California Rodeo Announcer's Racist Michelle Obama Joke Sparks Controversy

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A racist joke about First Lady Michelle Obama made by a California rodeo announcer over the PA system on Saturday has sparked considerable controversy.

During the Creston Classic Rodeo in Creston, Ca., the announcer reportedly joked over the loudspeaker that 'Playboy is offering Ann Romney $250,000 to pose in the magazine, and the White House is upset about it because National Geographic only offered Michelle Obama $50 to pose for them.'

'I was really appalled and the people around me were really appalled,' spectator Dona Wilson told the San Luis Obispo Tribune. 'He was acting like we were buying into his bigotry and we weren't.'

The newspaper asked for comment from the rodeo's board members. 'I can't speak for the board, but I myself think that this is unacceptable behavior or conduct by the announcer,' board member Mike Barrett said. 'I find it offensive, and I think that it's conduct unbecoming the rodeo announcer.'

Three board members told The Tribune the announcer was Ed Kutz of Arroyo Grande, but that fact has yet to be officially confirmed. Barrett called Kutz asking him to publicly apologize, but has yet to get a hold of him.

[h/t San Luis Obispo Tribune]

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• Racism = Ignorance personified

• Stupid hillbillies. I wouldn't step foot in one of those rodeo/Nascar zoo's.

• But Maher, Letterman & 'Louis CK' are supposed to be funny? Media double-standard in play again.

• This comment is offensive for more reasons than you might think. Sadly, there is some truth revealed in this idiots comment which is this'.the pitting of these women against each other on the basis of how they look. It immediately brought to mind the countless comments from the teabaggers who never fail to point out how 'good looking' the women on the right are. It shows their lack of respect for the minds. Their style over substance obsession is insulting to every woman no matter what she looks like.

• 'Let's hope that Ed Kutz receives a Pink Slip for his contribution to Ignorance and Stupidity!

• Racist and offensive but free speech nonetheless.

• This is your trash Republicans. Go claim him.

• 'Free Speech?!?'

  Free Speech has responsibility. Mr Kutz will hopefully find himself overly burdened with it.

• Thanks for that clarification. None of us here were aware that we had free speech. Here's somethng we all here do know'since this idiot announcer isn't a government employee he can also be fired for this.

• Okay, so how long before self-righteous Obama-haters defend this jerk's little racist joke as Freedom of (hate) Speech '?
  3 ' 2 ' 1 '

• Yeah ignore what the racist announcer said and talk about something some other people on the 'other side' supposedly said. That makes sense.

• See @DukeCanuck. He's already done it.

• Too right you are. EVERYONE should make offensive, terrible jokes! It's only fair! Let's keep racism and sexism alive because it's clearly the right thing to do.

• Nothing to see here. Just the Republican base speaking into loudspeakers.

• I agree he should be fired. Just like commentators who call women wh*res and sl*ts and c*nts. But, alas, they seem to survive.

• There was a study done recently that showed whites feel they are more oppressed than people of color. And when stories like this happen, I have to wonder if someone slaps the crap out of the people that were part of that study and say, 'SCREW YOU, IDIOT.'

• Is this announcer also a comedian? These are 2 different industries. The right is obsessed with the 'both sides' nonsense but, keep striking out with their unrelated comparisons. Try again and seriously, the blaming of the media thing is just sad. The persecution complex is very weak and unbecoming!

• This part of your comment'..
  'It immediately brought to mind the countless comments from the
  teabaggers who never fail to point out how 'good looking' the women on
  the right are. It shows their lack of respect for the minds. Their
  style over substance obsession is insulting to every woman no matter
  what she looks like'

  should read'''''

  It immediately brought to mind the countless comments from the lefties who never fail to point out how 'good looking' the women on
  Fox News are. It shows their lack of respect for the minds. Their
  style over substance obsession is insulting to every woman no matter
  what she looks like..

  After all the left wingnuts are obsessed with the legs of female Fox News anchors.

• yeeeeeee hawwwwwwwwwwww

  I sur luv me sum republikans

  (spit)

• Decidedly unfunny. Substitute out 'National Geographic' for 'Playgirl' and he might have gotten a better reaction.

• 'People in the public rarely get clean away it.

  There are always consequences and some, which will simply be reaped at a later date!

• Where does this post say anything remotely partisan? It doesn't.

• Hopefully. This Michelle comment is one of the most shockingly offensive I've heard in a while. No woman deserves that.
  P.S. And, as distasteful as this may be, that goes for conservative women too libbies.

• I think it's a typo and the guy's name is really Ed Putz.

• And what 'studies' are those you moron? You'd have to climb several mountains to get to the level of cry-baby whining from the black political and academic Left in America.

• There is nothing illegal about his joke. It is Constitutionally protected free speech. He has every right to say it and whether someone loves, hates or is indifferent to Obama has nothing whatsoever to do with that.

