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10 Jokes Meaner Than Chris Rock’s Oscars Dig at Jada Pinkett Smith

And it’s no surprise that most of them make fun of women

By Denise SheltonPublished 2 years ago 7 min read
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Photo by Tiara Montgomery on Unsplash

After this year’s Oscars kerfluffle, some are calling for the abolition of insult humor, especially that which mocks someone’s challenges or physical appearance. Others say it’s a tradition rooted in the antics of the court jesters of old speaking truth to power and everyone needs to lighten up.

Here are ten jokes (plus some extras) that would hurt almost anyone’s feelings and how some celebrities reacted.

1. “She has a bumper sticker that says, ‘Save the whales’ and in small print, ‘for appetizers.’ ”--Joan Rivers about Elizabeth Taylor

In interviews following comedian Joan Rivers’ death, her daughter Melissa stated that her mother had over 850 jokes about Elizabeth Taylor’s weight in her files. Of course, not everybody was a fan of this constant hazing of the celebrated actress. Still, the sheer volume of jokes about Taylor Rivers collected indicates that they were a guaranteed laugh.

After marrying her sixth husband, Republican politician John Warner, stressed out by her unaccustomed role as a high-profile politician's wife, Taylor began piling on the pounds. She also struggled with drug and alcohol issues.

After her 1982 divorce from Warner, Taylor checked into the Betty Ford clinic, setting herself on the road to recovery resulting in her losing much of her weight, going from a high of 180 to 122 lbs.

When reporters asked Taylor’s life-long pal Roddy McDowell how she felt about Rivers making mocking her weight the keystone of her routines, he said she was not bothered by it. Taylor told him, “It doesn’t hurt me where I live.”

2. “You know who was at the Vanity Fair (Academy Awards) party? Monica Lewinsky. She was sitting right next to me. I was at table 14; she was under table 12.” — Jay Leno

After first denying it, President Bill Clinton admitted he had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky in the mid-1990s and comedians had a field day. Perhaps I should say “decade” because the jokes went on for years.

In a 2019 Hollywood Reporter interview, comedian John Oliver (who admits he’s yucked it up at her expense, too) asked Lewinsky about its impact on her life. “It was an avalanche of pain and humiliation,” she said. “I think at 24 years old; it was really hard to hold onto a shred of dignity or self-esteem when you’re just the butt of so many jokes.”

3. “Mick Jagger’s lips' so big, black people be going, "You got some big-ass lips!"--Eddie Murphy

It’s unlikely that Mick Jagger is too bothered by jokes about his appearance. He probably heard them long before he became famous. Besides, he was too busy dealing with insults from someone who mattered: his Rolling Stones bandmate Keith Richards.

In a promotional interview for one of their albums, Richards held forth on a critical part of Jagger’s anatomy by saying, “His cock’s on the end of his nose. And a very small one at that. Big balls. Small cock.” It seems the Stones are just one big happy dysfunctional family.

4. "How is it that Courtney Love looks worse than Kurt Cobain right now?"--Jeffrey Ross

Musician and actor Courtney Love is best known as the widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who put a period to his existence with a shotgun in 1997. Comedian and Comedy Central Roastmaster General Jeffrey Ross told the above joke at actor Pamela Anderson’s roast in 2005 when Love’s husband had been in his grave for eight years.

The next day Love checked herself into rehab. An unapologetic Ross quipped, “See. Roasting saves lives.”

5. “The Golden Globes are to the Oscars what Kim Kardashian is to Kate Middleton. A bit louder, a bit trashier, a bit drunker, and more easily bought.”--Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais has raised insult comedy to a level previously unknown in this universe or any other. I’m expecting to see him spilling his secrets on MasterClass.

Kim Kardashian’s reaction to his jibe was decidedly low-key. When asked, she told reporters that Gervais’ joke was “funny but inaccurate” because she says she’s not much of a boozer.

