Ladies, New Times Was Just Being Sarcastic When It Said It Loved Your “Back Fat Sloshing Over Your Bra Straps” (UPDATED)
Yesterday, New Times‘ music blog County Grind published a piece so completely and utterly offensive, the headline alone caused a face-slam to the keyboard.
Titled “Eight Pleasantly Plump Female Musicians We’d Like to Get Down With” — a headline which works against its own implied, ostensibly complimentary purpose by assuming “plump” (whatever that means) is problematic enough to warrant a coupling with “pleasant” — the blog wasn’t about “proclaiming exceptions” or “wearing a strong enough pair of beer goggles,” claimed author Ric Delgado.
“This is about loving some BBWs. The women with curves blowing out doors and back fat sloshing over bra straps … It’s about acknowledging that even the big girls need some love.”
Thank you great Fedora’d one for that wholly condescending — what shall we call it? — public service announcement.
Oh wait. You’re not just a terrible writer, you’re a terrible person? You never intended to empower those you refer to as “BBW,” your intention instead was to demean them and the rest of womankind by reducing their worth and accomplishments to their physicality? All for a joke? SO FUNNY.
The blog goes on as follows: It doesn’t matter how big Jessica Simpson gets, “she stays as dumb and sexy as ever.” Sinead O’Connor is aka “pity bang.” Adele sits “comfortably on that ‘just almost not ashamed to be seen out in public with her’ line.” (Just to be clear: “almost not ashamed” means the writer is, in fact, ashamed to be seen out in public with a Grammy winner.) And we mustn’t forget Carnie Wilson’s on-tour sex life! It “revolved around the guys who were rejected by both Chynna Phillips and Wendy Wilson” but “still wanted to get ‘close’ to the band”; keep in mind, you’ll still want to fuck Wilson because she’ll “put in that extra work,” since, you know, she’s fat.
Hilarious, right?!
The laughs just won’t quit. In case you needed some racism to spice up the misogynisticomedy routine, that symbol of great pride for the black community, Aretha Frankin, who solidified her status as the Queen of Soul during the civil rights era, she “rolled down the fried-chicken-and-waffles mountain a long time ago.” ROTFLMFAO! OMG!
Finally, there’s nothing like some nasty classism in the middle of a recession to drive a joke home: “Any man would happily give up everything to live with [Jessica] Simpson in a trailer and feed her KFC Blackjack Sandwiches. It’s the next best thing to heaven. Or hell.”
The piece, removed from the site and dismissed as an exercise in “sarcasm” gone awry (eye roll), provoked a flurry of comments, Tweets, and Facebook posts, and inspired the creation of a Tumblr “Oh No They Writtnt” to showcase “all the worst music writing, without the trolls.” Respected music critic Chris Weingarten — who contributes to New Times sister paper the Village Voice, among many, many other publications — called the weekly “BROward New Times” and Tweeted “a piece of music writing so bad, you don’t even have to read more than the URL.” Miami promoter Dominic Sirianni posted “Sexist? Or Most Sexist Ever?” And Canadian metal critic Natalie Zed directed people to the GirlGroup Tumblr, which had a screen shot of the post on its website, to avoid driving up hits for New Times and Delgado.
Now, in the post’s place sits a non-apology apology from Editor Eric Barton:
Sarcasm doesn’t always come across in writing, and it certainly didn’t in this post. I get why commenters below called this “the most insulting thing on the Internet,” and that’s why it has been removed. New Times regrets the offense we’ve caused and hopes you’ll stick with us in our next attempt at sarcasm.
What seems to be missing from this and from Delgado, is any real sense of remorse. Crying sarcasm is a complete cop-out. (Ironically, sarcasm doesn’t make the substance of the article any better. As one commenter pointed out, if the article is intentionally sarcastic, it’s basically saying that identifying “fat chicks as attractive must be AN EXERCISE IN HILARIOUS IRONY.” Or as Weingarten put it: “We were just being SARCASTIC when we said we wanted to fuck your back fat, ladies. In truth, you’re wholly repulsive.”) It is a cop-out because it places/shares blame on/with the reader instead of owning up to the mistake fully. Hiding behind sarcasm tells readers, rather unconvincingly, that offensive material is a matter of taste, and this time, it didn’t match your taste. (But it might next time!) Or, it says, humor goes badly sometimes and the perpetrators are usually good people. Forgive them.
