Lindsay Lohan’s recent DUI arrest has sparked the usual spike in anxious headlines and snarky jokes. That’s how Hollywood works, right? You screw up in public and you’re in for an unstoppable barrage of not-so-nice publicity. But this time, one thing’s different: Barbara Walters isn’t playing along anymore. She used her bully pulpit on The View this morning to lash out at those who make light of Lohan’s troubles. Her breaking point was a Tonight Show appearance by that noted arbiter of sensitivity, Rob Schneider; it seems that since Lohan was unable to make her scheduled visit to Tuesday night’s show, Schneider dressed up in drag, donned a blonde wig, and played the absent starlet’s role on Leno’s couch. According to Walters, this bit of humor "just seems so mean." So does she have a point, or what? (Check out the gag for yourself below.)
Of course she does! Like virtually everything else the guy does these days, Schneider’s routine was not only in fairly poor taste, but painfully unfunny to boot. Leno: "What happened last night?" Schneider/Lohan: "Well, I’m Irish, Jay. For the Irish, St. Paddy’s Day is like the whole summer." Studio audience: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!" Oof. This drivel went on for 10 interminable minutes, long enough for Schneider to cross all sorts of lines, not just the ones surrounding Lohan’s dignity.
But here’s the thing: Schneider’s antics may be out of line, but what about all the people who are invading Lohan’s privacy in real life — the mainstream media outlets that broadcast this 21-year-old’s unflattering mugshot far and wide, speculate about her partying habits, and do interviews with her troubled, way-too-talkative parents? The professional vultures who are out there flooding the zone on this story are being far more exploitative toward Lohan than any lame jokester. So, sure, Walters was right to tell Schneider and Leno to knock it off. But if she’s really concerned about getting people to treat Lohan with a little human respect, she should aim a little higher than Deuce Bigalow. Shouldn’t she?
Comments (1-30) of 76
I loved LaLohan up until this point. What ever she does from now on, I won’t be follwing her career. She’s just out of control. And if you’re in the public eye and you do this kind of stuff, no that you’re going to get ripped by the media. Jodie Foster keeps her private life private, without getting involved in the tabs – Lindsey, take note.
You’re right on target, Simon. I am glad that you ran this blog post. I saw the clip earlier today and thought it in extremely poor taste. It seems clear that Lindsay Lohan has surpassed putting her career in danger and is now putting her life in danger, and it really is no laughing matter. Rob Schneider’s “gag” was way out of line, and disrespectful to boot…
I hate how these celebs blame the media and being in the spotlight. A lot of them are in the limelight, and are just fine. (Anne Hathaway any day). Did you hear Lohan’s defense that she was just holding the coke for a friend? That is every addict’s excuse.
And as fo Leno, he should take some lessons from Craig Ferguson.
This girl needs to find herself some Kabbalah, pronto.
Sorry no sympathy from me. There are pletnty of stars who are famous and keep themselves out of the Tabs, but not Linsday. She courts the press where ever she goes, knowing full well they are going to be there and want her picture. If she didn’t want it she would do these things in the first place. She’s a fame whore, which is what Walters doesn’t get. She’s as much addictied to the press as she is to her booze and drugs. None of her movies are hits lately so she has to keep herself in the spotlight, she thinks.
No I hope she goes to jail for a couple of years, no fame, no money. Then maybe she will appreciate her privacy more.
Oh, yes, Barbara Walters, the great humanitarian! I suspect Walters’ “sympathy” for Lohan is more due to her angling to nab a Lindsay interview than anything else. Remember how Walters was coming to the defense of Paris Hilton a few months ago, before the interview finally wound up going to Larry King? Walters is a phony and only trying to suck up to the Lohans to get an exclusive interview.
It’s very difficult to muster up too much sympathy for a silly little movie star who basically has the world “by the tail” and chooses to mess up her life anyway.
Rob Schneider is a a**hole and I wish he’d go away. The guy has never been funny and never will be. That joke about the ten cameras adding ten pounds each was old when Friends used it about 14 years ago. So am I offended by this bit? Yeah, because it’s a cheap shot at a young woman who’s dying in front of us, but also because it’s executed with the grace of an elephant taking a dump in my front yard. I truly hope that Lilo gets the help she so desperately needs. I’ve seen a lot of people I’ve been close to struggle with substance abuse, and it’s horrible. I wish Lilo a lot of luck. She’s going to have to hit bottom before she finally starts to pull herself up, and I hope it happens soon.
Lindsay Lohan is in big trouble and it’s disappointing and sad that she doesn’t seem to be able to get out of it. Still, I wish she’d take her recovery a little more seriously instead of continue to party around town and flaunt her alcohol bracelet for all to see.
She needs to go away (completely away) for a while and get herself back together. Drew Barrymore was EXTREMELY talented and messed up when she was young, but she went away for a bit and managed to get herself back together, and maybe Lohan could take some pointers.
As for Schneider and Ferguson, I’m not so much offended by them making fun of Lohan. She has advantages and resources that thousands of other addicts don’t and she’s squandered them over and over again. What offends me is that they’re material is idiotic and not funny.
Leno and Schneider are both painfully unfunny, but I take this skit as something akin to Saturday Night Live. Lindsay is in the news and they are just parodying it (to use the word loosely). I often feel bad for girls like Lindsay and Britney, but then I remember that they get paid millions of dollars for easy work and they can leave Los Angeles any time they want, a la Julia Roberts. If the cameras and the attention were to go away tomorrow, these girls wouldn’t have anything to live for.
