Thoughts On NFL Week 2, 2008
Tony Kornheiser Spouts The Worst Kind Of Slur: A Casual One
Perhaps it’s my complete disdain for him showing, but Tony Kornheiser’s glib remark on Monday Night Football, about picking up the dry cleaning, was clearly a slur, even if other bloggers don’t get it.
In fact, it was the worst kind of slur: A comment made in such an off-hand manner, in spite of all the indications that it shouldn’t be offered, speaks volumes about Kornheiser’s opinion of Hispanics.
For those of you who may have missed it, Monday Night Football dedicated a significant amount of attention to Hispanic Heritage Month. Virtually every commercial break included a promo spot for NFLatino.com and Mike Tirico mentioned something about either NFLatino.com or Hispanic Heritage Month shortly after each break.
It was during such a mention — when ESPN replayed Felix Jones’ 98-yard kick return touchdown, with the ESPN Deportes announcers’ audio — that Kornheiser dropped this gem:
I took high school Spanish, and that either means “no one is going to touch him” or “could you pick up my dry cleaning in the morning?”
A lot of people say the comment is innocuous, or they simply don’t get it. But if you change “Spanish” to “Hebrew” and “my dry cleaning” to “some matzo balls,” I bet it becomes a lot easier to figure out.
The “joke” is aimed at the fact that wealthy people employ Latinos as domestics. It’s offensive on its face, because it suggests that Kornheiser equates Spanish speakers with maids.
It’s especially offensive taken within the context of why ESPN was replaying the clip in the first place: It’s Hispanic Heritage Month! Kornheiser is going to drop a “maid” bomb in the middle of the NFL / ABC attempt to honor Latino culture and grow their audiences? What, exactly, is going through his head, that makes him think a smear is an appropriate riposte at that moment?
