Famed director Clint Eastwood told a Caitlyn Jenner joke at the Spike TV Guys’ Choice awards show this weekend. Some are calling the joke “controversial” or “mean-spirited,” and producers have already said that they will edit it out of the television broadcast.
So, what was the joke? According to both The Blaze and Hollywood Life, it happened when Eastwood was introducing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, currently starring in end-of-California earthquake drama San Andreas. Eastwood mentioned The Rock in the context of athletes who’ve gone on to movie and television stardom. “Jim Brown and Caitlyn…Somebody,” Eastwood said, to loud groaning.
Apparently, Eastwood then added–to more groans–he knew the joke wouldn’t work before he even brought it up.
Again, Spike TV senior vice president of communication David Schwarz has already confirmed that the network will cut the joke out of the June 18th TV broadcast, confirming the decision in an e-mail exchange with Huffington Post.
It would seem that Clint Eastwood is now 0-for-2 when attempting to draw laughs on a national stage. His “Empty Chair” speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention drew far more puzzled looks than belly laughs, and referring to “Caitlyn Somebody”–without a punchline, or even a semblance of one–makes Eastwood look more like a forgetful old man than either a sly joke-teller or a thinker with a nuanced social and political agenda.
What do you, the viewers at home, think? Is this joke offensive; is Spike TV right to edit it out of the broadcast? Is it all much ado about nothing? Or is there another way to look at the story?
(Photo credits: WENN; E!; Vanity Fair)