In keeping with that last part, Barton defends Delgado: “Ric is a talented writer who made a mistake … what’s important is that we learn from them and make sure it’s not repeated.” But, in an embarrassing twist, Delgado hasn’t shown any indication that he’s sorry. (Whoops!) Or that he even understands why such language could be construed as hurtful and offensive. In fact, he’s been especially glib and cavalier in the aftermath, Tweeting “After today’s Twitter beatdown, I unwind by listening to a girl blowing smoke rings out of her vagina on the Howard Stern Show.”
Or when asked, on Twitter, if he’s comfortable making a fried-chicken joke about Aretha Franklin, he replies “I’m comfortable with it,” followed by, “if comedians concerned themselves with the people that got offended then there’d be no Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Louie CK, etc.”
That doesn’t sound like someone who knows he’s made a mistake. In fact it’s clearly the opposite. Delgado lacks empathy completely. He’s doubled down on the post and equated himself with comedic royalty. Silly girls (and black people and people who live in trailers), you’re too dumb to get the joke!
But in reality, this incident shouldn’t be completely surprising. New Times and Village Voice Media haven’t been the most receptive to women: see here, here, and here. (That last example elicited substantial praise from Barton, documented in an email obtained by Salty Eggs which told staff members to do themselves “a favor” and read the “treatise on the manly burrito.” “Not everyone will agree with the premise,” he wrote. “But that’s not the point. It’s well written, it’s funny as hell, and it’s simply a novel argument. Let’s do more of it.”) If they were more sensitive to sexism in the workplace, Delgado would be gone, not defended. And an apology would be issued for the deeply offensive use of sarcasm – if that’s the story they’re sticking to.
Instead, it seems they had a great writer, Arielle Castillo, also a Salty Eggs contributor, slap an essay together in a cynical last-minute attempt at damage control. They label it “another view” almost like Fox News’ “we report, you decide.” However, as sincere and right as Castillo is, it’s no substitute for a more complete apology and action from Barton.
UPDATE: Since this article was posted this morning, New Times Editor Eric Barton has sent an email to Salty Eggs contributors who also freelance with New Times, threatening to ban them from contributing if they persist in freelancing for Salty Eggs. In response to this new policy, we sincerely apologize for offending him by pointing out how offensive his paper’s blog post was. (Oops … did that sound sarcastic?)
UPDATE: As of Friday, April 27, Ric Delgado will no longer be writing for New Times Broward-Palm Beach.
UPDATE May 1: Salty Eggs music editor Erica Landau received this email from New Times editor Eric Barton this morning:
It disappointed me to see your article last week. It’s not that I disagree with the general gist. That article we published was sexist and disgusting, and I wish it had never gone up.
But I’m disappointed that you’d quote an email of mine out of context in an effort to portray me as sexist. You’ve known me long enough to know that I believe strongly in equality of the sexes, and this paper has demonstrated that in our hiring and in our past news coverage.
You’re a talented writer and one of the smartest journalists I’ve worked with. I know you’re looking for pageviews, but you did it by burning the bridges behind you.
First he went after Salty Eggs contributors. Now he’s going after the music editor. We didn’t realize we had a Citizen Kane in our midst! Thanks for your note, Eric. No hard feelings. If you should ever need work, we would be happy to consider your application at Salty Eggs.
While I agree that a real apology is due, I don’t think the real culprit here is the author. Sure, he was hacky, not funny, and miserably misguided in his attempt at humor, but how does an editor not only approve the idea for the piece, but later look at it and give it the thumbs up to go on the site? His job is to protect the institution he works for from something like this and to be the arbiter of quality, a job he failed at spectacularly. I don’t think they should fire the author over being the end result of how the desperation for new content that type of site can be, but someone really should give the ole what-fer to the editors who did not stop him from making an ass out of himself.
I always think the same thing. Say you’re the editor and you think this article is beyond hilarity, at what point do you not use your critical editorial evaluation skills to think, “Hey, maybe this is *kind of* offensive to a lot of people who read our blog, even if it *is* funny…maybe I should run this by someone else before I hit the ‘Submit’ button and publish it” or just not publish it at all and, instead, if the author is a real gem to be held onto tell him to write something else while recommending he publish this on *his own* personal blog?
