Thanks to some whiny people I don't get to read Tuesday Morning Quarterback any more

[ixnay]

Like I do every Tuesday morning, I went to ESPN.com's Page 2 to read this week's Tuesday Morning Quarterback, the best recap of each week there is, with humor, obscure stats, and game analysis. What am I greeted with instead?

To our readers: Tuesday Morning Quarterback will no longer be available on ESPN.com.

Well, damn. I figured Gregg Easterbrook decided to move on and do the column somewhere else, but it turns out that all of the TMQ archives and any mention of him on the site have disappeared.

I do some digging and find this article on Salon.

Turns out he was fired due to "anti-semitic" comments made on a completely different site:

Here's most of the offending paragraph: "Set aside what it says about Hollywood that today even Disney thinks what the public needs is ever-more-graphic depictions of killing the innocent as cool amusement. Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner, is Jewish; the chief of Miramax, Harvey Weinstein, is Jewish. Yes, there are plenty of Christian and other Hollywood executives who worship money above all else, promoting for profit the adulation of violence. Does that make it right for Jewish executives to worship money above all else, by promoting for profit the adulation of violence? Recent European history alone ought to cause Jewish executives to experience second thoughts about glorifying the killing of the helpless as a fun lifestyle choice."

Now, I'm no Jew but if I were I don't think something like that would offend me. But apparently it offends some people and because of them I can't read my TMQ this week.

[Dis]

godammit! This sucks!

The jews will pay for this

[Dis]

he has always been against the excessive violence in movies. He writes about that sometimes in TMQ

[Az]

[lord of the mark]

Most Jews have accepted his apology. The New Republic, which publishes his blog, and which itself is edited and published by Jews who are exquisitely sensitive about antiSemitism, decided to keep him on, and published a very eloquent acceptance of his apology. Abe Foxman of the ADL did not accept the apology, but I doubt thats what determined Disney's decision. IIUC ESPN wanted to keep him, and Michael Eisner himself insisted on his being fired. This isnt about the Jews so much (Easterbrook has long worked with Jews at the New Republic and elsewhere, all of whom are certain hes no antisemite) so much as its about not criticizing your boss in public. Note Eisner is mentioned by name - Eisner runs Disney, which owns ESPN, which Easterbrook works for. And Eisner is known for holding grudges.

[pchang]

Eisner is an SOB

We need to boycott all Eisner related enterprises. That will teach him the true meaning of holding grudges.

EDIT:
I will go to CNNSI and Foxsports instead of ESPN
I will stop watching ABC (their show suck anyway)
I will not go to Disneyland

[Ben Kenobi]

If it is to be anti-semitic to oppose the glorification of violence than I would be anti-semetic as well.

[Spiffor]

I don't exactly get what is shocking or antisemitic in his blog, and I really don't see anything for which he should have apologized.

IIUC, he's saying that Jews should be more cautious before endorsing excessive violence in movies, because they have lived firsthand the product of excessive violence. It's exactly like saying the Japanese ought to not be too fond of the Atomic. I understand one can disagree with his moral statement, but I don't understand how one can find it offensive at all.

Apparently the mere use of the word "Jew" in sentences having a controversial tone are antisemitic today

[Dinner]

It sort of sounds like Easterbrook was complaining that Eisner & Weinstein we perpetuating a stereo type by releasing movies like Kill Bill though he didn't voice his concerns in an acceptable manner.

[lord of the mark]

In fairness to those who criticized the blog - its not that he criticized violence in movies, or used the word jew - its probably the following words "Does that make it right for Jewish executives to worship money above all else" Now if you read and re-read it, you realize that hes not saying Jewish movie executives are any different from Christian movie executives - he IS holding Jews to a different standard, arguable perhaps, but not antisemitic in context. He just came out with something that SOUNDS antisemitic, probably cause of the pace of the blogging process, and its lack of editing. I understand why some were offended, and why he felt it appropriate to apologize - However I think ESPN firing him was NOT justified.

[Dis]

it's more of a stereotype about jews and money than anything else.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Dissident
it's more of a stereotype about jews and money than anything else.

It is clear he expects the Christians to worship money above all else, and he actually expects the Jews to be more cautious.

[Spiffor]

Is it me, or the thread title has just been edited by the mods ? Apparently, "whiny Jews" is antisemite. I guess I'd better not start threads complaining about "whiny Americans" or "whiny leftists"

[Arrian]

Noticed the mod edit myself.

-Arrian

[Gangerolf]

"Is it me, or the thread title has just been edited by the mods ?"

how very ironic!

maybe a whiny jew told the mods?