iowa, Utah, Montana, Alabama, Texas and Minnesota are organizing to ban Mr. Leno from performing in their states. Nascar has officially forbade him from attending any of their races. Conversely, Mr. Leno was invited to give the keynote address at the National Urban League's annual convention and there is talk of him being nominated for an NAACP Image Award. According to one NAACP member who asked not to be identified, "Anything that makes white folks look bad helps us look that much better."