Comedian Sarah Silverman appeared on Bill Maher’s HBO show on October 9 attacking the Vatican. She began her monologue bemoaning the plight of world hunger, and then found a solution: “What is the Vatican worth, like 500 billion dollars? This is great, sell the Vatican, take a big chunk of the money, build a gorgeous condominium for you and all your friends to live in…and with the money left over, feed the whole f—ing world.”
Speaking of the pope, Silverman continued, “You preach to live humbly, and I totally agree. So, now maybe it’s time for you to move out of your house that is a city. On an ego level alone, you will be the biggest hero in the history of ever. And by the way, any involvement in the Holocaust, bygones….”
Silverman closed by saying, “If you sell the Vatican, and you take that money, and you use it to feed every single human being on the planet, you will get crazy [expletive deleted]. All the [expletive repeated].” In the background, there was a drawing of a penis.
“Silverman’s assault on Catholicism is just another example of HBO’s corporate irresponsibility,” we said in a news release. “Time and again, if it’s not Bill Maher thrashing the Catholic Church, it’s one of his guests. There is obviously something pathological going on there: Silverman’s filthy diatribe would never be allowed if the chosen target were the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem and the state of Israel.”
We ended our statement with a reality check for Silverman: “The Catholic Church operates more hospitals and feeds more of the poor than any private institution in the world. It also saved more Jews during the Holocaust than any other institution in the world.”
Members are urged to write to Bill Nelson, Chairman, HBO, 1100 Avenue of Americas, New York, NY 10036; or write to him at Bill.Nelson@hbo.com
If this wasn’t bad enough, the vulgar video was proudly made available on the following websites: Huffington Post; Gawker; TheFrisky; New York Daily News; MediaBistro; Examiner; AirAmerica; Ecorazzi; TheCelebrityTruth; Newser; EOnline; TheDailyBeast; Beliefnet.
On none of these websites could we find the video of Imus making fun of black athletes at Rutgers, nor could we find the one where Michael Richards ripped blacks while performing. In both instances, Imus and Richards apologized. But when Catholicism is the object of scorn, there are no apologies. Just opportunities to flag the offense one more time.
