"WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?"

In this case it is “What was he thinking”?

Jerry Lewis hosted the 123rd annual Labor Day Telethon this past weekend. Oh wait, I am being told it was only the 42nd annual Labor Day Telethon. This year Lewis set a new record by raising almost 64 million dollars during the 24 hour telethon. Looking back Lewis might wish it had ended at hour number 17. You see it was during hour 18 where Lewis was clowning around on stage and playing to the camera. The gag was that Lewis was dodging his cameraman and blithering on about imaginary family members saying; “Oh, your family came to see you” gesturing towards nothing. “You remember Bart, your older son” looking away as if there is another person standing there. “Jesse, the illiterate faggot.” Lewis replied, “No”, and then quickly ended his monologue.

A quick furious response from the President of GLADD saying that Lewis’s remarks were “simply unacceptable” brought an apology from Lewis. “I apologize to anyone who was offended. Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard. In the family atmosphere of the telethon, I forget that not everyone knows me that well. That something like this would distract from the true purpose of the telethon pains me deeply. I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses.” But then Lewis added; “I was just making a joking comment to a member of my production team.”