Opinion: Sandra Bernhard Flip-Flops On Palin Gang Rape 'Joke'

Buy an ad on DigitalJournal.com

Here is the background on the story from my OpEd of September 20th.

Once reveling in the attention and far-left critical acclaim the story brought her, she is now claiming it never happened. The reason? Bernhard's favorite charity, Rosie's Place, a Boston women's shelter for whom Bernhard was to be a keynote speaker in mid-October, has dropped her like a hot potato.

Here is the latest from the New York Daily News:

Outspoken comedienne Sandra Bernhard has shot down earlier reports that she said Sarah Palin would be "gang-raped by my big black brothers" if she enters Manhattan.

"I never said 'gang-raped' and I never used 'rape,' " Bernhard told the Daily News on Thursday.

The funnywoman was widely criticized after reportedly making the remark in her opening monologue during a show last month at Washington, D.C.'s Theater J.

Bernhard's clarification comes on the heels of the announcement that she has been dropped as the keynote speaker for mid-October benefit at Rosie's Place, a women's shelter in Boston.

Yet the follow-up in the same NYDN report, on information obtained from Bernhard in an email to the paper, tells a far different story.

Bernhard, 53, was asked to confirm the "gang rape" remark when first contacted by the Daily News in mid-September - and never denied it.

"That comment is part of a much larger, nuanced, and yes, provocative (that's what I do) piece from my show about racism, freedom, women's rights, and the extreme views of Governor Sarah Palin," she said in an e-mail at the time.

Though Bernhard may deny it now, the damning evidence of her statement is already out there, as testified to by the Blog of Theater J, which covers events at the DC club at which Bernhard made the statement:

When Sandra warns Sarah Palin not to come into Manhattan lest she get gang-raped by some of Sandra’s big black brothers, she’s being provocative, combative, humorous, and yes, let’s allow, disgusting.

The Washington Post's Tim Graham also quoted Bernhard calling the gang rape reference "part of a much larger, nuanced piece" and the show itself "a rotating sprinkler that a spectator washes in most happily."

For nearly two weeks, Sandra Bernhard has been riding a wave of left-wing approval from her clearly racist and heinous comment. Now that her favorite charity has scratched her from their A-list, she wishes us to believe that it never happened.

Unfortunately for Ms. Bernhard and many others, there is no capping the genie back in the bottle when prominent celebrities and politicians stumble over their own tongues and hit the pavement face-first.

As an aside, this situation is a stark contrast to Orwell's 1984, where "he who controls the past controls the future." With video and audio records, screen capture and extensive reporting and documentation of witnesses' public statements, the past remains immutable and unchanging. The records are there for all to see and hear.

The Information Age: Bad for Sandra Bernhard et al. Good for us.

And good for Rosie's Place for not tolerating Bernhard's deranged rant masquerading as comedy. For an organization that deals with all types of violence against women on a daily basis, fewer could see Bernhard's statement with such stark clarity for what it really is: wishing violent and repeated rape on another human being for purely selfish political reasons.