The New York Times: ArtsBeat: Indians Offended by Jay Leno Joke About Sikh Shrine
I’m no lover of Jay Leno. I have never voted Leno in any election, and you will always find me registered officially as a Team Coco member (unofficially as a Team Dave volunteer). I’ve been a staunch boycotter of The Show Formerly Known as The Tonight Show ever since Mr. Leno swooped in and snatched it away from the rightful hands of Mr. O’Brien. Conan’s Tonight Show may not yet have been a blockbuster in the ratings, but Conan did in his seven months what Leno had failed to do in his previous 16 years: he made the Tonight Show his own.
Sure, Leno did have some particular bits that he brought with him: the Headlines, Jay Walking, and such. But his main appeal seemed to be that he was universally watchable and nothing more. So naturally, having no real identity, he appealed blandly to the masses and usually eked out better ratings than Letterman. But he will never have cemented a time in TV history as “Leno’s Tonight Show” in the same way that there was “Carson’s Tonight Show” or “Jack Paar’s Tonight Show.” Even with at least 18 years under his belt, he will merely be remembered as the guy who hosted between Carson and whoever comes next.
That is not to say that I’ve never laughed at one of Leno’s jokes. Before the Conan scandal I’d occasionally tune in. I even watched his 10pm show, which, despite the awful buzz, was no worse than his 11:30 show. What makes Leno so annoying is not that he isn’t funny; it’s that he’s a little bit funny sometimes. Leno is a talented comedian, but his show is so dumbed down in order to appeal to everyone that he loses all identity. He’s the Nickelback of comedians (or, to be more accurate, Nickelback is the Jay Leno of bands).
Leno’s main goal is to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, rather than to a somewhat smaller, more committed audience that identifies with him. Conan may not have scored the same numbers, but he had people tuning in specifically to watch him. Is there anyone who turns on their TV at 11:30, excited to watch Jay Leno? His Tonight Show is exactly what NBC wants it to be: something unobtrusive that people can turn on while they’re getting ready for bed. He’s not meant to have an identity. He’s bland. Affable. Inoffensive.
But it had to happen sometime. Somebody in Leno’s photo department slipped up, and oops! Someone got offended. For the first time in his non-contiguous 18 years as host, Leno told a joke that made someone mad!
The joke in question was about Mitt Romney’s largess. Leno introduced a fake segment from “The Insider” in which Romney’s New Hampshire house is shown, but instead of the real house, he subbed in a picture of a huge temple made of gold. The joke is perfectly in line with Leno’s penchant for a fairly facile narrative. Ho, ho, ho! Mitt Romney is rich. Punchline. Move on.
But wait. That photo of “Mitt Romney’s house”? That building that he used as a parallel to Mitt’s extreme wealth in contrast to much of America’s poverty? It’s actually the Golden Temple in Armritsar, India, which is the spiritual center for the Sikh religion, as well as the site of several historic violent acts against them. And the Sikhs are not too happy that it was used as a punchline, much less that the sacred building was identified with rampant wealth and indifference to the poor.
This may be Leno’s first foray into Letterman territory. Letterman found himself in similar hot water when he made an insensitive and tasteless--though completely fair--joke at Bristol Palin’s expense. But someone like Letterman has a much easier time dealing with issues like this, namely because Letterman has a distinct character identity. He is a clearly defined TV personality, and has never purported to be for everyone’s taste. Thus, when he subsequently apologized, it seemed sincere.
When the main stake of your show is simply to appeal to as broad and mainstream an audience as possible, you may have a harder time atoning for mistakes like this. When Leno eventually does apologize, it will look less like a realization of guilt and more like an attempt to repair the hole in his perfectly innocuous program.
Now, are the cries of “racist” justified? I’m hesitant to say so. It looks as if the photo researchers at Team Leno just got sloppy. They searched for an opulent building, found a temple made of gold, and ran with it. Their sin was that they didn’t care to look far enough to see that the building they labeled as a symbol of gross wealth and aristocracy was an important symbol of quite the opposite for the Sikh people. The slightest bit of research would have revealed it, and the Leno team was too lazy to do it. “Racist” is an ugly label to throw at Leno. Insensitive, boneheaded, and ignorant sum it up well enough.
Leno would have an easier time making up for it if the show were his own, rather than the 11:30 Mainstream America Moderately Amusing for Everyone Show. But as it’s his duty to please everyone, he’s going to have a tough time when mistakes like this happen.
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