During the week Pope Francis visited Brazil for World Youth Day, late night comedians lined up to take cheap shots. On its website, USA Today took a poll asking respondents to choose which video they liked best: the one where David Letterman compared all priests to molesters, or the one where Jay Leno said Pope Francis could be mistaken for Lady Gaga.
While Leno’s jab was inoffensive, Letterman’s July 23 monologue was vile. His “altar boy” quip—World Youth Day is called by the Vatican “salute to altar boys”—is a vicious hit on 40,000 innocent priests.
USA Today took Letterman’s offensive remarks to a new level. It not only flagged his bigotry, it celebrated it. Predictably, many more respondents preferred Letterman’s obscene statement to Leno’s throw-away line.
USA Today is flustered over racial profiling, but considers religious profiling acceptable, at least when it comes to priests. And they consider themselves open-minded and fair.
