On Kevin Hart, Eddie Murphy could show him what an apology for past anit-gay jokes looks like. Eddie Murphy managed to do this in nineteen-hundred and ninety-six. Kevin Hart never ever did apologize at all. Perhaps the defenders of Hart don't get the issue with what he said. There are actual Jokes, like what Eddie said. Then there is saying "I'd hit a "gay" person, a child no less, ha ha ha." Kevin Hart Joked about wanting to beat up his son if he did something that looked "gay". (Often citing examples that could be read as gender variance) This is a thing that happens to real life gay or bisexual leaning boys and young transgender girls (or sissy boys as we were once known) regardless of sexual orientation. If Kevin Hart was Eddie Murphy level funny he might not be in so much trouble. He wouldn't have had to stoop to such a low so-called joke.
The line between a joke and hate speech that can sound like a joke is that the hate speech makes fun of violent acts actually being done to people even as we speak.
For example one could joke about WWII or about combat back then if they do it right....but not about say ....the war in Yemen happening right now.The proof lies in comparison of Eddie's routine for which he did apologize to Harts for which he hasn't. The proof lies in the very real-life things that happen to Gay, Bi, and MTF Trans kids.
Eddie joked about adults. So, in a way what he said wasn't even as bad the early 1980's.
For example in his special RAW. WARNING: THE BELOW VIDEO IS ... R A W This is comedy from the early 1980's. This is NOT SFW in 2019, not PC not even in 1996. This is the Eddie after SNL and around Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop. No one gave a ____ in those days. That was a time when the Dukes of Hazard was on TV complete with a car covered in confederate flags and I don't recall much complaint about it. Times were different. You have been warned. If any of the above may offend you do not start this video!!
It was funny. Even I laugh at parts of it. Yet he still apologized for jokes he told in 1981 when he said this in 1996.
Murphy said he was young and "misinformed" back then. Referring specifically to his 1981 HBO special called "Delirious," Murphy said, "Just like the rest of the world, I am more educated about AIDS in 1996 than I was in 1981. I think it is unfair to take the words of a misinformed 21-year-old and apply them to an informed 35-year- old man.
"I know how serious an issue AIDS is the world over. I know that AIDS isn't funny. It's 1996 and I'm a lot smarter about AIDS now." -- PAGE ONE -- After 15 Years, Actor Apologizes For Gay Slurs
Sylvia Rubin, Chronicle Staff Writer Published 4:00 am PDT, Saturday, May 11, 1996
Compare Eddie's Gay Jokes to Kevin Hart's.
He also said this which can be taken as what he might do if his son exhibited gender variant behavior.
Why That Is Not Funny.
Every year we hear of a relatively young child being beaten to death by a parent or caregiver because they think the child might be gay, or the child thinks they are gay, or are very gender variant.
Young boy says he is bi and is killed.
12 year old trans girl threatened with death.
Rape and ... Assultative Sex In The Boys Room.
Without derailing this blog post too much. Seeing Maddie reminded me of myself at that age. Things were handled differenly in those days. I knew the time would not accept someone my age saying I was a transsexual. Yet the extremity of my gender variance got me using the faculty bathroom, boys room, and sometimes the girls room if I thought it would cause less disruption.
I used the boys facilities this was the 90's afterall. You know what happened. I got raped and sexually assaulted and I got to hear what Trump called lockerroom talk about me. If anyone cares a longer version of this is here. The short verison is if you put someone like Maddie is or like I was in a boys room we are likely to get raped. The likelihood one of us would commit such an act is no greater than the danger young women pose to eachother.
So I can say from direct experience. I was one who had violence applied to me by society and it did not make me straight and cisgender. What is happening now is MUCH better.
Do a Google News Search for Beaten to Death for being gay. See what you get.
People Have A Right To Say Anything, Words Have Consequences.
There are two facts which are at odds. One is that people have a right to say and think what they want. That they have a right to find funny what they want. That they should not be subject to attack for what they think.
The other is the real fact that words can cause real harm. They can cause harm because weak minded people won't know where the jokes end and the beatings and worse being. They can cause real harm because people who hear negative words about themselves can loose it after a while.
In the great bulk of the country most people wont' care about that when it comes to Gay, Bi and MTF Transgender people. To most people it seems folks like us are a theoretical construct or an "agenda". To others we are just a sexual fetish item or a novelty.
Keving Hart works in Hollywood. There are enough LGBT people there, out, and empowered who know what I am talking about. They know how words like Mr Harts are not funny at all. They are the ones the real harm has been done to .
TLDR: I have shown examples of the kinds of violence Kevin Hart says is a joke bein applied to real people. That is why that is not funny. Hollywood is a very gay place. One does not joke about the holocaust while working in Tel-Aviv!
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