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Whoopi Goldberg dropped by Slimfast for Bush remarks

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Ripclawe

Banned
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=638&u=/nm/20040714/en_nm/people_goldberg_dc_3&printer=1

Nice photo to go with the story

mdf628732.jpg
 
Missed opportunity here. A shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch and a hate-filled rant against Bush seems like a great way to lose those pounds.
 

OmniGamer

Member
I love how she got fat and paid from the Entenmann's ads("What's your favorite Entenmann?" Her's were the chocolate donuts IIRC), and then the next year got skinny and paid from the Slim Fast.
 
JC10001 said:
It's good to see that the parties involved in firing Goldberg support our first ammendment rights. Oh wait....
:rolleyes: Are you retarded? The company has every right to drop her for whatever they feel like. They were paying her to represent them. Just because you have the freedom of speech doesn't mean you don't have to face the repurcussions of what you say.
 
It's good to see that the parties involved in firing Goldberg support our first ammendment rights. Oh wait....


THIS IS NOT A FIRST AMENDMENT ISSSUE!!!!!!!

It is amazing to me how many people don't understand the first amendment. All the first amendment says is that the GOVERNMENT can't come after you if you say something. Period.
Slimfast can hire or fire whomever they please. If they think that her rant about Bush will hurt there image(ie, Bush supporters not buying slimfast, they have legal right to do that you know) then they can take action if they want.
Goldberg, to my knowledge, has not received any kind of crap from the government regarding her statements about Bush. She was not arrested, fined, or otherwise harassed by the government. If you can find evidence of this happening to her regarding this issue, then please provide it. Otherwise, don't bring up the first amendment where it does not apply.


EDIT: looks like Gen Wedge beat me to it:):)
darkiguana
 

belgurdo

Banned
Wolfy said:
Yea, seriously. Nobody is taking away her right to say anything.


rumsfeld.jpg


"....and another 5 million if you put these mind controlling agents in your products. Just call it a "low carb" option or something."
 

Diablos

Member
This shit is going way too far. We're not a free country, our actions are frowned upon constantly by religious fruitcakes across the nation.
 

Tekky

Member
Anybody know what she actually said? I'd love to hear it.


-With leaders like Dick and Bush, you know we're f*cked.
 

maharg

idspispopd
darkiguana said:
THIS IS NOT A FIRST AMENDMENT ISSSUE!!!!!!!

You know, this is all very true, but it still leaves a bad taste in a lot of people's mouth (even if they're NOT drinking slimfast) that someone should be fired for being politically active.

Fact is, people don't need any more encouragement to be quiet about their political beliefs. There is a climate at the moment, in the american media, that seems to say "you can believe whatever religion you want, you can even be gay, but god help you if you're a democrat."

So no, it's not a constitutional issue, but it being LEGAL does not make it RIGHT.
 

Fusebox

Banned
A spokesperson has to represent the company to the rest of the nation, having one who gets half the nation offside because of his/her views just isn't good business sense.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
maharg said:
You know, this is all very true, but it still leaves a bad taste in a lot of people's mouth (even if they're NOT drinking slimfast) that someone should be fired for being politically active.
Making puns using the president's last name is not being politically active. Defend her right to say it, but don't try and make her into some noble person that's intelligently engaging in the political process.
 
They should've dumped her alot earlier since Whoopi has been railing against Bush for awhile now, especially with her show. People are just more hyper sensitive now or else they wouldn't have even thought about firing her.
 

maharg

idspispopd
Dan said:
Making puns using the president's last name is not being politically active. Defend her right to say it, but don't try and make her into some noble person that's intelligently engaging in the political process.

I didn't say she was noble, but whether it's rude and vulgar political activity, it is still political activity. Shock is a tool for comedians, and whoopie goldberg has always used shock more than anything else in her bits. I don't personally find her funny, but for fuck's sake, if making jokes about someone's name -- and I might add someone *in the public spotlight* -- is a reasonable cause for firing, then there are a lot of people out there in need of firing. Including people who make fun of *her* name.

