Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy All the Comedy Men Are So Awful
Richard Pryor was angry. It was 1972, and Pryor was in the south of France shooting a movie called Hit! with Billy Dee Williams. He brought his girlfriend Patricia Heitman along and, at one point during the trip, she allegedly walked in on Pryor in bed with a hooker. According to biographer Scott Saul, Pryor then invited Patricia to join in the action. When she declined, Pryor flew into a rage, expressing his displeasure by beating her, tearing her clothes off, and throwing her out of the room. Patricia, not one to be cowed, got back at him later by sprinkling rat poison in his socks and underwear.
It was hardly the first time Pryor had mistreated a woman (he once beat his first wife for serving him potatoes he didnt like), and Patricias rat poison stunt would hardly deter him from it going forward. Back in LA, he would again rip off Patricias clothes and toss her out onto the street, naked. While she was locked out, desperate for clothing and shelter, he burned her coat in the fireplace. Later in life, Pryor confessed to beating women on air to Barbara Walters and explained himself thusly:
They pissed me off. I'm sorry to say that. I know emotionally inside of me, because I was weak. That's really the reason. I was weak.
In a way, Pryor got lucky because even as he confessed to his monstrousness in public, the bulk of his career came at a time when such transgressions were, unforgivably, easily shrugged off by the media and powerbrokers alike. He was still revered, rarely shamed by anyone outside of himself. Perhaps the public regret he expressed to Walters was enough to merit some measure of forgiveness, and perhaps people also took into hard consideration the fact that Pryor himself was abused as a child, at the hands of both a boy who molested him in an alleyway, and his own grandmother, a Peoria madam who would beat him regularly when Pryors father wasnt around to do the job himself.
https://www.gq.com/story/all-the-bad-comedy-men
It was hardly the first time Pryor had mistreated a woman (he once beat his first wife for serving him potatoes he didnt like), and Patricias rat poison stunt would hardly deter him from it going forward. Back in LA, he would again rip off Patricias clothes and toss her out onto the street, naked. While she was locked out, desperate for clothing and shelter, he burned her coat in the fireplace. Later in life, Pryor confessed to beating women on air to Barbara Walters and explained himself thusly:
They pissed me off. I'm sorry to say that. I know emotionally inside of me, because I was weak. That's really the reason. I was weak.
In a way, Pryor got lucky because even as he confessed to his monstrousness in public, the bulk of his career came at a time when such transgressions were, unforgivably, easily shrugged off by the media and powerbrokers alike. He was still revered, rarely shamed by anyone outside of himself. Perhaps the public regret he expressed to Walters was enough to merit some measure of forgiveness, and perhaps people also took into hard consideration the fact that Pryor himself was abused as a child, at the hands of both a boy who molested him in an alleyway, and his own grandmother, a Peoria madam who would beat him regularly when Pryors father wasnt around to do the job himself.
https://www.gq.com/story/all-the-bad-comedy-men
Thankful that it seems the times are finally changing and this sort of monstrous behavior will no longer be shrugged off.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 990 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (6)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Why All the Comedy Men Are So Awful (Original Post)
oberliner
Nov 2017
OP
TexasProgresive
(12,165 posts)1. Its the broad brush of ALL I dont like.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)2. Yeah, I don't really love the title
But the article itself makes some important points.