When a comedian insults lesbians, is it discriminatory?

[drriley]

A smart reporter, or editor, finally figured out how to print "cock sucker" without actually using that term. lolol

Earle countered by calling her unattractive and suggested male genitalia should be inserted in her mouth.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/a...discriminatory

Sunny Dhillon
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER?A comedian who put down a lesbian and her companion in the audience is hoping she doesn?t have the last laugh at a B.C. Human Rights Commission tribunal this week.

Was Guy Earle?s verbal assault discriminatory and spurred solely by the woman?s sexual orientation, or was the professional funny man exercising his right to free speech when an audience member wouldn?t settle down?

Earle, who?s been a stand-up comic for more than two decades, was the volunteer master of ceremonies at amateur night at a Vancouver restaurant in May 2007.

Lorna Pardy and her same-sex partner had moved to seats near the stage after the patio closed. Pardy?s lawyer says as they spoke with the waitress they were bombarded by a series of gay slurs courtesy of Earle.

But Earle, who lives in Georgetown, Ont., and has a day job as a physicist, has a different version of events and said his remarks come with the comedy-show territory.

?When you heckle me and you?ve been disrespectful through the whole show, I come from the George Carlin school of dealing with a heckler,? he said in an interview. ?So yeah, I shoved it down their throat, and that?s what you do.?

Earle said the women were disruptive, not only ordering their drinks loudly but ignoring his requests to quiet down because a new comedian was about to take the stage. In fact, he said, they purposely got louder.

?As an MC, it?s kind of your duty to make sure that nobody?s disrupting the show, nobody?s heckling, nobody?s derailing it,? he said.

?These guys at this point, they?re making out and flipping me the bird.?

Earle said the next comedian?s act fizzled and he couldn?t even hear the comedian because the women spoke over him.

Earle went back up to introduce the next comic when one of the women allegedly yelled two expletives and said he wasn?t funny.

Earle countered by calling her unattractive and suggested male genitalia should be inserted in her mouth.

?I have the right to be offensive,? he said. ?Because they didn?t find it funny doesn?t mean they can take me to the human-rights tribunal.?

Pardy has not spoken with the media since filing her human-rights complaint, but her lawyer, Devyn Cousineau, said the case isn?t about the content of a comedian?s performance.

?I think there?s been an attempt to spin this to say, ?Well, he?s a comedian so he?s cloaked with some kind of special status,? and that?s just not the case,? she said in an interview.

?It?s not the case about examining a social commentary or jokes that were close to the line or jokes that people would find offensive. This is a case about discriminatory language.?

Pardy?s complaint says Earle?s actions violate Section 8 of the B.C. Human Rights Code. The code says a person must not, without a bona fide and reasonable justification, discriminate against a person or class of persons regarding any accommodation, service or facility customarily available to the public.

James Millar, Earle?s lawyer, argued that section was not designed to restrict artistic expression.

Cousineau, who works with the Community Legal Assistance Society, said Earle continued to call the women names even when he left the stage. She said he went so far as to take Pardy?s sunglasses off her head and break them.

Earle admitted to breaking the sunglasses, calling it a ?stupid? move in the heat of the argument. He said Pardy threw a drink in his face when he first walked past her table and another when he went over a short while later to try and smooth things over.

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal is expected to hear the case through Thursday.

Pardy is seeking damages in the neighbourhood of $20,000.

Earle is hoping he?ll be able to participate in the hearing by phone. The tribunal rejected his call-in request this month, but Millar said he?s still hopeful his client won?t have to fly cross-country.

Earle, who said he has debts along with a nine-week-old child, will definitely not appear the first day of proceedings.

Asked if he regrets what he said to Pardy, the comic answered he?s more careful now that he knows there?s ?an incentive program for hecklers.?

?My joke now is that when somebody heckles me out of the darkness, I peer through the lights and ask, ?I?m sorry sir, before I respond to you, can you tell me if you are part of a protected group???

The veteran comic said the incident may have helped him gain notoriety but it hasn?t helped him gain bookings.

He?s been accused of being homophobic, and while a handful of places might encourage extremely offensive material, hundreds of others want little to do with it.

?The last 10 years I haven?t been doing stand-up as a make-or-break career,? he said.

?This has been a passion for me. It?s not a career decision for me. It?s not important that I?m not getting gigs monetarily, but it?s a spirit-crusher.?

Last September, the B.C. Supreme Court quashed the tribunal?s decision to have a full hearing. The court ruled the tribunal might not have the jurisdiction to determine if Earle?s words were protected expression.

But in January, the tribunal said it would decide if it has jurisdiction only after a full hearing was conducted.

[EscortBiz]

comedians should never make fun of people in the audiance period

it makes most people uncomfortable and its wrong

[PlugRush Sascha]

Originally Posted by EscortBiz

comedians should never make fun of people in the audiance period

it makes most people uncomfortable and its wrong

Then don't go to a comedy show. A lot of great comedians do this and, if they're good at what they do, it's fucking hilarious. Usually it isn't done out of anger though, that's where this case differs. Most people should be able to take a joke, but if it was spurred by an argument it's kind of fucked up. If these bitches were really throwing drinks in his face though, they got what they had coming to them.

Either way, I don't think it should go in front of a human rights tribunal. You should be able to say whatever you want as long as everyone present is an adult in my opinion. If they were really disruptive during the show before his stand-up act, he should be able to take them in front of a human rights tribunal too if we're going to start doing that over an argument and verbal "assaults".

These people need to witness real human rights violations and maybe they won't sue over retarded shit like an argument in a comedy club.

[Sands]

You go to a comedy show, you should bring a sense of humor. And if you act like an asshole, especially to someone who's funnier than you and can speak louder than you with a microphone, you're going to get blasted.

Regardless of age, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or creed, you don't have the right to not get your feelings hurt by the words of others, regardless how tasteless the verbiage may be. Goody goody PC bullshit has no place in humor since humor thrives on offensiveness, and if a comedian is too offensive, then tough shit. That's _your_ problem.

Here's a joke: two lesbians walk into a comedy club and ruin a good time. Oops, nothing funny about that.

[Agent 488]

Originally Posted by EscortBiz

comedians should never make fun of people in the audiance period

it makes most people uncomfortable and its wrong

if you're going to heckle then you get what you deserve.

that's what makes live comedy great.

[xmas13]

Screw her!

[Paul Markham]

These two women need to go get a life. It's a comedy show!!!!

[Agent 488]

[_Richard_]

this is retarded.. people are dying and this chick is bent out of shape about being insulted after being heckled? they do this to everyone

[Babaganoosh]

If you heckle a comedian then you've given him permission to publicly rip you a new asshole. Frankly I am glad most comedians will belittle hecklers. Hecklers aren't funny. They are rude and inconsiderate to both the comedian and the audience who also paid to be there.

[Tom_PM]

Hey tribunal, lesbians can be rude fucks just like everyone else. Thanks for listening. Case closed.

[PornMD]

He should countersue them for ruining his show. Fuck hecklers. No different than those assholes who talk loudly through movies at the theater - fuck those people. If movie piracy was limited to just those people so they could watch the movies in the comfort of their own home, I don't think anyone would give a shit about movie piracy, lol.

[IllTestYourGirls]

Sounds like the lesbian was being discriminatory to unfunny comedian.