• Except he wasn't speaking as ED KUTZ, ASSHOLE AT LARGE, he was the announcer for a public, apolitical event, which no doubt people had to pay an entrance fee. An abuse of his access to the PA rather than free speech in this instance.

• Well, how about the Yahoo guy fired for coming right out and saying the Romney's were white racists who didn't care if black people died. He wasn't joking and those media people around him laughed anyway. How about Joe Williams saying Romney felt more comfortable around white people? He wasn't joking. How about all you loons who've bought into the 'fact' that Romney's speech to the NAACP was a sneering appeal to his Stormfront base. You're not joking about that. I could list dozens more. This was a joke. Go eff yourselves with your stupid double standards. You lost the right to complain about such things long ago. Especially with the continual sad racist jokes about Ann Romney right here and the 'magic underwear' stuff.

• Go look up Jay-Z's racist song at the Inaugural Ball. Hear any apologies from the Obama's about that? Ya win some ya lose some.

• Good point.

• This isn't a gay thread.

• Those announcers commonly make jokes.

• He certainly has a right to make whatever racist jokes he wants about our First Lady and he also has a right to be fired for poor judgement and offensive behavior.

• It does ' it's called a principle.

• who wants to see 65 year old breasts from from a breast cancer survivor anyway?

• That itself is mindless racist stereotype ' but an okay one I guess. I have no sympathy for you morons on this one ' none at all. Libs have the knack of taking stories I have an innate compassion for and simply sucking that compassion right out.

• I agree. But I have principles so I'm sure the way we apply that agreement is completely at odds with one another.

• Aww, how cute, you thought someone might care about your opinion? LOL I have 8 likes. The market prefers my opinion over yours.

• Exactly.

• The GOP is a dying party, and it will be over when Obama is reelected in November.

• you do realize that the two people you mentioned were both fired.

• lol'Art dear read the article again.

• Right'like Rush.

• You make some sense in your posts but now have lost all credibility playing the 'comedian' card.

• I have principles. They are not based on popularity. You morons had you fun Twitter game of 'negrospotting' at the RNC. If you want the moral highground for incidents like this, you lost it long ago. Catch as catch can, byatch. If I had 10 dollars for every time I'd heard some dumb lib say something was too white I'd be rich or Romney was KKK I'd be rich.

• Hi Cathy, but you're off the mark about his employment rights. I don't know this guy's employment relationship, but if he is an employee he doesn't have a right to be fired. It would be his employer's right to fire him. For any reason without statutory exception, by the way. So his employer could fire him for the joke.

  If he is an independent contractor, it would depend on the terms of his agreement. It's not certain he could be fired for the reasons you cite. His rights in that situation would arise from his contract. Hope that clears things up. :)

• I am no Anne Romney fan but your remark is disgusting and reflects far worse on you than Ann, possibly even the announcer.

• I have ten likes now. You lose like your party. LMAO

• And I'm not liberal I'm socialist. After hearing the ReThugs talk about it so much i looked into it and really like the idea of having a job that pays enough to live on! LOL Keep sucking the schwang of your corporate masters moron boy.

• What is the equivalency you were attempting?

• I've re-read it and it says nothing about any political party.

• Oh c'mon Doppy, You, on your own, do more whining than a hound dog with it's tail under the rocker.

• Hmmm, I think there would be some other rich people for everytime they heard 'welfare & blacks' in the same punch-line'..but you know how that goes, 'Wishful Thinking' huh?!?!?

• yes, they were fired but the point of H/C's comment was that the people H/C mentioned were NOT JOKING in their comments. they were being completely honest with their comments.

• Pretty dumb, even for a bagger.

• Yeah, but this market is sometimes overly populated with stupid socialists.

• how is it 'racist' to say that most rodeo patrons are white and rural? they are

• Oh, wook at awl the widdle wiberwals cwying there widdle eyes out over the exact same racist stereotypes they've been throwing at the Romney's non-stop, including the MSM. The game's afoot morons ' it's post-racial America. We're not buying into your racial double standards any more. Either it's always wrong, or it's never wrong. You're not having this argument two ways any longer and I don't give two sh-ts what you think about it.

  So cry, wipe your little tears, and I'll imagine sad clowns crying down by a river under a weeping willow tree while sad violin music plays. Pandora's Box, byatches. You idiots routinely paint 225 million Americans as racists with your stupid 'white privilege' and New Jim Crow and as far as I'm concerned you've been struck by your own boomerang and can all go straight to hell.

• 97% of your party is white

  spin it, deflect, distract, lie

  but everyone knows that

• You mean laying out facts and examples? That kind of whining?

