Let me note, following the gentle snark from the Divine Mrs. M.Z. the other day, that her GetReligionista comrades had, in fact, noted the pronouncement from the public intellectual Kathy Griffin. We simply were waiting for M.Z. to return with her soft, nuanced touch on the keyboard in order to address this weighty topic.
So now we can ask the next question linked to this mini-media flap.
Or, rather, we can let Lisa Miller of Newsweek ask the question for us. Or, rather, we can let her quote the always outspoken William Donohue asking the obvious question. Here is the crucial clip from the latest BeliefWatch column:
Some stories are best told straight. On Sept. 8, Kathy Griffin, a bawdy, foulmouthed comedian, accepted an Emmy Award for her reality show, "My Life on the D-List," and in her acceptance speech she explained that while other actors might thank Jesus for such an honor, she wouldn't consider it. "Suck it, Jesus," she exuberantly added, waving her statuette in the air. "This award is my God, now."
Outrage from Christian groups predictably followed, led (also predictably) by William Donohue of the Catholic League, who went on CNN to complain that "Hollywood laughs when she says 'Suck it, Jesus,' but if she'd said 'Suck it, Jews,' or 'Suck it, Muhammad' ... they wouldn't be laughing, would they?"
The question here at GetReligion, of course, is not whether Hollywood would prefer to laugh at Jesus, rather than the Prophet Muhammad. We will leave that to some other website, although I think there is pretty good evidence for how that might be handled. What would Theo van Gogh say?
Our question is whether this entire story would have been taken more seriously by the mainstream newsmedia if the actress had aimed her tongue at Muhammad or Moses or Al Gore, as opposed to the Second Person of the Holy Trinity of traditional Christianity.
So what think ye, readers? Yes or no?
Would this have been a bigger media storm -- not to mention a potential threat to Griffin's career, rather than a boon -- if she had spoken the magic words, "Suck it, Muhammad"? Use the comments pages to respond and please keep it clean.
Photo: Muhammad the lawgiver, an image in stone at the U.S. Supreme Court