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The Rodeo Clown that disparaged the President Of The United States, Tuffy Gessling, called KCTV to request that they interview him to “clear the record”. The KCTV5 interviewer, Alice Barr, made this an attempt to rehabilitate Gessling instead of probing him for the definite racist context of his rodeo clown performance in Sedalia, Missouri at the Missouri State Fair.
The following snippet from an AP article describes the night at the fair.
Perry Beam, who was among the spectators, said “everybody screamed” and “just went wild” as the announcer talked about having the bull run down the clown with the Obama mask.
“It was at that point I began to feel a sense of fear. It was that level of enthusiasm,” Beam, a 48-year-old musician from Higginsville, said Sunday, referring to the reaction from the crowd that filled the fair’s grandstand.
He said another clown ran up to the one wearing the Obama mask, pretended to tickle him and played with the lips on the mask. About 15 minutes into the performance, the masked clown had to leave after a bull got too close, Beam said. [Source]
The interview starts with Gessling telling about the bad things that have happened to him since the racist skit. He said, “I have had one lady spit in my face. Call me a dirty name a dirty name, spit in my face and walked off. … I have had somebody threaten to run me over. One of them wanted to burn the house down.” In other words it is all about long suffering Tuffy Gessling who is just being attacked for making a joke.
Barr said Gessling told her it’s the hate that brought him out to speak. He then said, “I didn’t do this to do any hating on anyone. I did it to be funny. I did it to be a joke. This bit, this clown bit has been around for a generation. And I didn’t think any more on it. And what we have done 15 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago, when we’ve done it with Bush and Clinton and Ronald Reagan … I never did anything because of anybody’s race. I don’t care what color somebody is, if they are blue, white, green, polka dotted, stripe it doesn’t bother me one bit.”
At this point one would have expected Barr to ask Gessling if he had seen any clown, him included, put a broom at any of the impressions of those presidents’ butts. One would think she would have asked if anyone played with those impressions of presidents’ lips as was done when trying to stereotype black people.
Why did she not explore his thoughts on the Right Wing’s fascination with his attack on the President and why Glenn Beck would feel it necessary to enter the fray and say “Today, I declare myself officially a rodeo clown” if it is true that the act was not political. One would think that she would ask why some would leave the event describing it this way.
“They mentioned the president’s name, I don’t know, 100 times. It was sickening,” Beam said. “It was feeling like some kind of Klan rally you’d see on TV.” [Source]
Barr gave Gessling not only a pass. She encouraged the use of her station to rehabilitate someone that is yet to atone for what he did. Additionally she allowed him to promote a gig he will be a participant in. She allowed him to invite other politicians to the gig and grill him. He then ended with a snarky invitation to the president saying, “If president Obama turns out, I will be honored to shake his hand.” Racists get away with their deeds because the mainstream media always give them a platform to attenuate their evil deeds.
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Can anyone confirm whether it was, in fact, done with other presidents in the past? Because if it was, then calling it racist now makes the right wing nut jobs right, that the left will use accusations of racism to silence criticism. But if it hasn’t been done in the past, then it most likely *is* racist. I know racism is real, and it needs to be eradicated. But I’m also really, really tired of racism, feminism and a whole bunch of -isms being used by people who are just looking for something to scream about. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying that definitely *is* what’s happening here. But unless you can say with absolute certainty that this sort of thing hasn’t been done in the past, to white presidents,it may just be one of those cases. I adovocate logic and reason, and above all proof, when a serious accusation is made. Show me that this situation is truly unique, truly motivated by racism and not just an update of an old routine.
And saying that a statement made by Glenn Beck makes the performance politically motivated? Does that mean that if Glenn Beck says he drinks milk, then only racist idiots drink milk? I normally agree with most of what I read on this site, but saying that what someone not associated in any way with the performance says about it is proof of the intent of the performance, well, that’s exactly the sort of behavior I despise in Mr. Beck, and I think you’re better than that, Egberto. That’s a long stretch to try to make a point.
I occasionally attend the local RCA rodeo and have seen similar acts by the clowns. They do it for laughs and as a way to get the crowd involved. I highly doubt that tuffy didn’t know he was pushing the limits, but I also think that people have pushed the race card.when it may not have been involved. I’ve watched the race card played to the point that I’m sick of it. We all need a little sensitive training and I mean training to be less sensitive. I’ve been called racist names and walked away but let the roles be reversed and see how often it happens. Again Tuffy knows he was pushing he limits but I doubt the pres Obama could care less.
Seems to me he’s being called a racist because he ISN’T racist – because he treated Obama just like he would any white president.
All the racists that hate Tuffy can go take a hike.
This has been done to other presidents, in many venues, and to make this out to be a racist issue is ABSURD. Was it unclassy and distasteful? Yes, but it usually is no matter who is president at the time. This guy should be left alone. The people who should be to blame are the ones who turned it into a racial issue and the spectators and announcer of the event who turned it into a racial issue.