If you don’t want the whole world to hear about and make fun of you getting busted over and over again for drunk driving and taking drugs…don’t do it? Neither the paparazzi nor Rob Schneider poured alcohol down her throat, shoved coke up her nose, and gave her the keys to an SUV. She brought it all upon herself. If you want the paparazzi there when you go out to eat or go shopping, guess what? They’re going to show up when you act like a spoiled, conceited idiot with no regard for anyone’s safety. She deserves whatever she gets. Maybe she needs to be embarassed and ashamed for once.
Leno put this tasteless stuff on his show–he is the most inappropriate, unfeeling and unfunny person on TV. He can’t be replaced soon enough for me–sad to think that he is standing in the shoes of a man with class to spare–Carson.
Um, sorry, all sympathy for Lindsay was all used up the moment she got behind the wheel. Again and again. You want to get wasted all the time and make a fool of yourself? Fine! Hire a driver! The poster who said that Lindsay would have to hit rock bottom and they hoped it happened soon– so, would rock bottom be her killing an innocent person in her car? She is a criminal and deserves to be punished as such.
At this point, is there an easier target than Lindsay Lohan? Rob Schneider has not been funny in years, and this is just ridiculous. Any jokes at Lindsay’s expense stopped being funny the moment she started putting people’s lives in danger by driving drunk without realizing the consequences. This girl is messed up in a major way, and Rob Schneider is just trying to save his own dying career.
Lindsay Lohan drove drunk putting other lives at risk and you are worried about her dignity? that is some screwed up values right there. I think she completely deserved it by putting herself in the position to not be able to make her appearance.
Paychecks like the ones Miss Lohan gets can be positive and negative.
They’re great to cover all the shopping she neems to do in abundance. The bad part is whatever you do is made public.
The minute she gets behind the wheel
after drinking, she becomes a menace
to everyone around her. She doesn’t
seem to care about this. Maybe some
jail time would help cure this.
Dear Simon, you’re just passing the blame on Schneider just because he is another celebrity that you can bash. Aren’t you and your ilk also guilty of being mean to Lindsay Lohan and now that you have a celebrity to “put to shame” for being tactless and tasteless you think you can absolve yourself from all the nasty things you said about LL and other celebrities? To use a word from Lindsay’s best film ever – you Simon Vozick-Levinson are a PLASTIC! bwahahahaha! schadenfruede is really one of your favorite emotions right? get a life.
Barbara walters is now the moral compass of what is acceptable behavior? When she lied right to our face about Star Jones leaving the show? I saw the Leno bit and it wasn’t in bad taste.
To care or not to care….? I choose not.
are people just realizing NOW that what happens on leno’s show is generally not funny? that hack should hang it up.
So it wasn’t hilarious…it didn’t cross any lines, either. We are watching a spectacular trainwreck, people. You know you want to watch. Do I wish ill for her? Of course not, but she hasn’t got a clue about personal responsibility. Stop watching her movies and let her hit rock bottom when the cash dries up. Then she’ll find out who her friends are and she might be able to pull herself back up again. Want to enable her? Keep watching every move she makes.
I have NO sympathy for Lohan whatsoever – so I disagree w/ you on this one Simon.
I didn’t even know who Rob Schneider was, but I thought the skit was hilarious!!! I have zero tolerance for these Prima Donna actresses, Musicians, or Spoiled Rich Brats! They have no idea what it is like to struggle just to make the mortgage payment. Maybe if they did, they would learn that partying is not a priority. Get a life girls, and please just go away NOW.
This is the deal. I have one problem with Rob’s stchick…it wasn’t that funny. At the hands of another comic, it would have been spot on. It still made me chuckle just slightly. It’s time for Babs to retire though. The View mentions the unholy trio of firecrotch, swampwater ho, and the sluttante EVERY show! That’s all.
I thought it was funny, and have no sympathy for LiLo. For those of you who are rising to defend her, do you even take a second look at someone in your community who has the same problems, folks who don’t have the benefit of millions of dollars at their disposal?
I thought it was funny…maybe it went on too long, but you know what? Leno probably had his gag writers write it for Schneider…and what was Leno to do that Lindsay was off the show? Bring Schneider in as himself? but you know he was going to talk about it anyway.
Nope, no sympathy for Lilo here. If the worst thing that happens to her regarding this incident is that Rob Schneider parodies her on Leno, then her life really IS a bed of roses. I agree with Walters’ co-hosts’ responses to her whining:
Elisabeth Hasselbeck says she stops feeling badly “when a person who’s drinking gets behind the wheel of a car when 43-thousand people a year are killed by drunk drivers.”
Meanwhile, Kelly Ripa has an idea about how to possibly scare Lindsay Lohan straight: have her spend time with Ripa’s sister, who was nearly killed by a drunken driver.
Ripa said on “Live With Regis and Kelly” she’d like Lohan to see “the physical agony a person lives with” after being hit by a drunken driver.
Ewww…I just realized I mistakenly typed “Ferguson” instead of “Leno” in my post talking about how utterly unfunny the “parody” was.
I hereby publicly apologize to Craig Ferguson.
And one other thing. Lohan’s insisting that the cocaine police found in her pocket “wasn’t mine” makes her a total disgrace. She’s no better than the ilk you see on every episode of COPS. Take her license, throw her in jail and make an example of her. Did Lohan learn nothing from Paris Hilton’s escapades?
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