Okay, it’s official: the trend of women on TV being “cheerfully dumb” has got to stop. Sherri “the world is flat” Shepherd (pictured, right), did you actually declare on The View earlier this week that Christianity predated everything–including Greek civilization? Kellie Pickler (pictured, left), did you actually say on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? that you thought Europe was a country and you’d never heard of Hungary? And are you both as pleased with the attention as you seem?
In a world where so many trailblazing, intelligent women—Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Katie Couric, take your pick—try to make the world a better place with brainpower, you’ve got to ask yourself: Do Sherri and Kellie have any humiliation threshold? Do they even realize how vacant they sound? While neither may be a natural-born genius, why is anyone who uses her time in the spotlight to be so unrelentingly dim rewarded with more spotlight? Shouldn’t any nitwit who comes off as 100 percent allergic to reading (books, news, maps, anything) be mocked all the way to the unemployment line? Or at least the remedial classroom where she belongs?
For the record, EW readers who point out that only one woman cracked the Top 10 on our own Hollywood’s Smartest People list make a valid observation, if you ask me; the rankings, hotly debated and meticulously researched right here inside EW headquarters, rate “impact” on our culture—and it’s worth debating why there aren’t more so-called "influential" women to highlight. But don’t kid yourself that Fifth Grader host Jeff Foxworthy’s condescending banter (Jeff: “Kellie, focus.” Kellie: “I’m listening to what you’re saying, but I only hear what I want to.” Jeff: “That’s just called being a woman.”) during the pitiful Pickler performance was merely harmless filler. Misogyny is a bitch, people, and it pops up wherever it’s welcome!
I’d love to hear other reactions to the celebration of the “cheerfully dumb.” Who thinks Sherri Shepherd and Kellie Pickler milk the dimwit persona for the attention? And while we’re at it, what can be done to stop them?
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Pickler is mostly playing dumb – Sherri clearly is that, uh, unintelligent let’s call it.
Sherri is not playing. She’s dumb. And from a yesterday’s show homophobic.
What can we do to stop them? Stop watching the shows, buying the mags, giving them attention they don’t deserve.
I don’t know about Sherri, but I think Kellie is playing dumb, and I agree she should stop. Look at Jessica Simpson. She played dumb to keep herself famous, and now (1) everyone (including me) believes she really is dumb, and (2) no one takes her attempts at music or movies seriously or wants to spend money on them.
Playing dumb eventually comes back to bite you. As it should.
hey, it worked for paris, didn’t it?
I have no idea who Pickler is, but Sherri is clearly an honest-to-goodness idiot.
Let’s not forget Jessica Simpson, who has turned being the “dumb blonde” into a multi-million dollar industry (shoes, perfume, movies, etc). It’s all a bit pathetic and entirely predictable to me.
I am totally disgusted with Barbara Walters for hiring Sherri Shepherd. Who cares what her views are. It’s apparently that she is dim, cause who would want to intentionally sound so foolish? Sherri is an embarassment.
I was willing to give her a pass the transgendered kid stiff because no matter what I think, she’s entitled to her opinion. And I gave her the benefit of the doubt about the whole “world is flat” nonsense, just because I thought maybe she didn’t mean it the way she sounded. But this? Jesus came before the greeks? Christianity was around before all civilization? I can no longer deny it, Sheri Shepard is dumb as a box of rocks.
Pickler’s stupidity is cute and playful. Shepard’s is genuine ignorance and it’s disgusting she makes six-figures being a complete moron on national television.
If it’s an act, I like it. A little refreshing because too many smart women in a room is very “dull”.
Smart kids are funnier. See Alex and Jared from Kid Nation (below). “Pelvis has left the building!”
I’m not very familiar with either of these women, but I AM familiar with the “look at me, I’m so dumb and helpless” routine and it makes me want to puke. I believe that there are celebrities (and regular people) who mask their intelligence (however much they possess) because they think it makes them appealing to men. These women need to be enlightened! As for those women who really are completely clueless, we shouldn’t let them spout their opinions on television.
I agree with these comments. Kelly Pickler is not book smart, and may come off as flighty…but she is very young.
Shari is not just stupid but also ignorant….she is entitlted to her own opinion (and can raise her kids the way she sees fit i.e.transgendered) but she gives Christians a bad name.
I’m sorry, but EW celebrates the Reality Television genre that has infected our culture, and this is the result. Everyone who is complaining about these women playing dumb AND watches I Love Mew York, Bachelor, or any of that garbage, don’t complain now. This is what you deserve, and it’s not going to stop until you stop watching all of that nonsense.
I was so fired up, I misspelled New York. Lol!
I’m sorry, but “trailblazing” and “intelligent” are two words I would never use to describe Katie Couric. More like “annoying” and “ratings-challenged.” I think the main reason there aren’t a ton of smart people (men or women) on TV is that the real intelligent people of the world know that sitting around dishing about hair styles and hemlines is not the way to make the world a better place. Intelligent people also don’t watch programs like The View, so why does it matter, anyway?