When you hire a comedian to be your spokesperson, you should not be surprised when they make political commentary.
 

Manders

Banned
Now we know where the media stands. You make a joke about Bush, you get fired. But night after night, I watch Letterman and Conan and they both constantly make jokes about how Kerry is hideos, he looks like a horse, it looks like his face is melting, etc.

This sickens me.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
Puns on the name "Bush" != political commentary

This ain't Jon Stewart we're talking about. These aren't jokes that are revealing flaws on our political system, or easing people into noticing some hard truth via laughter or anything of that sort. They're puns. To call that political activity is to demean politics far more than it deserves.

She has more than a right to say whatever she wants, but to call her comments anything more than jokes made at a political fundraiser is simply far too generous.
 

Eminem

goddamit, Griese!
Now we know where the media stands. You make a joke about Bush, you get fired. But night after night, I watch Letterman and Conan and they both constantly make jokes about how Kerry is hideos, he looks like a horse, it looks like his face is melting, etc.

This sickens me.

Because Conan and Letterman have never made any jokes about Bush, right? I'm sorry but...dumbass.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
Manders said:
Now we know where the media stands. You make a joke about Bush, you get fired. But night after night, I watch Letterman and Conan and they both constantly make jokes about how Kerry is hideos, he looks like a horse, it looks like his face is melting, etc.

This sickens me.
But... Letterman and Conan are actually funny. Can anyone actually say that Whoopi has been funny within the last decade?

And what does Whoopi getting fired have to do with the media? SlimFast fired her. This isn't the reasoning behind her show being cancelled.
 

Manders

Banned
Eminem said:
Because Conan and Letterman have never made any jokes about Bush, right? I'm sorry but...dumbass.


I'm sorry. That was a horrible attempt at sarcasm on my part. We all know the media is liberal. But Kerry is still hideos.

heeee haaaa
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
It's four in the AM. I guess that explains why I didn't notice something wrong with the media being for Bush.
 

maharg

idspispopd
How, exactly, can you demean politics more than it deserves? As long as politians are involved, that seems like quite a challenge.
 

Che

Banned
Cyan said:
We are a free country. Whoopi is free to say whatever shit she wants about Bush. Slimfast is free to fire her because they don't want to be boycotted by Republicans.

Yeah yeah of course it all makes sense now. And Rome was a free country. You were free to call Ceasar an idiot, and his executioner was free to cut your head off. Everybody were free. Hooray!
 

Che

Banned
Manders said:
lol

Wow the liberals are really fuming over this one.

I agree. Damn liberals. I say fire every single one of them and then shoot their children. Afterall we're a free country damnit!
 

Hamfam

Junior Member
I can just imagine O Reilly or Rush's reaction if some company did this to someone for a conservative comment, "The liberals in this country! They are takin away our free speach!". But when something like this happens, it's a case of, "ha, stupid commie"
 

Baron Aloha

A Shining Example
darkiguana said:
THIS IS NOT A FIRST AMENDMENT ISSSUE!!!!!!!

It is amazing to me how many people don't understand the first amendment. All the first amendment says is that the GOVERNMENT can't come after you if you say something. Period.
Slimfast can hire or fire whomever they please. If they think that her rant about Bush will hurt there image(ie, Bush supporters not buying slimfast, they have legal right to do that you know) then they can take action if they want.
Goldberg, to my knowledge, has not received any kind of crap from the government regarding her statements about Bush. She was not arrested, fined, or otherwise harassed by the government. If you can find evidence of this happening to her regarding this issue, then please provide it. Otherwise, don't bring up the first amendment where it does not apply.


EDIT: looks like Gen Wedge beat me to it:):)
darkiguana

There is a certain climate in the nation nowadays where if any celebrity speaks poorly of Bush he/she is punished. So Woopi doesn't like Bush and she made a comment. So what? You didn't see people getting fired when they made comments about Clinton.

