Creator of Archie Bunker character to boycott Dolt45 Kennedy Center Honors reception

[HipChick]

thin-skinned Dolt45 prob won't show up, he avoids any public event when he might be criticized....

Norman Lear created one of the great characters of American television on “All in the Family”: a blowhard from Queens who was practically unable to open his mouth without insulting women, minorities or some other group besides his own.

So it’s both a perfect tribute and a bittersweet irony that he is finally receiving a Kennedy Center Honor during the administration of President Donald J. Trump.It was a prescient creation and a volatile one. Mr. Lear identified what would be a political theme for decades, the splintering of blue-collar white men from the New Deal coalition.
<snip>

Now Mr. Trump sits at the Oval Office Resolute Desk like Archie in his favorite chair. But Mr. Lear will not come to his house. He plans to boycott the December reception at the White House, a rare snub.Mr. Lear’s opinion of the president isn’t surprising or new. He told The Daily Beast last year that “Archie Bunker was far wiser of heart” than Mr. Trump. “Sure, the thoughts he held were antediluvian,” Mr. Lear said. “But Donald Trump is a thorough fool.”
Traditionally, however, the Kennedy Center Honors have been a political cease-fire. Presidents, Democrat and Republican, have hosted artists at White House receptions before the gala ceremony, where the honorees have sat in the Presidential Box.

This is one more way that things are different with Mr. Trump, whose campaign was as much a cultural battle as a political one. Another honoree, the singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan, born in Cuba, has said she plans to use the event to challenge the president on immigration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/03/arts/norman-lear-archie-bunker-trump.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Glamrock]

2. "a blowhard from Queens who was practically unable to open his mouth without insulting women,

minorities or some other group besides his own."

That's why I call trump the Archie Bunker Billionaire.

[HipChick]

4. Yep....I'm betting we will find out he more of a Debt King than an actual Billionaire

[Va Lefty]

3. Good for Stefan! That ought to send the wingnuts into a tizzy

[pangaia]

5. That clip is a classic...

And so prescient... UGH !!

[turbinetree]

6. I personally think that no one should show up only the ones that support this traitor

and they are sitting with the black ties and party dresses on looking at each other, this is just an embarrassment to have this ass**** presiding over a cultural event to honor the arts, the same arts that he want to eviscerate in Humanities, and other endowments in his budget.

Ms Estefan , in my opinion if you did not show up it would be more important for immigration rights, he will sit there and plot his evil hate and thinking of his Access Hollywood incident when he looks at you in that box, he does not deserve your honor as a human being or immigrates that he has ruthlessly attacked

[lpbk2713]

7. Gloria Estefan should be worth watching.

I might tune in just to see what she has to say to the
Asshole-in-Chief. If it is tape delayed some might be
edited out but there's always Youtube.

[SHRED]

8. He should go...

...and give Dump a lecture he'd never forget.
What does not going do?

Bravo to Gloria!!

[broadcaster90210]

9. *standing ovation *

nt

[Crowman2009]

10. For those who don't know, Norman Lear is the founding chair of PFAW.

People For the American Way, which is a progressive advocacy organizations founded to fight right-wing extremism and defend constitutional values under attack, including free expression, religious liberty, equal justice under the law, and the right to meaningfully participate in our democracy.

http://www.pfaw.org/

This is also the same group which funds the "Right Wing Watch" project. Whose videos are shown on the "Video & Multimedia" forum frequently.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/

[progressoid]

12. Yep. He's done a lot of good work for us.

[CanSocDem]

18. At the time....

...we didn't think airing this character was good for the American psyche. Giving voice to that kind of discrimination, under the disguise of comedy, did more to separate Americans than any television show ever had.

Suddenly, it was OK to 'repeat' Bunkerisms and they became common-place. The whole right-wing 'tell it like it is' movement started here.

Norman Lear probably felt mildly responsible for the growing volume of the inarticulate rage in the mass media. PFAW did help....sort of.

.

[alp227]

11. I got to see Lear in person last year

at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival screening of Just Another Version of You. Still well spoken in his 90s. I also recommend the book version.

[mcar]

13. The Frog King has ruined one of my favorite shows

I love the Kennedy Center Honors. I won't watch this year if that slug is in the box with the honorees.

[dsc]

14. I actually wish he would go

Unlike when athletes go to the White House, these people get to speak and Lear would be fantastic.

[Paladin]

15. Bravo to Norman Lear for pulling a no-show.

You know damn well that trump will try to make the entire evening about himself. Lear's not appearing will infuriate trump to no end. I hope other honorees do the same, and obtain their awards via FedEx.

[Nanjeanne]

16. Love Lear.

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. Norman Lear nicked the idea from a British series called "Til Death Us Do Part"

the character's name was Alf Garnett, and Norman Lear didn't create the character, he adapted it for American television.

[Scurrilous]

19. K&R