6. "We got some groundbreaking performances, here too, tonight. We got Bruce Jenner, who will be doing some musical performances. He’s doing a his-and-her duet all by himself."--Jamie Foxx

Oh, dear. Jamie Fox not only made fun of the Olympic gold medalist’s gender, but he deadnamed her as well. I’m not sure how Caitlin Jenner felt about what Jamie Foxx said, but she did rush to the defense of Dave Chappelle when he took heat for transgender jokes and remarks he made in his comedy special on Netflix.

Jenner responded to trans rights activists’ condemnation of Chappelle on Twitter by saying, “We must never yield or bow to those who wish to stop us from speaking our minds.”

7. “You don’t need big boobs to be feminine. Look at Liberace.”--Joan Rivers

(Source: CommonsWikimedia) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liberace_8_Allan_Warren.jpg

For those too young to remember, Liberace was a piano virtuoso who happened to be gay. He was famous for wearing outrageous sequined outfits and his legions of fans (like my grandma) who kept wondering when the right girl for him would come along. Since Liberace had a lot of self-deprecating humor in his act, I wouldn’t be surprised if the jokes were okay with him.

8. "Jonah, a lot of people are going to touch on your weight tonight, but not enough people are going to talk about what an asshole you’ve become"--Nick Kroll to Jonah Hill

Women are not the only ones comics like to fat shame. (They even fat-shame themselves.) In this case, the shame shower falls on one of the 2013 Comedy Central Roast of James Franco’s guests. This joke is doubly insulting because it touches on Hill’s weight as being a source of amusement and then goes for the throat, implying that Hill's ego is out of control.

That same year, Jonah Hill was hotter than a two-dollar pistol with three films in theaters. I couldn’t find out if he had a problem with the joke, but he probably could not have cared less, given how well his career was going at that time. It's when they kick you when you're down that it really hurts.

9. I’m not the only athlete up here tonight. As you all know, earlier this year, Ann Coulter won the Kentucky Derby. Congrats on that, Ann. Great job.” — Peyton Manning

This Ann Coulter joke was told, along with too many others to count, one viler than the next, during the Comedy Central Roast of actor Rob Lowe.

I don't like Ann Coulter or the far right-wing pundit's politics, but the vicious, unrelenting attack the show’s producers unleashed on her that day was not right. She had no idea it was coming and was clearly shocked and bewildered.

The comics intended to demean and humiliate her, and that’s a low thing to do to a guest. Jimmy Carr, another roaster, said, “Ann Coulter is one of the most repugnant, hateful bitches alive — but it’s not too late to change, Ann. You could kill yourself.”

Nikki Glaser offered this gem: “The only person you will ever make happy is the Mexican who digs your grave.”

I don’t care how much you dislike the woman; that’s wrong. They took it too far.

10. “Charlie’s nostrils are so snotty and full of coke he calls them ‘the Hilton sisters.’” — Jeffrey Ross in front of Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen has had more than his fair share of drug, alcohol, and mental health problems, and is HIV positive. Paris Hilton and her sister Nicky Hilton (now married to a Rothschild) certainly partied heartily as teenagers. Still, it was a needlessly unflattering portrait of two now grown women who had made something of themselves.

The joke was told in 2011 when Paris was 30. At that point, she was launching fashion lines internationally and starring in her own reality show. To bring up her misspent youth like that in such a crass way must have been hurtful. Charlie Sheen, the prime butt of the joke, doesn’t come off too well either, but he sincerely doesn’t care.

So there you have it: ten+ really mean jokes. If you still think Chris Rock’s joke was horrible, please take a moment to reflect on what he actually said:

“Jada, I love you, ‘GI Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.”

Does it still sound like a reason to assault somebody? There’s no mention of her hair or her illness. There’s no indication that she’s ugly or untalented. It’s just a reference between two famous shaved heads. Do you agree that this is a big to-do triggered by nothing, or are you still outraged at Rock’s joke?

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About the Creator

Denise Shelton

Denise Shelton writes on a variety of topics and in several different genres. Frequent subjects include history, politics, and opinion. She gleefully writes poetry The New Yorker wouldn't dare publish.

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