Jezebel
Are you ready for the most disgusting, insensitive, unfunny and offensive video you've ever seen? It's called "Abortion Man", and it comes to us via WayOutTV, created by comedian Damon Wayans "as an incubator to develop innovative television shows for the internet." (The video is embedded after the jump.) Salon's Catherine Price breaks it down: Basically, a young guy gets a call from his girlfriend, who reveals that she is pregnant. The guy mutters "Get rid of that shit," but then tells the young woman in question he's "enthused about the whole situation." He hangs up the phone, and, à la Superman, runs to the window and yells "Help!" Enter Abortion Man, who wears a T-shirt displaying a fetus with a line through it. Abortion Man comes to the rescue by accosting the young woman in question, saying "Ah-hah! I have you now, fiend!" and then punching her. In the belly. When she falls to the ground, he stomps on her. And a bloody fetus flies out, into the bushes.
In addition to Salon, video has also caught the attention of the blog 'What About Our Daughters'. ""Abortion Man' is a burning cross," a post on the blog reads. "Its hate imagery that would make Joseph Goebbels proud... YouTube has placed no age restriction on 'Abortion Man.' Kids apparently need to be protected from candy penises, but no such age controls are needed when you depict a violent attack on a pregnant Black girls. By the way, Toyota is running ads on the WayOutTV YouTube Page."
The video is not funny. The premise is not funny. It's seriously offensive and twisted, even as a fantasy. And it's not just some low-budget, no-name production: Michael Wayans, Damon's son, appears in the clip. What About Our Daughters adds this for perspective:
According to the CDC, black women have a maternal homicide risk about seven times that of white women. Black women ages 25-29 are about 11 times more likely as white women in that age group to be murdered while pregnant or in the year after childbirth.It's impossible to fathom that any woman — and most men — would think this video is funny or even innocuous. There may be ways to poke fun at the panic of discovering an unintended, unplanned pregnancy, but depicting a man punching a woman in the uterus is unacceptable. But what's the best way to deal with this abhorrent and abominable clip? Should it be taken down? Or be broadcast and made and example of?
It's A Bird! It's A Plane! No, It's Abortion Man! [Salon]
Daymon Wayans Thinks Violently Attacking Black Pregnant Teens is Funny: "Abortion Man" [What About Our Daughters]
Abortion Man [YouTube]
Earlier: Chris Rock Was Right: Abortion Is A Choice Between A Female And Her Friends
Comments
My God.
I can't even...
How is this REMOTELY funny? Or acceptable on ANY level?
Damn. Sometimes something is SO ignorant that I can't even muster the energy to get offended by it. Ie, this little film.
Um. I have nothing to say but to quote a fellow Jezebel.
Whiskey.
Tango.
Foxtrot.
Fuck. That is all.
Refuse to watch. That is so fucking disgusting on so many levels.
I had to stop reading at "falls to the ground" because I gagged on my lunch. I'd like to punch Abortion Man in the stomach. And by 'stomach' I mean balls.
@snarkhunting: What you said.
You know what would be funny? If I found the guys who made that and stomped on their nuts in a pair of stiletto heels. That would be fucking hilarious.
I'd put it on YouTube too.
Hey look - this video SUCKS. And Toyota should fucking know better, and I fully support letter-writing/boycotting. But here's the thing: We want protected speech, and we want protections for internet speech. It's the same old argument - if you want your own speech protected, you have to protect your enemy's speech, as well, even if it's abhorrent.
The difference is that the internet is making video available to all kinds of nuts. So we're having to adjust our free speech ideology to accomodate amateur (or semi-amateur) video. But I absolutely do not support a ban on this kind of thing, no matter how offensive I find it.
I have NEVER found any of the Wayans funny at all! This is NOT ONLY NOT FUNNY in the least, it is disgusting and disrespectful.. good job being an asshole Damon!
That is pretty fucked up.
@virtualcatlady (formerlycuteasabutton): I'm just going to ignore the video and say, "Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot." sounds like a fun evening.
@nellicat: Yes Im not even going to justify its existence by clicking on that link.
way to trivialize one of the most difficult and painful decisions a woman may ever have to make.
douche. bags.
Alright, Team Jezebitch unite.
My first thought in answering "what's the best way to deal with this?", is "be broadcast and made and example of".
There is nothing funny about that, especially considering the high rates of violence and assault pregnant women experience. This is making a joke out of something that is way too real.
Not.Funny.At.All.
