When trying to describe how far and wide the news of Danny Devito’s drunken appearance on The View travelled, Rosie O’Donnel parodied the Chinese language in a way that many people consider offensive:

Asian groups are calling her idiotic parody for what it is while Rosie’s rep is defending it:

“The use of the distorted phrases is insulting to the Chinese and Chinese-Americans, and gives the impression that they are a group that is substandard to English-speaking people,” says the Asian-American Journalists Association. But Rosie’s rep thinks they just don’t get it: “I certainly hope that one day they will be able to grasp her humor.”

Why she couldn’t have said something like “Even Chinese newspapers were reporting it?” This is the woman who claimed that Kelly Ripa was somehow being homophobic when she said she didn’t know where Clay Aiken’s hands had been after he pawed her mouth. She just doesn’t get it when she does something that’s more obviously offensive when it’s directed against another group. Maybe Rosie could have scrunched her mouth up to make her teeth look bucked and used her index fingers to make her eyes seem slanty while saying it.

Note that I am stating how I feel about it without calling her ignorant or anything. I learned my lesson on the Jennifer Hudson thing and I appreciate your comments. If someone has an opinion I will respect it as long as they state it respectfully, which Hudson sort of did. (That doesn’t mean I have to agree or whatever.) Rosie didn’t state her opinion respectfully, though, and no one else brought up the subject - she decided rip on another language in a dumb, pointless attempt to be funny.

I have a feeling half the people are going to tell me I’m stupid and should lighten up, and the other half are going to say I’m right. That’s kind of how these things work.

Maybe Rosie will have the sense to issue an apology on Monday. The ratings for The View are up 15% since Rosie joined this season, and if they weren’t always fighting and pulling stupid shit like this it’s doubtful that their audience would extend beyond the retired ladies in Boca.

As you’ve surely heard and seen by now, Micheal Richards, the washed-up actor/comic formerly known as Kramer on Seinfeld, went on a racist tirade against two audience members who were talking at one of his comedy gigs. The whole thing was caught on tape and distributed by TMZ. What struck me was not his use of the forbidden “N” word, which is of course taboo and totally lame, but the fact that he made a lynching reference, saying “50 years ago we’d have had a fork up your ass.” Um, ok, so 50 years ago you would have had those guys tortured and killed for daring to talk over your shitty act? 14 year-old Emmett Till got murdered for whistling at a white woman 50 years ago. I’m sure you thought that was justified too.

Maybe if Richards had some decent comebacks he wouldn’t have resorted to the lowest common denominator and used a person’s race as an self-incriminating insult. As countless commentors on YouTube have pointed out, comics should be used to dealing with hecklers and talkers and losing your cool is unacceptable. Losing your cool and spouting epithets is a sure way to cement your status a a punch line for years to come.

Richards apologized on David Letterman last night, where his former co-star Jerry Seinfeld was already scheduled to appear. He said he’s not a racist and claims to have gone back on stage and apologized. A guy who was there says Richards never apologized, and is understandably upset about it in the video below:

You can watch the outburst yourself if you login to YouTube.

And here’s Richards’ apology, which just seems pitiful, but that doesn’t give him a pass for making a lynching reference: