By Darryl Litteton
Recently comedienne / writer, Leslie Jones was
attacked by the media for a skit she wrote and
rendered on NBC’s Saturday Night Live which
hypothetically pointed out how she’d have gotten
more play during the slave era due to her large size
and “Mandingo” qualities. The sketch was derided by
black women all over the country for making light of
what they considered a stereotypical portrayal of
black female pain and should’ve never been
exposed to a mainstream audience. Thus, limiting the
artist’s right to create on the palate provided by her
uniqueness and individuality.
This is not just a problem for Leslie Jones, but for all
comedians. In a recent article comedy legend Mel
brooks acknowledged that political correctness is
killing the art of comedy. The need to try to please
the masses as opposed to stirring them up is
defanging the very core of what comedy embodies.
It was meant to be outrageous and to promote not
only the physical sensation of laughter, but also to
ignite reflection and in some cases conversation.
Leslie Jones accomplished that.
So what’s the
problem?
It seems what vexed many was not the lampooning
of Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o being named Most
Beautiful Woman by People Magazine and how that
is now America’s new standard of black
attractiveness, but that Jones linked her own lack of
fitting that mold into an uncomfortable reality that
stepped on their preconceived notion of what a
comedienne should say. In other words – she didn’t
stay in her place. By stating that non-dainty, antimodel shaped black women nowadays would’ve
been the pick of the litter in days gone by, Jones hit
an estrogen filled nerve. She’d have had all the sex
she could handle bumping out little Shaqs, Kobes and
38
LeBrons not only cementing her usefulness on her
own plantation, but also making her a valuable
asset/utility player to be loaned out to other less
fortunate ones. Which raises the question - was it
the specter of slavery that turned off many or was it
that a woman, not a man hit onto a core truth?
As a man and a comedian I had no problem with
it. We all have something that makes us different
from everyone else and those differences are to be
embraced, not assimilated so we’re all walking
goose step reciting the same old tired premises and
archetypes. I for one love the fact I don’t look or
sound like anybody else on the scene. I’m short,
dark, have a grating, high pitched voice and an
overly aggressive manner. If you have a problem
with that take it up with the manufacturer. I’m
simply the product.
Now don’t get me wrong - the period of history
Leslie longs for wouldn’t have suited a guy like me.
I’d have been dark enough to be a field slave, but
so short that yes, even Lupita would’ve out cotton
picked me too.
Chances are they’d have
designated me an alternate bed-warmer; shuttling
me into the big house when it was past the
bedtime of the regularly assigned bed-warmers –
aka the kids. Since a white man’s frigid mangy
feet in my guttural region is not my idea of a
desired life I pass on that fantasy.
However, like Leslie I grasp the reality that my life
would’ve been more advantageous had I been
born in another often discussed era; the Biblical era.
During those times people were short; real short.
They were what – about 4’ 3”? And that was
everybody.
How do you think Jonah fit neatly
into the mouth of a whale? You try to get into a
whale’s mouth and see what happens.
Samson demolished an entire army with the
jawbone of an ass. When you read about it (or.