Williams: Hacked Sony e-mails expose white liberal hypocrisy on race

Ed Morrissey:

And Juan Williams should know — he’s had first-hand experience with the phenomenon. NPR fired Williams four years ago for admitting in a segment on The O’Reilly Factor that travelers boarding commercial flights in “Muslim garb” cause him to “get worried … get nervous.” Never mind that Williams and our own Mary Katharine spent the entire segment arguing that Bill O’Reilly was painting Muslims with too broad a brush and that a distinction had to be made between moderate and extremist Muslims; NPR cashiered Williams for the one sentence he uttered, calling it “inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.” The experience became an epiphany for Williams about which side of the political spectrum actually practices the tolerance that the other preaches, although Williams himself remains as liberal as ever.

So when the opportunity comes to roast limousine liberals for intolerance and hypocrisy, especially on race, Williams has no hesitation in dropping the hammer. The release of hacked e-mails from Sony has presented Williams with a rich target, and he hits a bullseye:

Hacked emails from Hollywood’s white, liberal elite show them belittling the president by assuming his taste in movies is confined to racial stereotypes fitting just another black guy.

“Should I ask him if he likes’ DJANGO?’” asked Amy Pascal, a Sony Pictures’ co-chair. Scott Rudin, a movie producer, responds: “Or ‘The Butler’… or ‘Ride-Along. ‘ I bet he likes Kevin Hart.”

Where to begin unpacking that powder keg of race and class bigotry? …

She assumes that he is sure to share the working-class, juvenile delight of Hart’s racial slapstick. And it does not make much sense in her racial construct but she also thinks the president must also be interested in movies about the weighty topics of slavery and the civil rights movement.

Pascal and Rudin, on their way to meet the president at a Democratic fundraiser, have no hesitation about painting Obama into this limited, one-dimensional personality. What they have revealed is how demeaning and patronizing their liberal minds can be even when the man is the leader of the nation.

Pascal and Rudin have gone on an apology tour of sorts in an attempt to unwind the damage caused by this exchange. Pascal’s planning an appearance on Al Sharpton’s MSNBC show to demonstrate contrition and receive the secular blessing of the host/activist. She’ll probably get it too, although not without some commitment that atones for her sins — perhaps a three-pic development deal for Sharpton with gross points tossed in? Whatever it takes.

By the way, when will the media provide such a rehabilitation tour for, say, Mel Gibson? John Nolte explains the double standard for Hollywood/media rehabs:

Pascal was one of the first Hollywood executives to exile Mel Gibson after news of his drunken anti-Semitic rant became public in 2006. The rest of Hollywood soon followed. One of Hollywood most bankable stars, who also happened to be an Oscar-winning director, was ruined. And for the last 8 years (there was another incident in 2010) Gibson has remained ruined. …

If you’re looking for a defense of Mel Gibson, you’re not going to find it here. But let’s put our cards on the table: If Amy Pascal or Scott Rudin had directed “The Passion of the Christ” they would already be exiled over these emails. Gibson did a terrible thing (twice), but with “The Passion,” and most especially the game-changing success of “The Passion,” the provincial, anti-Christian bigots that run much of Hollywood wanted him exiled long before he gave them a reason.

Rudin and Pascal, however, are high-powered, elite, leftists in good standing. Both are major Democrat donors (will Hillary accept money from either?) and promoters of left-wing causes through their films. Pascal has received awards for her environmental activism and kudos for  calling for self-censorship in order to protect gays from any kind of offense. …

With the banishment of Mel Gibson, Hollywood set a standard. If that standard is broken for Pascal and Rudin, the message it sends to all of us, but most especially black America, is unmistakable and inexcusable.

Don’t expect the media to highlight the hypocrisy Williams skewers in his essay, though.

Read more