Gibbs said "a lot of topics are better left for serious reflection rather than comedy. I don't think there's any doubt that 9/11 is a part of that."
The spokesman had been asked by a New York Times reporter if the president had any reaction to Sykes' jokes about Limbaugh at the (dinner).
I have to agree. Normally, I err on the side of the comic, but jokes about 9/11 are reprehensible, even when done to retaliate against other jokes about 9/11. The late George Carlin, who posited that anything can be made funny, might have been able to pull it off, but I'm not certain.
It's a real shame, because she finishes the clip with a really strong joke about Sean Hannity.
Still, a stand-up comic has considerable latitude in terms of the half-life of something like this. With an envelope-pushing comic like Sykes, this wasn't the first, nor will it be the last, time she crosses a line she shouldn't.
Give me a break! Osama bin Laden is the national joke on Letterman, Leno and you name it...
RATE THIS COMMENT: (7)
sandybaydesign
3:29PM May 11th 2009
It wasn't funny, not because I don't agree with her assessment of Rush's comments; it just wasn't funny. But it wasn't terribly offensive. Her take on Hannity was funny, "I could break him by putting him in coach" was good. But as far as her being an edgy or "envelope-pushing" comic, what barriers did she push when it came time to roast President Obama?
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
ettu
5:50PM May 11th 2009
Wanda is just one more little piglet let loose from the sty. No one cared that she wished Limbaugh dead, but did try to appease by saying she went to far with 9/11. The usual hedging by Obama and his henchmen.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (10)
Cube
7:12PM May 11th 2009
ettu 5:50PM May 11th 2009 Wanda is just one more little piglet..."
You Dirty Bird. How could you?
You must be channeling Kathy Bates YOU KACKA DOODY DIRTY BIRDY PIGLET!
You must not have watched the whole thing, if you didn't hear her jokes about Obama, his nipples, cutting the White House Lawn, and setting black people back by playing basketball in the White House. Maybe you should listen again.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-2)
BonBon
3:44PM May 11th 2009
Why now, he was laughing like a hyena when she said it....he's classless.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (1)
jpgoodrow
3:59PM May 11th 2009
DON'T BE SURPRISED NEXT WEEK when Obama Hussein Barry names Sykes to the Supreme Court as Dems in Congress pronounced that being gay and or a woman is more important than any legal expertise for sitting on the nation's highest court. NOW THAT'S CHANGE! lol
RATE THIS COMMENT: (6)
Cube
7:29PM May 11th 2009
This is how badass Democrats like me are:
We flew a huge plane over New York and correctly scared the crap out of everyone. It was a safety test. Get over it.
We laugh at jokes about Rush Limbaugh being a 9/11 terrorist and snorting Oxys off of Trigs butt.
We're commies.
We run Gulags.
Our leader hails from Kenya.
Guess what? Still gonna kick your ass in 2012 bitches.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-2)
JLW
4:21PM May 11th 2009
Perhaps you had planned to join as the 21st terroist...you seem to be of the same cloth...evidently you both are first at the trough...
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-4)
Mya
4:11PM May 11th 2009
I guess you people have no sense of humor.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-5)
WADE....
4:27PM May 11th 2009
No 9/11 joke is funny you moron....the fly over joke wasn't funny it scared a lot of people and cost the tax payer. The lefty-loons just don't get it about terrorist...they think it's all a fickin joke until something happens again and then who will they blame it on? Bush?
In his daily briefing Monday, Robert Gibbs distanced the president from comedian Wanda Sykes’ joke comparing Rush Limbaugh to a 9/11 hijacker at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
“I don’t know how the guests get booked,” Gibbs said, adding that he hadn’t “talked specifically” with Obama about Sykes’ crack.(Hmmm there's that word Obama likes...snorty snort snort)
“I think there are a lot of topics that are better left for serious reflection rather than comedy. I think there’s no doubt 9/11 is part of that.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (6)
Mya
4:52PM May 11th 2009
I guess the righties would like to set fourth rules of what and when jokes are appropriate. 9/11 jokes have been happening in one form or another whether you approve of them or not.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-4)
Cube
6:06PM May 11th 2009
Look, the only person allowed to do the 9/11 joke and really screw it up is Gilbert Gottfried at Hugh Hefner's roast.
What Tommy (no offense) fails to do is explain (as Penn Jillette and by proxy Glen Beck) how to work around a 9/11 joke if it backfires...
You see, Gilbert was to take a direct flight to L.A. and was nervous because his plane had a connection on the way home with the Empire State Building...
Ya know, you ought not to take things too seriously, America. If we can laugh one time, at anyone's expense who WAS NOT PRESENT at that horrific event, I say we do. Doesn't Osama bin Laden want us to sit around and malign about how hurt we are and how terrible everything is? I agree with Wanda. Limbaugh is for America failing if he can't control the type of America its going to be, and friends, that is not democracy that is dictatorship, which is exactly the tendencies that got the Republicans ass whooped so bad in the election... that they are letting Limbaugh, the nut job, be their mouthpiece is ridiculous. The Republicans complain about radical liberals, well clean your own house of the radical (Christian Right), and we Democrats WILL clean ours. One round of voting during senate re-elections ought to do it. America has had enough of fanatics. Lets settle down to some nice good MODERATE, and logical thought. Okay? Okay.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-5)
ettu
5:56PM May 11th 2009
Not sure who pays Rush Limbaugh, but I am certain I do not have the power to keep him from speaking. I am a moderate and do not listen to Limbaugh, but he apparently has caught the ear of the White House. They ran on for weeks about his comments. Seems the skin gets thin when you are on the receiving end of the jokes/smackdowns.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (7)
Greg
4:20PM May 11th 2009
I liked what George Carlin said about abortion, "Not every ejeculation deserves a name."
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-3)
Truth
4:33PM May 11th 2009
Where were all of the jokes about The Puppet In Chief? Once again the warped left uses every oppotunity to attack their opponents, which is the ONLY thing thet have a sense of humor about. Why no jokes about Obama's telepacifier? Or Cinco de Quattro? Or ScareForce One's bombing run on downtown new York? Maybe they could have had Obama welcome himself, or apologize to England for the Revolution. Instead they attack their critics, in a spirit of Obamaesque "bipartisanship". Obama is a disgusting piece of crap.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (9)
Ryan
4:40PM May 11th 2009
I used to really like Wanda Sykes... Shame Shame... Jokes about 911 are not cool. Wanda just put herself on my shit list. Just another piece of shit Commie who thinks 911 is now a laughing matter. Fuck this twat!
and
BONG!
RATE THIS COMMENT: (8)
Rheinhart Moxon
5:14PM May 11th 2009
Typical Dem PC!! What is so wrong with an entertainer making jokes about another drug-abusing entertainer?
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-8)
Jill
5:24PM May 11th 2009
When will the celebrities learn that we don't care to hear their opinions on politics or for that matter anything else. They are paid to do their job. When the economy goes to pot then there will not be any money spent on their crap. Wanda Sykes should not be talking about anybody else, or the phrase "Don't throw rocks at glass houses" she has quite a bit of material for other people to get a laugh....