Kathy Griffin and Jesus

Last weekend, C-list comic Kathy Griffin won an Emmy for a reality show on which she modestly assigns herself even lowlier standing ("My Life on the D-List").  In the process of making her acceptance speech, Griffin ignited a firestorm of controversy.

"A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus.” Holding up her Emmy, Griffin added the clincher. "Suck it, Jesus. This award is my god now."

Any Christian would and should find Griffin's remark offensive.  I certainly did.  It was crude and tasteless and not the least bit funny.  Even some of Griffin's friends in the entertainment business found her remarks in bad taste. Sherri Shepherd, Griffin's co-star in Suddenly Susan, said, "You know you ain't supposed to be saying no mess like that. There's just a line that you shouldn't cross, there's a reverence for God that we should have."

Here's the thing: In the midst of her offensive and inappropriate comments, Kathy Griffin had a point. We've all been perplexed - and disgusted - by artists (and I use that term loosely) who in their creative offerings drop the f-bomb, glorify moral depravity, and objectify and degrade women, only to clutch their statuette and say, "First of all I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who made all of this possible..."  The problem was in making that point, Kathy Griffin, in the words of her friend Sherri, crossed the line.  That's the problem sometimes with comedians, especially those who aspire to be edgy... sometimes their attempts at humor land them in a heap of hot water. Just ask Jerry Lewis.  Or Michael Richards.

There's one other aspect to this story that troubles me as much as Griffin's remarks and the disingenuous shout outs to Jesus: The blatant leveraging of the situation for notoriety and gain by wanna-be Christian activists and spokespersons. As soon as the story of Griffin's remarks broke, Christian groups were calling publicly for Griffin to be censored, censured, banned, banished, drawn and quartered... you get the idea. 

Monday morning my inbox was full of press releases from Christian organizations rushing to get their righteous indignation quoted in news reports and duly noted by the faithful. You have to admire their astute assessment of the story's potential.  Articles about Griffin's Jesus remarks generated huge traffic and impressive click thrus on the web.

But there's something a little - OK, a lot - sleazy about those groups who blatantly attempted to use this incident as a springboard to prominence as Jesus' defenders... Who, by the way doesn't need them or us to defend Him.  What He needs is for us to be more like Him in how we respond to things like this.

Ms. Griffin, you might not think much of Jesus, but He thinks a lot of you.  He loves you.  Unconditionally.  As for your comments, there were a lot worse things said to Him during in His life.  Even when He was dying people were mocking Him. His response was to ask God to forgive those who were abusing Him verbally and physically, saying, "they don't know what they are doing."

Comments

[C.A. Phillips]

Alan - GREAT post. I can't imagine even atheists thinking that her remarks were funny. God has a sense of humor, but like any father, the line is drawn with His family (Jesus and all believers included).

I think she may fall to the Q or R list after those comments.