ESPN correspondent Cari Champion was taunted on Twitter by comedian Artie Lange who made her the subject of his slavery/rape fantasy. Read his outlandish tweets and ESPN's response inside...
The art of "comedy" is like a box of chocolates, you never know what response you'll get or how a joke is going to land. But that's why you keep those obviously disgusting jokes amongst those friends "who can handle. them".
Enter Artie Lange, a former Howard Stern sidekick with a history of drug abuse and mental illness (he attempted suicide in 2010 and spent 8-months in a psych ward). For Artie, slavery and rape are interchangeable jokes. He found himself extremely attracted (if you ant to call it that) to "First Take" host Cari Champion and he began to tweet:
Then....
Online response was swift. In addition to the creation of #isupportcari, one of her colleagues, Jemele Hill, defended her,
ESPN also defended Cari in a statement to Sports Illustrated,
"His comments were reprehensible and no one should be subjected to such hateful language. They objectify and demean one of our valued employees under the thin guise of “comedy” and are offensive to all of us. We will not dignify them with any other comment."
Artie later offered a half-assed explanation (non-apology) for his tweets, which actually was even more insulting to the public's intelligence:
Artie is clearly out of line. And if he has "black friends that can handle it", he needs to know that Cari IS NOT HIS FRIEND. So, save the jokes for the idiotic people who think slavery are rape is utterly hilarious instead of putting them out to the entire world.
And since when is THIS "modern comedy"? Maybe people in 1800's would have laughed at this. Artie also said that he's not a racist. Isn't there a fine line between making simple jokes and letting out your subconscious hatred through jokes?
ESPN and Comedy Central have both taken action against his graphic tweets and behavior. ESPN has banned him from appearing on the network in any way. Comedy Central has has cut him from an upcoming gig as well.
Speak on it.
Photos via Cari Champion's Instagram