One of the best sketches of the Larry David-hosted Saturday Night Live featured David as an advertising executive receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Ad Council. The presentation speech starts off well and good, lauding his work with McDonald’s and other influential campaigns, but takes a turn when presenter Cecily Strong offers the audience the chance to view the honoree’s older work, including some early ’80s public service announcements. The first spot, an anti-smoking commercial featuring two teen boys, features the tagline, “No way. That’s gay.” This sends David on the defensive and saying that “It was a different time, the word gay was very common with kids. It just kinda meant bad, you know, ‘that hat is gay,’ ‘your car is gay,’ ‘school’s gay.'” But it only gets worse from there, for both David and the audience.
The next spot, an anti-bullying advertisement, features the tagline, “Making fun of someone with a disability is retarded.” It’s followed by a homophobic anti-drinking ad with the tagline, “Your chances of making a good decision are smaller than a midget.” Finally, the presenter gives the winner a bit of hope, shifting to his later work. Unfortunately, that later work stars “your good friend” Bill Cosby.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past weeks with Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, saying “it was a different time” is not really a valid excuse for horrible behavior. It’s still going to look horrible no matter how you spin it, especially if it happens at an awards show.
(Via SNL)
