Norm MacDonald is violating the first rule of holes and his own standard for deserving forgiveness.
Norm MacDonald is best known to fans of comedy. Beyond those fans, he is likely best known to the general public for his stint on what many (including Chevy Chase) consider to be the best run as anchor for Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.
It has been twenty years since his very public firing from SNL. In the interim, MacDonald has had two sitcoms, a show on Comedy Central, and made a cult comedy film (Dirty Work). Those who, like me, enjoy watching his classic bits on late night talk shows also know he openly campaigned to become the host of the Late Late Show, with that opportunity instead going to Craig Ferguson. He has an impressive twitter following for his funny remarks, play-by-play coverage of sporting events, and legendary tales. He also wrote a novel disguised as a memoir that received critical acclaim.
Well, now, Norm finally has his own talk show. No fan of innuendo, it is titled, “Norm MacDonald Has a Show” and is scheduled to premier Friday, September 14, 2018 on Netflix. MacDonald had hosted a YouTube interview show for several seasons, interviewing comedy greats like Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano, and Adam Sandler. The Netflix show is backed by Letterman, who considers MacDonald to be one of the funniest men alive.
Unfortunately, in the press run-up to the launch of the Netflix show, Norm has become the target of public outcry and shaming, ironically for decrying this phenomenon in the social media age.
In an interview on Tuesday, MacDonald spoke about the #metoo movement and the public shunning of stars Roseanne Barr and Louis CK. The line most have focused their condemnation on is when MacDonald is referring to Barr & CK losing their careers:
There are very few people that have gone through what they have, losing everything in a day. Of course, people will go, “What about the victims?” But you know what? The victims didn’t have to go through that.
You can read the full interview here.
MacDonald was scheduled to appear on The Tonight Show that night, but was told by Fallon that he didn’t think MacDonald would be good for the show. (More on that here).
Ironically, by decrying the public shunning of performers, that is exactly what is now happening to MacDonald.
Violating the first rule of holes — when you’re in one, stop digging — MacDonald made things worse by going on the Howard Stern Show Wednesday morning in an effort to address the controversy.
Explaining his remarks about #metoo, Norm said:
You’d have to have Down syndrome–my new word–you’d have to have Down syndrome to not feel sorry for them [sexual assault victims]
(Listen here at the 30:21 mark). And immediately began the next round of outrage.
Tweet after tweet from individuals condemning MacDonald as an unfunny, “genuinely awful person”, see e.g.:
People afflicted with Down syndrome are some of the most loving, caring, and empathetic people I’ve ever encountered. Nothing like Norm Macdonald, who is clearly revealing himself to be a genuinely awful person. https://t.co/gGyLOcXhRG
— ali segel (@OnlineAlison) September 12, 2018
(Simply search “norm macdonald and down syndrome” on twitter for more examples).
Unfortunately and contrition
I pivoted from recounting MacDonald’s career and opportunity with his new show by saying “unfortunately” to then lead into the #metoo and Down syndrome comments. I say “unfortunately” because I have always been a fan of Norm’s.
I was in college and law school during his stint on SNL. I reveled in his confrontational style with the studio audience, making jokes that would elicit more groans than laughter, but all the while skewering those in power or the public eye. He wrote the infamous Celebrity Jeopardy sketches, which a buddy of mine and I would recite to make each other laugh while going through USAF JAG School. I went and saw “Dirty Work” in theaters with a friend, one of few who did, and watched it again when it came out on VHS.
With the advent of social media and YouTube, I’ve gotten lost watching far too many compilations of his appearances with Letterman and Conan O’Brian. These bits have their own infamy with fans marveling at The Moth Joke, his roast of Bob Saget, and his candid explanation of why he got fired, “they didn’t think I was funny.”
So, I say, “unfortunately” because I was pulling for Norm to have success with his new show, and I still hope he does.
However, his use of “Down syndrome” as a punchline is an example of where he should follow his own advice and express contrition and change his word choice.
If you’ve followed Norm like I have, you know that regularly he uses “retarded” as a punchline to describe someone as stupid. A fan of his has made a compilation of his use of the “r-word” on his YouTube show. Worst still, Norm has found it even funnier to specify that when he uses “retarded” he means like someone with Down syndrome, leaving no illusion of his equating those with Down syndrome as synonymous with stupidity. He does this on the YouTube show and in the one live performance of his I attended in recent years. Indeed, as he interjects in the quote above, he uses “Down syndrome” to replace where he otherwise would say “retarded” as his “new word” for that.
There was a time when this would have rendered MacDonald as comedian non grata for my viewing choices. When Jon Stewart would punctuate a criticism of someone with wondering if they were “retarded,” I’d turn the channel. I’ve written here of my criticism of Seinfeld’s (another comedian I otherwise enjoy) derision of the “mentally handicapped.”
This litmus test for enjoying comedians and comedies has waned in the passing years since my daughter was born with the condition Norm equates with stupidity. (On the off chance MacDonald is reading this, you can learn more about Juliet at these posts). While I still have a visceral reaction opposing its usage, for some comedians, like MacDonald, if I find most of what else he says witty, biting, laugh out loud funny, or, at times, profound, then I choose to simply accept the bad with the good.
I have had many a good laugh because of Norm’s comedy, often times when I sorely needed one.
Which is why I hope Netflix continues with the launch of his new show on Friday.
But, I would also hope and expect Norm to follow his own formula for why he criticizes the shunning of performers when they misspeak, mistweet, or misbehave. As someone who has struck me as having his own standard of integrity, I would expect nothing less from him.
MacDonald’s formula is that if the performer confesses his wrongdoing and is contrite, then he should be given a chance to continue performing. Doing otherwise continues to punish a person after he has “paid his price.”
However, Norm has never considered his use of “retarded” or “Down syndrome” as even a bad act, much less one he should show contrition for. Instead, he thinks it’s funny to use those words as a substitute for calling someone stupid or an idiot.
What makes this all the more perplexing is that there is a radio or podcast interview available on YouTube where Norm speaks otherwise about those with Down syndrome. Instead of using them as a punchline or an example of idiocy, he states that he believes they may have a certain wisdom or knowledge that we don’t that allows for their generally happy and loving dispositions.
Unless Norm was being facetious in his positive statements about those with Down syndrome, then by his own account, those with Down syndrome are not stupid or, at least, it would be unkind and incorrect to judge them solely as stupid when they have a special understanding that allows for their happiness.
It is my hope that MacDonald follows his own prescription: that he confesses his wrongdoing in maligning those with Down syndrome and is contrite not just in word, but in deed. Actually, in MacDonald’s case they are one-in-the-same: if he could simply stop insulting those with Down syndrome in his jokes, then he would show by his choices that he is contrite. (Yet, another good measure would be to take this pledge to end the use of retard and retarded as an insult).
And then I can get back to laughing at all of Norm’s good jokes.
UPDATE:
The day after MacDonald appeared on the Howard Stern Show, he appeared on The View. When asked to explain why he said “Down syndrome,” Norm said:
There used to be a word that we would all say to mean stupid, that we don’t say anymore, right? You know the word I’m talking about? And stupidly, I was about to say that word and I stopped and said “What’s the right word to say?” And I said a different word that was equally offensive. I realized at that moment that I did something unforgivable.
You can listen to the full interview here. Norm later in the interview said that “the remark I made about people with Down syndrome was a terrible, terrible, terrible thing for me to say.”
This will likely still be insufficient contrition for some. For me, if Norm means what he says, and I believe that he does, then he will cease using “Down syndrome” to mean stupid and as a punchline. I hope that is the case.
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