First of all, for those of you who don’t know who Kellie Pickler is, have you been living under a rock?
Just to catch you up, she’s an “American Idol” alumnus, and a talented country singer. And she really is from the sticks, and is no doubt genuinely naive about a number of things. She may not be so book smart, but she is warm, inquisitive, and un-selfconscious enough to say when a new word or term is new to her. I like her.
Sherri, on the other hand, is breathtakingly ignorant and irritatingly stupid–I’m talking low I.Q. stupid, despite her marginal ability to memorize lines for a sitcom or whatever else her claim to fame is. Her remarks about believing the world being flat (has she never seen a globe?) and religion signal that she belongs back in elementary school, not on “The View”, which was supposed to be about reasonably intelligent women discussing current issues.
Who would’ve thought that I could actually miss hearing from Elizabeth Hasselbeck?
A couple of weeks ago, EW Pop Watch asked if we thought Kellie was as dumb as she claimed to be on 5th grader…the commenters here all proclaimed their love for her, how ‘real’ she seems and how it isn’t an act, she’s just being ‘genuine’…which, frankly, is horrifying to think people enjoy watching complete and udder IDIOTS on tv and then celebrate them…is it any wonder that people can name the top American Idol winners from the past 6 seasons, but they don’t know the first Presidents of the United States…
While I agree with many commenters that Sherri is the more “harmfully” ignorant (because her opinions and views are not only stupid, but also vicious), I do NOT agree that Pickler gets a pass because her stupidity is “cute” or “playful.” Playing dumb (or actually being dumb) is nothing to be proud of, and women everywhere should shun both of these ladies as giving us all a bad name.
Hadn’t seen that clip of Sherri yet… (Hangs head in shame) as a Christian, I am so embarrassed by the people that represent my faith to the public. We are not all unintelligent bigots.
As for Kelli, she’s just doing what many women have done in the past (Judy Holliday, Marilyn Monroe, and Jayne Mansfield) to great success. Unfortunately, she doesn’t realize that it’s a label that will stick with her the rest of her life. She’ll change her tone when she wants to be taken seriously, but by then it will be too late.
Opinion is as opinion does. I enjoy a good dumbing down – gives one that superiority glow that works in my dimly-lit living room. The problem is when the dumbing down is not merely entertaining (i.e. 5th grade) or infotaining (i.e. The View). I have students who believe that if it is on tv it must be true; I have to assume that they are just acting like apples not falling far from their parental trees. The lack of ability to draw a line between “reality” and “tv” is alarming. I love me some reality tv shows because I know that they are “reality” “tv” “shows” not real life. Too many people think that tv is real life and it’s a far better life than any life not being broadcast. Isn’t that one of the reasons why Youtube, MySpace and FaceBook are so popular? TV/Webfolk are opinionated, animated and exposed. They don’t care if you think they are idiots as long as you think you know them. We all know that many people would rather listen than think for themselves. Dittoheads anyone?
That’s “utter” idiot, donner. An udder is what you find on a cow. You might want to try checking your grammar
before calling other people idiots. I think Kellie is faking most of it. If you go to Vote for the Worst you’ll find comments from people in her hometown that say she exaggerated for the show. I think she’s faking to cover for what she actually doesn’t know and wants us to believe she’s faking all of it. People tend to like or at least forgive Kellie for it because she is also unsophisticated and seems embarrassed by it at times so it isn’t like she has the attitude, “It’s good to be dumb”.
Sherri Shepherd, on the other hand, isn’t an act. She also believes the stuff she says is right. That makes her worse than Kellie who, even if she’s not faking, is at least smart enough to know she doesn’t know as much as other people. Kellie doesn’t make excuses for it either (at least not explicitly) while Sherri insists it’s OK not to know the world is round if you have kids.
Thank you LisaMama and GingerCat! As I was reading, all I kept thinking was “Where was this posting when Jessica Simpson was on Newlyweds???” Everyone seemed to think she was adorable then… Thank goodness we all know better now.
Pickler is taking the “dumb blonde” routine way too seriously. Shepherd is just a moron.
I find it astounding that EW actually spent time “researching” that Smartest People in Hollywood list. It looked like it was thrown together over a coffee break after they sorted through submissions from publicists. I think about half that list was just insulting to the intelligence of EW’s readers.
Sherri’s problem is complete and utter ignorance. It’s like she’s never looked at anything, including her faith, beyond the surface. She takes what’s she’s told at face value and doesn’t question or investigate anything. And it makes her look like a complete moron when she’s nailed on something.
Pickler, I think, is genuinely not book-smart. Wonder if she got through school on social promotion rather than decent grades.
I am not familiar with either one, but have seen both clips and I think what upsets me the most is that I have two degrees and am struggling to find a job and these two dumb women will forever have more money than me.
Every time Sherri opens her mouth I want to fast forward. I think she’s worse than Elisabeth. Kathy Griffin was a much better choice.
They are milking it for ratings, money and using being dimwitted as a way to keep people talking about them. Look how well it’s worked for Paris Hilton!