This whole thing is politically motivated and the orders are coming from the top. Just because the government doesn't officially do something to shut Goldberg up doesn't mean that they can't find someone else to do it for them. Take the whole Dixie Chicks fiasco for instance. The Dixie Chicks made a bad comment about Bush and what happened? People in the white house found out about it so they contacted all their little chronies to stir shit up (including good old O'Reily). The next thing you know you've got O'Reily and a bunch of other douche bags accusing the Dixie Chicks of treason and God knows what else. They also encouraged a boycot of their records. The next thing you know their record sales plummet. This in turn sends a msg: "Don't speak out against the administration or you will be punished.". The same thing is now happening to Goldburg.

I personally would like to see democrats get outraged about her being fired just for having an opinion. What would SlimFast do then? Rehire her? The bottom line is that Goldberg shouldn't have been punished for having a freaking opinion. The whole "protect the hive" mentality of republicans is quite sickening.
 

ge-man

Member
JC10001 said:
There is a certain climate in the nation nowadays where if any celebrity speaks poorly of Bush he/she is punished. So Woopi doesn't like Bush and she made a comment. So what? You didn't see people getting fired when they made comments about Clinton.

This whole thing is politically motivated and the orders are coming from the top. Just because the government doesn't officially do something to shut Goldberg up doesn't mean that they can't find someone else to do it for them. Take the whole Dixie Chicks fiasco for instance. The Dixie Chicks made a bad comment about Bush and what happened? People in the white house found out about it so they contacted all their little chronies to stir shit up (including good old O'Reily). The next thing you know you've got O'Reily and a bunch of other douche bags accusing the Dixie Chicks of treason and God knows what else. They also encouraged a boycot of their records. The next thing you know their record sales plummet. This in turn sends a msg: "Don't speak out against the administration or you will be punished.". The same thing is now happening to Goldburg.

I personally would like to see democrats get outraged about her being fired just for having an opinion. What would SlimFast do then? Rehire her? The bottom line is that Goldberg shouldn't have been punished for having a freaking opinion. The whole "protect the hive" mentality of republicans is quite sickening.

As much as it is in the rights of the company to fire Whoppi, I must agree that there is a darker side to the issue. I don't think we would see anything like this with any other president. People have always made fun of presidents--why is it different now?
 
Hamfam said:
I can just imagine O Reilly or Rush's reaction if some company did this to someone for a conservative comment, "The liberals in this country! They are takin away our free speach!". But when something like this happens, it's a case of, "ha, stupid commie"

O'Reilly better be the last person on earth to argue something like that.
 

Razoric

Banned
This is a free country... she wasnt arrested for what she said, she was in no way punished legally for her statements. Slimfast just doesnt want a childish idiot representing their company and causing half the american population to boycott their products. There are plenty of bush bashers out there who use tact and not get into this kind of trouble.
 

Baron Aloha

A Shining Example
Razoric said:
This is a free country... she wasnt arrested for what she said, she was in no way punished legally for her statements. Slimfast just doesnt want a childish idiot representing their company and causing half the american population to boycott their products. There are plenty of bush bashers out there who use tact and not get into this kind of trouble.

There are a lot more ways to punish someone besides arresting them or taking legal action. Slimfast did not fire her because of her comments. They fired her because a bunch of whining republicans bitched about them. I hope the other half of the american population boycotts their product for firing her.
 

Razoric

Banned
JC10001 said:
There are a lot more ways to punish someone besides arresting them or taking legal action. Slimfast did not fire her because of her comments. They fired her because a bunch of whining republicans bitched about them. I hope the other half of the american population boycotts their product for firing her.

You say this with nothing to back you up but ok...

So are you saying corperations should not have the right to drop people they hired to represent their company after they say something that could potentially hurt their profit margin?
 
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