Congrats, Jerry, on your Oscar! And your detractors can bugger off!

Comedian, actor, producer, writer, director and humanitarian, Jerry Lewis received his first Oscar Sunday evening - the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. I've been a big fan of Jerry's - as part of Martin (Dean) and Lewis and as a solo act.

Two things you might not know about Lewis: 1) In 1968, he screened Steven Spielberg's early film, Amblin' and told his students, "That's what filmmaking is all about." 2) As a film innovator, Lewis is credited with inventing the video assist system. That's the monitor directors look into while a scene is being shot.

If you enjoy Jerry's work, take a look at this clip from The Ladies Man (1961). If you don't wanna watch the entire thing, watch the beginning to the 1:30 mark, than jump ahead to to the 3:30 mark - it's his famous "Fix My Hat" scene. It's hilarious.

Oh...that "detractor comment" in the post title above? I didn't wanna make this post too long for people who might not be Jerry Lewis fans. So...if you appreciate Jerry and don't wanna miss my rant on the disabled, click on READ MORE!

I wasn't surprised when I heard there were a handful of people outside the Kodak protesting Jerry getting this honor. It's old news that Lewis has received flack from those in the disabled community over his work with MD, a passion of his for over 40 years. The common gripe is that Jerry paints disabled people as "pitiable victims who want and need nothing more than a big charity to take care of or cure them."

Mike Ervin, of The Progressive Media Project, is a Chicago-based writer and disabled rights activist who is disabled himself. In his article, "Jerry Lewis didn't deserve a humanitarian award at the Oscars", Ervin refers to a 1993 Vanity Fair interview where Jerry commented about Ervin, "This one kid in Chicago would have passed through this life and never had the opportunity to be acknowledged by anybody, but he found out that by being a dissident he gets picked up in a limo by a television station."

Now I really don't think Jerry meant anything bad by the comment. I don't KNOW that, I just THINK that. And I honestly feel that if someone who has MD feels "pitied" or feels their persona is thwarted or shortchanged because of Jerry's methods of raising money for MD, then those people would feel pitied or thwarted whether Jerry was associated with MD or not. I have a cosmetic handicap that I cover up. And I have my moments - there are days when life is a sonofabitch and I'd rather be dead than wake up in the morning. But I get off my ass every day and try not to let it affect me. Jerry or no Jerry. I wrote Ervin and told him if he had a problem with Jerry and his work for MD, he should figure out a way to return the $2 billion+ that Jerry has helped raise for MD over that last 40 years.

I realize Jerry's made some off-the-cuff comments in the past. He's apologized for some. And many just fly out of his mouth for no particular reason and they're forgotten. If you have some sort of understanding about Jerry's personality (from things I've read, interviews I've watched and being a fan), you combat his detractor's digs by arguing that, yeh...Jerry's cocky, unabashedly irreverent and can be a dick sometimes. So can I - doesn't make me a bad person. First of all, the guy's a comedian and often times comedians let whatever flies out of their mouths because they don't censor themselves - they don't always have the opportunity to do that. They're irreverent. They're crude. Comedians have to be quick. You work on the fly. You have to deal with hecklers. You have to react in a SNAP! and that reaction can be in the form of a knee-jerk comment or one-liner you might not have said had you the opportunity to think about it first. Think Don Rickles. Second-guessing isn't always an option.

Dean Martin and Jerry (above). For instance, in February 2000, Lewis stunned an audience gathered to honor his work at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival by saying he doesn't like female comics. Lewis said, "I don't like any female comedians. A woman doing comedy doesn't offend me, but sets me back a bit. I, as a viewer, have trouble with it. I think of her as a producing machine that brings babies in the world."

Now I probably wouldn't have made the comment about "producing machine", but maybe he was just being funny and figured the audience would go along with it. You've heard of the Dean Martin Roasts, haven't you? That generation of comedians ripped you a new asshole when they had the chance. So what. And to be perfectly honest, I agree with Jerry 100% about female comedians. I can barely think of 2 or 3 who make me laugh. Don't like'em and never have. I think Lucille Ball was overrated.

Jerry ain't perfect. But if a guy is going to be the torch bearer, in a way, for a cause like muscular dystrophy and shoulder the responsibility of helping to raise money for research to fight that awful disease, ya gotta cut him some slack. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. Besides, if Deano loved Jerry, they Jeff loves Jerry.

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