I would like to hear what he would have to say about this as well. If the lady had been black... pgabriel, would you agree that either all of them or none of them should be fired (if what they did is similar?
I agree with TJ...there was clearly a different standard for Shaq than that which Rocker was held to. I'm not defending either one of them....but there were zero consequences for Shaq...and Rocker was ultimately suspended.
if SNL is life, then life has really sucked in the past seven years. Then again, they were right on with Will Ferrel's Bush impressions. Saying that a wrong act is okay because someone else has done it on tv has some pretty lofty implications, are you sure you want to go there, giddyup? Honestly, in a career like that, there needs to be some professionalism. If anyone in my office purposefully tried to insult a co-worker or client, especially by using race, their career would be done, people like that do not deserve to have such priviliges. Anytime you dont condone someone for a wrong act, you are only going to increase the commonality and acceptance for it.
I think you can defintely argue that the motivations behind what Shaq said and what Rocker said were completely different. You could hear the anger from Rocker, not so from Shaq. O'Neal simply thought he was being funny, which he wasn't and was lambasted for it in the media for weeks.
So...how do you ask somebody where they are from, or what there background is if you are actually intersted in their background? I find people from different parts of the world, or from different backgrounds fascinating. I love it when people tell stories of what their home country is like, or what their culture does differently than mine. Its curiosity, not racisim, in my case. Of course if you grew up in California or New Jersey, I probably wouldn't be as interested.
That is true but Singer was doing the same thing as Shaq - trying to be funny in poor taste. But there were 2 differences - Shaq didn't say it to Yao's face and Shaq is not going to lose his job.
Good question, I usually ask "where are your parents from"...but only kind of carefully...then I proceed to ask (if I am interested) "did you ever live there or go there"? When they say, not really, I grew up here, I say ah, and that's it. But it has happened to me (very) few times also in Germany, that people asked me when "I would go back to my country". That really puzzled me, and I think it was either subtly hostile or really stupid, or both. Hasn't happened often, as I think most people are not that stupid, plus, many people don't realize I am mixed.
Well, to me, he first sounds confrontational. I'm also guessing that if Shaq was a part of the Lakers' upper management, he'd have been disciplined in a harsher way.
I actually agree with Trader_Jorge on this one. I thought O'Neal and Baker got off light for making racially insensitive comments just because they, too, are men of color. Double standard is right.
Don't you think the bar was full of familiar baseball people? Likely he saw her chatting with others known to him.... OR do you think he just confronted her the instant that she entered the bar... kind of like a sargeant-at-arms?
OH, another thing, Oski, your thread title is prejudiced. Nowhere does it say that he will "get the axe," only that his job status is being reviewed.
You could 'hear the anger from Rocker'? Completely false. Rocker was exposed for his comments in a Sports Illustrated article. You couldn't 'hear' anything, you could only read it. This was part of Rocker's beef -- he claims that the piece was overly exaggerated and painted him in a bad light. Now on the other hand, you certainly could hear Shaq, and he simply sounded like a moron. Singer did essentially the same thing as Shaq, although from what it sounds, Singer was intoxicated, whereas Shaq was sober. I would say that Shaq's incident was worse, yet the punishments are completely different.
So, if you go up to friends and see someone you've never met talking to them, do you confront them that way?
Who says it was a "confrontation?" I didn't. I asked you if you envisioned it that way. What the guy did was wrong. I've said that several times. He was probably tipsy. However you all have painted him as some hateful devil. I simply don't think it is an offense that should cause a man his job.