Aside from it being patently sexist, it kind of blows my mind how bad the writing itself is. Liz Tracy has always seemed really good over there so I still think the biggest cause of this is the desperation for new content and how it has a very tangible effect on the quality of what winds up on these corporate media sites. That apology was another editorial misstep, why not just own up to being asleep at the wheel, admit it was awful, and promise it won’t happen again? The apology that the Eric Barton put up was basically blaming the readers for not being able to wrap their heads around the sophisticated comedic stylings of a guy making fat jokes. It was the kind of condescending bullshit you’d expect from the man who is now turning around and acting like it’s Salty Eggs’ fault that he sucks at his job. What an ass.
Sadly, this isn’t surprising. I miss the old crew who didn’t have to post apologies all the time and did great journalism.
It’s telling that current and former employees are the strongest critics.
U mad? ROOOOOOOOOOOOFL
I blame Reed Fisher for this.
*Fischer
Come over to my new blog and talk to me that way.
if Eric didn’t already make his point in that ‘leaked email,’ i think the URL says it all:
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/countygrind/2012/04/adele_plump_female_musicians_sex.php
quality content? fuck that. PAGE VIEWZ.
sure this piece didn’t get much anyway.
Hi, let’s face it, the guy is not really sorry, nor is he an intelligent person. But thats not his fault. And it’s a shame that Village Voice, ETC. rarely has a memorable article in any of their publications. They just don’t pay enough for real talent to bother with…
Wow. I wish I could have read the post before it was embarrassingly deleted. Oh wait…I don’t read the NewTimes any more as the quality has diminshed beyond belief. GO SALTY EGGS!
And this is why I love you guys! Hit that nail on its proverbial head.
i have started a facebook group for the purpose of contacting the village voice media’s executive staff as well as more than 100 of the broward-palm beach new times advertisers to protest the paper’s misogynistic junk… i don’t feel their apology was remotely sincere, and i’d like to see some further action on the part of the paper for this.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/439702912723214/
So based on his Facebook, Delgado is apparently a Ron Paul supporter….who would have ever guessed that?
.
And none of you are calling out your former colleague, Liz Tracy, who is the music editor for Broward New Times. It’d be interesting to hear what she has to say as a female and as the editor responsble for the music section.
I love that the New Times feels threatened enough to try and email OTHER authors to stop writing about something it printed in its own paper. They’re gonna take writers rights away? Disgraceful. Shame on you, New Times.
Hi Keith. Just to clarify, Delgado’s post was not printed, it was published online on the music blog County Grind. Whether that makes a difference in this day and age, I’m not sure. But some claim a major distinction.
Where is Mr. Fischer?
Who Really Cares?
Hi Erika, I’ve been so busy with my video projects and May’s editorial calendar over at Sex and the Beach, I’ve missed much of this.
I met once with Delgado and didn’t see this kind of acerbic humor in him in person, so I’m really surprised.
I completely agree that the post is offensive but if he put that on his own blog, that’d be his business if he wants to make an asshat out of himself, be offensive and sensationalist. That would be his own self-published endeavor, not a post for a corporate entity like New Times.
(Reminds me of the popular circa 2006 Miami blog White Dade — now defunct — where the author was routinely offensive to some and thrived on shock value.)
But the fact that an editor of a significant mainstream newspaper allowed this to slip — that’s another story. I used to write for Miami New Times and while I was given much editorial freedom and my writing was rarely revised, my editor always had to click “publish” before my posts saw light of day. Isn’t that a general policy for all New Times online writers?
As well, it seems no one knows if the editor discussed the post with Delgado beforehand.
I think the most appalling thing here (besides the post) is that the editor didn’t set the boundary. I mean, New Times is known for its edge and snark — but where do they draw the line?
Hi Maria,
Thanks for commenting! It should be noted that Barton wouldn’t have seen the post before it went up, as he’s not the music editor. What I am more concerned with, however, is his non-apology. He didn’t own up to the paper’s ghastly error and instead hid behind sarcasm and then defended the writer. In short, I think that’s shitty.
–ekl
the “our hiring practices show i’m not sexist” is as bad as “i have a black friend,” i.e.
“i hired some women. what more do you want?”
you don’t get back pats every time you do something not sexist, and a history of hiring women doesn’t excuse you from having to address rampant misogyny.
that was a bullshit apology, it was’nt an apology at all just a feeble attempt to justify it as sarcasm which you so elegantly disproved. The editor should be relieved of his duties.
by the way…
“I had somewhat more to say upon this part of the subject but the post is just going, which forces me in great haste to conclude, Sir,…” ( Jonathan Swift, “Mechanical operation of the spirit”)
http://storyambient.blogspot.com/