You know someone was needlessly offended when they say that something was a “joke”. In fact, you could probably say they just have a different “sense” of humor.
Zack Ford of Think Progress scolds an episode of Mike & Molly for one character making a reference to “the shemale incident of ‘08”, where in searching for “bus pass ass” he had to spend the whole night “crying and gargling”.
According to Ford:
Not only is the term “shemale” incredibly offensive, the clear implication of the scene is that being with a person who is trans is both traumatic and disgusting. Humor at the direct expense of a group of people, especially one so targeted for discrimination and violence, is not humor at all.
First of all, the whole point of the joke is that the character, Carl, would be traumatized and disgusted if he, as a straight male, had sex with a woman who was actually a man. That’s completely logical.
Second of all, humor “at the direct expense of a group of people” is the whole point of humor. The characters themselves make jokes about how overweight they are in the show. That’s the idea of humor—to point out something incongruous with expectations—and is the basis for every joke.
Thirdly, every group is targeted for discrimination and violence: every race, orientation, gender, by some member who is of a different race, orientation, and gender.
And lastly, the show is representing a group of cops discussing how they pick up women. If you heard an officer tell a joke referring to the “transgendered individual of ‘08”, then it would be clearly inauthentic to who the character is playing.
Mike & Molly is a show that was created entirely under the lens of diversity. It features an overweight couple and their very diverse group of friends and colleagues. Without the diversity “angle”, the show wouldn’t be on the air.
But of course, GLAAD (professionally-offended gay group) is outraged at CBS:
This morning, GLAAD spoke with CBS’s Vice President of Diversity & Communications who is discussing the issues directly with the show. CBS has also committed to meeting with GLAAD staff to discuss the offensive scene, as well as a number of other incidents on CBS comedies and dramas in the past year that increasingly add up to a disturbing trend. GLAAD is calling on CBS to put an end to anti-trans content for the sake of a laugh and to treat trans issues with greater sensitivity.
This is the tactic—find something you don’t like, get offended, call for a meeting, and further water down network TV into ridiculous caricatures of real life that are unfunny, get low ratings, and are cancelled after one season where producers come together and have to go back to the drawing board to create another series that’s even more bland. How is this not bullying?
Ford says:
[h]opefully CBS offers a thoughtful response and finds a way to incorporate more respectful and authentic portrayals of all LGBT people.
They made a joke on a show about a cop accidentally picking up a tranny—a joke about mistaken identity. The character did not say “all shemales troll for sex on the bus”, just one. That’s not a stretch of the imagination, which is something that all of these professionally-offended groups and the media who supports them have clearly lost.
