Thursday, August 30, 2012

Man-Rule: Don’t Make Fun of the Way Somebody Looks, Part II



A few weeks ago here in The Man Rules blog, we discussed how wrong it is to poke fun at people because of their looks. I illustrated this by making a lighthearted joking reference to the resemblance between Big 10+1 Commissioner Jim Delany and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham’s cranky old-man puppet Walter.

I have since heard from some lawyers about this post, and I wish to stress that my intention was, using humor, to show how terribly, awfully wrong and hurtful it is to make those types of comparisons. I do NOT suggest for a moment that Men (or especially young children) should compare the looks of actual, living, breathing humans with puppets, because their feelings could be hurt. I hope this sets the record straight, and if someone would forward this post on to Walter’s attorneys, I’m sure he’ll drop the defamation suit against me. (For the record, Walter, I think you’re MUCH better looking than Jim Delany, and you’ve got a better personality to boot.)

This got me to thinking, though; what if there are other people out there who would be insulted if they were compared, either favorably or unfavorably, to puppets? I’m not talking about figureheads or people whose strings are pulled by others, such as Gene Chizik at Auburn, who can no longer have a satisfying bowel movement unless he first asks Pat Dye to remove his hand. I mean people who would be mortified to learn they bear a strong resemblance to something created by Jim Henson.

And lo and behold, while I was eating lunch today at Full Moon Barbecue, an example appeared before me on a wide-screen television. The TV was tuned to ESPN, and for some reason Mel Kiper Jr. was pontificating on the NFL draft status of juniors and seniors who haven’t even played their last season of college football yet. And just as I was glooping some more barbecue sauce on my sandwich, it hit me (the realization, not the sauce): Mel Kiper Jr.:
















looks uncannily like Sam the Eagle:

Seriously! Look at that! If you put a really bad hairpiece on Sam the Eagle, similar to the one Tim Brando wears sometimes, he’d be a dead ringer for Mel! 

Anyway, this is exactly the type of thoughtless, hurtful comparison that can cause irreparable reputational damage and legions of lawyers to parachute from the sky, so it’s especially important that you not do this. If you insist, though, be sure you have a good attorney, because I’m betting Sam the Eagle would NOT take kindly to it. And I wouldn’t blame him one bit.
(c) 2012 John Puckett

No comments:

Post a Comment