• 'oops' Rick Perry

• 'There is nothing illegal about his joke'

  nice strawman,idiot

• He says without a trace of irony or self awareness. Dude, you just doubled down on this guy's joke. That means you actually support him. Whether you yourself are aware of that or not doesn't enter into it.

• Art,even you are not stupid enough to believe this was not a partisan attack on the First Lady, and misogyny thrown at both women

• So fire this guy but please don't act like this is some stunningly rare find that doesn't occur every single day on the Left.

• One, I said study. Two, how exactly am I a moron for citing a study? Should I just be pulling things out of my ass like you? Is that what makes people smart?

  Oh, I'm sorry. You're probably feeling oppressed, aren't you, whitey? Big mean lefties trying to stop you from being a racist, oppressive dickweed? Just so you know, it's not actual oppression if people are stopping you from being a tool.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxenmFuNxjI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

• low blow

• only a douche would think something like that is funny

• One man = GOP. You just did something worse than the announcer did. Libs ' no principles, no awareness. Just blithe stupidity.

• There actually seems to ba an overabundance of stupid, slave, corporatist capitalists like yourself.

• This is the most atrocious comment I've seen on this site in a long while.

• Actually free speech has no responsibility other than in minor circumstances. It is a right.

• What corporate masters? They exist in your head. I'd be worried about that.

• So what? You have a problem with white people? Is the idea that anytime there are almost all white people in any group it is a de facto racial grouping? That's hilariously stupid. I'm sure the NHL and NBA will be glad to hear the designation you've put on them.

• If facts were calories, you'd look like Gandhi.

• i think the joke is getting at the fact she has huge arms. it's mean but not racist

  libs used to call Bush a chimp all the time.

• Whites on welfare: 4% of their demo. Blacks: 25%. It is not a racist untruth but a simple fact taken in proportion. Not liking a fact doesn't enter into it. Your dip called it an 'inconvenient truth.' So, live by it.

• Some people can't help themselves, they got racism oozing out of their pores.

• i thought Mediaite's purpose was to cover the mainstream media, not some obscure thing at some rodeo. this andrew liberal kid is mining all the news for tales of racism against our precious president and first lady.

• if you say you think Michelle looks like a man, does that make you racist?

• It is not stunningly rare for the right. What would be stunningly rare is a member of the GOP speaking out and condemning such language.

  Maybe you can start the trend!

• And racist and unsophisticated? Where do you you get your facts from ' Li'l Abner? If you want to find that level of stupidity, go look at Li'l Wayne. I'm sure lyrics about pimping your enemy's girlfriend will give you that down home warm southern wind feeling.

• WTF? Who compared Ann Romney to animals?

• Not necessarily, but it would show complete ignorance of both males and females.

• It has not been revealed whether he is gay. A friend perhaps?

• Geese die. They lay golden eggs. Then copper. Then the living party steals the copper.

• It sounds like you have to cover for the racists.

• For the last time, a-hole.You DON'T have principles.You confuse whining with principles.

• Sorry, we can't all spend our days with our craniums stuffed in our rectums like you. If the conversation is above your head, best stay out of it.

• Conservatives feel oppressed by only one thing when it comes to liberals ' your unflinchng stupidity and lack of principle. The particulars are of no account.

• No, Stool knows. That's why he joins in with this crap.

• Really? Every time I lay out facts I get crickets from libs because they have no response. The comment about 'Horsemen Without A Horse' is a perfect example. It shows libs as liars and hypocrites, you know it, and have no response. Ispsy facty, byatch.

• I don't think 'double down' means what you think it means.

• Why is every interaction with you like talking to child, and an idiot one at that? I think it's great that you've found a forum to express yourself, but you lack the capacity to express yourself coherently. It's stunning. Read. This. Slowly. There is no mention in the post of a political party. None. The original commenter then submits this jokester is to be affiliated with a political party. Without a shred of evidence. It's a dig. It's become a stereotype. It is wrong. It is wrong because BOTH political parties are comprised of racists and bigots. Some might argue the Dems more so than the Repubs. That argument might even be valid. My rhetorical question in Reply to the original comment is to point out such an idiotic wrong-headed stereotype. Nothing more. But thanks for letting me expound. It's time for beer.

• Hey stupe, name me one mainstream racial organization or website on the Right about race that would back up your tired lies and assertions of some moral high ground ' just one. In fact, on the institutional level, the Right comes nowhere near to comparing with the mindless addiction to racism on the Left. Anecdotes mean nothing ' I can do a he-said, she-said all day with that. Institutions are the deal-breaker sonny. They were before the Civil Rights era and still are. An inconvenient truth for the last vestige of organized racism in America ' the Dem Party. As for starting trends, that was done centuries ago with classic principles that allow for simple comparisons. Why has the Left abandoned those principles in exchange for determining right and wrong through gender, race and sexuality? Start you own trend, fool.

• You're a great American.