I can't even bring myself to watch it because I will just get raging mad at my desk.
I'm not going to watch it. Just the description alone is enough to set my teeth on edge and make me twitchy. I can't believe Damon Wayans allowed this.
@zivah: Times like this you just have to turn to Voltaire...
"I do not agree with what you have to say but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
I expect anti-choicers to come out against this disgusting little bit of "entertainment."
*crickets*
@zivah: One more thing - lots of countries have more restrictions on hate speech than we do here. And that's fine. I happen to like the broad protections afforded by the First Amendment, and I happen to believe that you take the bad with the good. But I do understand that there's a good argument on the other side - an argument upon which many countries have premises their free speech laws.
Name it, shame it, and link in to contact details (Toyota, Wayans' company, whoever else) so readers can express outrage. But don't post the clip, just viralizes that shit.
@BlondeGrlz: And by "punch" you mean "rip them off"
@BeckySharper: I'll video tape it for you.
Oh, that is just beyond offensive.
As for the Urkel-esque Baby Daddy (as if he'd ever get a girl that cute), why not just "WRAP IT UP!"
@zivah: I believe SO strongly in the First Amendment. Not just because I should have the right to say whatever I want, but also because suppressing bad speech just encourages it. We should have this out in the open so we can see who says this and reply to it. Because the only answer to bad speech is more speech.
Marketplace of ideas, FTW!
OK, I'm going to put my little pocket Constitution and tiny American flag back in my pocket and return to being a disgruntled cubicle monkey who doesn't actually give a flying fuck about anything but her pedicure.
oh my god. i can't believe this passes for humour in anyone's mind. what a twisted piece of shit.
Damn I love the CDC. They never fail to provide statistics that prove the world is about to end.
@stacyinbean: Holla at ya Girl!
@Miss-Pringle: I think I am with you, but I wonder about not broadcasting it. The contact details are especially helpful. What is the Toyota contact?
Two minutes of my life back, pls?
I'm trying really hard to snark on this. But I cant think of something worthy of it.
the wayans brothers are not funny. no matter how hard they try. sorry guys.
@BUTTERCUPJEFFERSON: @NefariousNewt: I have to admit I was a fan of "In Living Colour", but homeboys lost me after "Little Man" Shiteous or what?
@not.a.clever.name: Question - what is "FTW"? I even went to the urban dictionary thingie and the entries there made no goddamn sense. A little help, here?
@NefariousNewt: Great. Now if I ever see Blankman again this is what I'm going to think of.
Eff Damon Wayans and everyone else involved in the video.
Just because you tagged this with "Hate Male," as if the male species is solely responsible for this video, I have to say that this video is hilarious. I wish Abortion Man existed in real life. Hate me, please.
and I thought that the leader of our team building exercise's website to support his congressional bid was the most offensive thing I'd see today. Guess I was wrong.
@SarahMC: For real. Somehow if a women talks seriously about abortion, it's like an abomination against god, but it's perfectly fine for men to joke about it. When did punching a pregnant woman in the stomach become "funny"? It seems like it's mentioned every week in Crimes and Missdemeanors. I don't get it.
Maybe the answer to this video is a "humorous" video called "Castration Chick."
@NefariousNewt: Agreed. Except for the Damon Wayans part. Judging from some of his prevous attempts at humor, I'm not all that surprised. Disgusted, but not surprised.
@not.a.clever.name: Refusing to click, i.e., giving it more attention, is not in any manner suppressing free speech. I don't think anyone is calling for government suppression of this video, here, so where does the 1st Amendment stuff fit it?
I refuse to watch, but considering the direction the Wayans' comedy as a whole has been going, this shit surprises me not. Push the envelope; don't be a douche. Do I need to bring the Kids in the Hall up in here to tell you how sketch comedy is done, fuckers? Okay, I will.
+ Watch video
I blame Sarah Silverman for this, since she apparently thinks that abortion is so fucking funny.
@Darth Funk: are you being serious, or am i missing the joke..?
@zivah: For the win...I only recently learned it, too!
@Darth Funk: Done. Asshole.
@nellicat: One of the questions in the post was whether it should be taken down. So I posted a First Amendment-related response to that. I also didn't click on it.
@zivah: Oh, I see. As you know, though, unless it is the government demanding its take-down, it's not a First Amendment issue.
@Darth Funk: no, i pity you for not ponying up for a dominatrix and keeping your little masochist kink off our comments page.