First of all, I don't find Marcel terribly annoying. Elan's and Betty's comments were much more immature. Second of all, Cliff's behavior was assault, and if I were Marcel, I would have called the police and insisted on a separate hotel room for the remainder of the show. But what really burns me is the veiled suggestion that Cliff being thrown off the show was rascism. Now, we all know that Cliff's behavior was out of line and assault, but HH seems to be saying that black men shouldn't be expected to act any differently than this, that even though the rules are clear about "touching with aggression," Cliff being thrown off was wrong. There are all kinds of rascism. This one is a rascism of diminished expectations: the idea that a black man can't be expected to understand rules and if he is expected to, the rules are somehow "white" and unworthy of following. I think this attitude, obviously, is wrong, not him being thrown off the show.

This reminds me of the story by (first)mother-in-law told me about how she learned that there was no santa claus. A friend of hers told her that he didn't exist, and, furious, she came home to her mother, and hands-on-hips, began to pontificate how she was so mad at Sally, that she wasn't going to be friends with her anymore, because she said, can you believe it, that there was no Santa Claus! Her mother silently listened to her rant, then when she finished, she put her iron down and said to her: "you mean to tell me that you believe that a little fat man in a red suit comes down your chimney and leaves you presents on Chrismas eve?" And then, my mother-in-law knew there was no Santa. She was, I think, 13 years old.

Personally, I can't believe that any 13 year old would actually believe in Santa.