America’s Labor Day came and went on Monday which means the summer is behind us, the kids go back to school and autumn will be here soon. For many it means one last beach weekend, family barbecue, baseball game, pool party. For others it means the football season is here. Since 1966, Americans associate the Labor Day holiday with one antediluvian actor/comedian who, despite outliving all his contemporaries by at least a decade, still takes to the television airwaves every year to try and raise money to cure muscular dystrophy. The 81-year-old entertainer Jerry Lewis seemed to have been suffering from mental dystrophy on Monday when during the 18th hour of his live telecast, he called a member of his production team an “illiterate faggot.” According to an MSNBC story Tuesday, Lewis was ranting about an imaginary family when he dropped the F-bomb on camera. It has not been confirmed whether the target of the remark is a homosexual or is unable to read and write. Lewis released a statement, which may or may not have to be read to the member of his production staff in question, that said, “I apologize to anyone who was offended. Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard. In the family atmosphere of the telethon, I forget that not everyone knows me that well.” He went on to say that he “makes no excuses” for his remark. Except that he got caught up in the “family atmosphere” of the telethon. Because I guess in Lewis’s family, “illiterate faggot” is a pet name. This year’s telethon raised $63.7 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the most ever in the telethon’s 42-year history.
•MSNBC: Lewis Drops Anti-Gay Slur