LatinaLista — Ever since the insurance company Aflac announced Monday that they had fired comedian Gilbert Gottfried, the quacky voice of their company mascot, for his tasteless tweets about the Japanese tragedy, not too many people, aside from Joan Rivers, have come rushing to his defense.
People understand there’s no defense for tweets like: “I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, ‘They’ll be another one floating by any minute now.”
It’s reported that Aflac does 75 percent of its business in Japan and that probably was a strong motivating factor in firing the guy from his cushy job of only having to quack for his paycheck.
No matter Aflac’s motive, it was the right thing to fire someone who takes pleasure in making fun of a people facing the worst set of tragedies in their recent history.
Too bad the Kansas legislature can’t give a similar boot to one of their own who illustrated he can be more than just tasteless with his comments — he can be downright offensive.
Rep. Virgil Peck
Republican Kansas legislator Virgil Peck of Tyro, Kansas said he was only joking when he said “it might be a good idea to control illegal immigration the way the feral hog population is controlled: with gunmen shooting from helicopters.”
Only after the group Somos Republicans demanded an apology and the Governor of Kansas advised him to offer one, did Peck issue a lame, two-sentence statement that read: “My statements yesterday were regrettable. Please accept my apology.”
Peck had justified his comment the day before by saying, “I was just speaking like a southeast Kansas person.”
Make that an ignorant southeast Kansas person who has no business in a leadership position if he equates the value of human lives with livestock.
Peck’s comments weren’t just tasteless but they were so offensive that ethics fines should be levied against him — and Kansas constituents should decide if they like how he speaks for all Kansans.
