Welcome to the February 16, 2015 edition of Outrage Watch, HitFix's daily rundown of all the things folks are peeved about in entertainment. Today's top story: What was up with that Eddie Murphy appearance?
The “SNL” alum made a puzzlingly brief homecoming for the show's 40th anniversary special Saturday, granting viewers only 73 seconds of his time despite a much-ballyhooed return to Studio 8H. No jokes, no Buckwheat, no sign of the comedy genius America fell in love with. To this, viewers could only wonder: why even bother?
“Is Eddie Murphy unable to be funny? I don't understand why he did what he did tonight, which was nothing,” tweeted Doug Kyed. “How does Miley get more stage time than Eddie Murphy?” wrote @tallkathy.
TV pundits were similarly unimpressed.
“I don”t understand. They brought out Eddie Murphy to accept applause and then go away? I want that job,” tweeted TV Guide contributor Damian Holbrook.
“After all the buildup, his blink-and-he-was-gone participation was an epic fail,” wrote Associated Press reporter Frazier Moore. “It was the main disappointment in a long, very long, but mostly satisfying retrospective of TV's great comedy institution.”
Eddie Murphy not funny in 2015? Impossible.
Want more? There's plenty of indignation to go around. See below for a full roundup of today's kerfuffles.
Outraged: Khloe Kardashian
Target: Amber Rose
Why: In an interview with Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club on Friday, Rose voiced her distaste for the relationship between Kardashian clan member Kylie Jenner and rapper Tyga: “She's a baby, she needs to go to bed at 7 o'clock and relax,” she said, before insinuating that Tyga abandoned former fiancee Blac Chyna and their child for the reality show star: “[Tyga] should be ashamed of himself. For sure. He has a beautiful woman and a baby and left that for a 16-year-old who just turned 17.”
Khloe isn't happy about this!
“I was a stripper since I was 15 years old,” Amber Rose told Foxx. Please don't worry about my sister who has a career & her shit (1)
– Khloé (@khloekardashian) February 16, 2015
Please stop talking about us in interviews mama. None of us talk about you. (3)
– Khloé (@khloekardashian) February 16, 2015
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In case you were wondering, Amber Rose took the high road by responding to this.
[Jezebel]
Outraged: The BDSM community
Target: “Fifty Shades of Grey”
Why: For anyone whose BDSM education rests solely on their viewing of “50 Shades” this weekend, a warning: it's not realistic! Stop it already. For some perspective, let's hear it from Master R, headmaster at “BDSM training chateau” La Domaine: “Most psychological studies coming out now say that people in BDSM relationships are very healthy, and often far more balanced because we communicate so much, and we are trying so hard not to be abusive,” he told The Huffington Post. “That”s why this film is so objectionable and this character [of Christian Grey] is so objectionable.” Meanwhile, E.L. James is swimming in a pool filled with money.
Outraged: Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa
Target: John Oliver
Why: After Oliver poked fun at Correa on his HBO series “Last Week Tonight” for spending an inordinate amount of time calling out individual constituents on Twitter and YouTube, the political leader responded with a number of tweets criticizing the comedian. “On the subject of John Oliver: too much noise for such little nuts,” he wrote, before suggesting that the term “English comedian” is “an oxymoron.” Oliver responded to the harsh accusations on last night's show with the following observation: “He”s right…’British comedian” is an oxymoron. Much like ‘Jumbo shrimp,” or ‘Ecuadorean president who prioritizes his time wisely.””
[Mediaite]
Outraged: Piers Morgan
Target: Brian Williams' critics
Why: “The only logical solution to the frenzied reaction to the NBC news anchor's public admission of a mistake is for him to be feathered, tarred, dragged through the streets of New York to Times Square, and stoned to death,” wrote Morgan in a post on the Daily Mail website, before adding: “We”ve become a world of Henry VIIIs, screaming ‘Off with their head!” whenever a public figure trips up.” Because that's who you want in your corner during a scandal: one of the most loathed media personalities in history.