Letters to the Editor
-
Oh my GOD....what a STRETCH.
"Sitting in the wrong seat
Jane Fonda got a lot of flak and name calling for sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun during that war. Remember "Hanoi Jane"? Watching her sit in Colbert's lap reminded me of that older seating error. Perhaps she just has bad judgement?
-- ajbuckle "
"Rember Hanoi Jane?"....surely THAT chestnut has rotted clean away...
But how gleeful you must feel for getting to insert it..eh..somewhere.
I have a better suggestion where to put it.
-
Re: OK, I thought it was hysterically funny
I did too. He was on the hot seat in a way he rarely is with all the blushing and stammering – usually it’s his guests that are caught off guard like that. I doubt very seriously he was in on the joke (but I’ll bet you anything his producer knew just what was going to happen).
There is a sort of TV that you’re supposed to be almost to embarrassed to watch (The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, American Idol, etc) and this was along those lines. If you really thought this was ‘sexual harassment’ I think it’s time to step away from the TV and take a few deep breaths.
And Fonda? She’s one hot cougar. Meow.
-
It was just sho-biz
They were both playing characters. Would you cringe if Fonda kissed a younger man in a movie??
-
Stephen has obviously had hundreds of girlfriends.
Joan, you are simply blinded by the twin suns of Stephen's manhood, and Stephen's virility.
(Or perhaps it's just the sun glinting off the polished brass of his balls.)
-
Jane's lap dance...
...just seemed to go on, and on, and on.
The first minute was funny. The second, mildly amusing. Thereafter - well, "creepy" pretty much covers it for me. Sweet Jesus, it turned into a bad SNL skit!
-
Maybe 15 years ago...
...she could have pulled it off. It was like watching the old lady from the Titanic french kiss Leonardo DiCaprio.
-
Saw Jane on Larry King...
...and had the same feeling even though she didn't sit on his lap and plant a big one on his - YIKES!,lips - ai yai yai. Can't think about it. Jane seemed ill at ease displaying a shaky lack of confidence as if, as you suggest, she was trying to prove herself or implicitly apologize for some past behavior. It wasn't pretty.
Pity.
-
Colbert
can dish it out, and he can take it. Unlike most people in public life (and in the blogosphere) he relishes both opportunities...
-
Absolutely agree
I thought Stephen's reaction was adorable, but i'm disappointed in Fonda. I was disgusted and disturbed by her behavior. She reeked of desperation and what she did was so unclassy I don't know where to begin. Plus, she's 70; 27 years his senior. Just, ick.
A lot of people on other boards seem to think it was all an act on her part, or maybe that the scene was scripted, but to me it felt very real. Stephen's real character who's supposed to be an arrogant ass, would have been more enthusiastic and then stop and go "omg, my wife!! NOBODY TELL!!!" to the audience. To the others who think he asked for it with the apron, etc, there's no guarantee that was his idea. The other writers may have come up with all the flirtations and Stephen just went along with them for the sake of the show.
The bottom line is, nobody knows what was going on in Stephen's head, but I personally give his obvious reaction the benefit of the doubt and trust my gut sense that say he would have preferred not having to go through that.
-
Hilarious!
The segment with Stephen Colbert and Jane Fonda was brillant. Turn about is fair play and Fonda made Colbert squirm like the way he often makes his guests squirm. I only wish I could have been the one on Colbert's lap :)
-
"Would you cringe...?"
Would you cringe if Fonda kissed a younger man in a movie??
If it had been part of a movie, we'd know that the younger man was in on the scene; there'd be nothing cringeworthy about it.
It's the not knowing that made this creepy; if Colbert wasn't in on the joke and didn't know it was coming, then yes, it most certainly was sexual harassment.
-
Geresque
I've seen that smile before ... it reminds me of Richard Gere's recent debacle, and Shilpa Shetty's awkward but polite reaction. That was pretty uncomfortable too.
-
Are you making to much of it?
Maybe. Or maybe you're just comfortable in the fact that this entertainer generally stays far from another neighborhood of entertainment--the sex/love/nude scene.
Hence when a bit like this is played for shock value it's upsetting. Maybe it bothers his wife and kids a little, too. I wonder about actor's families.
I dated a girl for a few years who started doing runway modeling. Some of the especially revealing outfits really drove me nuts. She said it was just part of the job, which obviously it was. But I think it's universally unsettling when someone suddenly suspends their private self and becomes an object purely for the entertainment of a crowd of strangers--even if it's just part of the job.
The Colbert bit is unsettling probably because it's so unexpected and so unneccessary.
-
It was hilarious and
right up there with Bette Midler laying on Johnny Carson's desk and singing "You Are The Wind Beneath My Wings". A rare and classic moment on TV.
-
Oh no
Get a life Joan, please.
-
This guy makes his living making other people uncomfortable
Fonda was giving him a good natured dose of his own medicine, and it was funny.
It seems you are cringing because you can't stand to think a 60+ woman still see herself as sexual as in her 'Barbarella' days, regardless of what *you* think.
I am sick to death of all the winking and nodding going along when a gross old goat like Tony Randall marries and knocks up a woman less than half his age (and add Trump, McCartney, Steward and Jagger to the gross old goat raiding the cradle line up)...but when an older woman dares to show she still thinks of herself as sexual, it's all ewwww, act your age!
It's time people admit that as people age they don't necessarily lose their view of themselves as sexual creatures...and they should celebrate this, not apologize for it because you can't face the ugly fact that you too, will age, become less universally sexually appealing, and then die.