Let’s clutch our pearls over Louis C.K.

In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and Roy Moore stories the Louis C.K. scandal, which broke a couple of days ago, seems like small potatoes.  For those who haven’t heard, C.K., over a several year period, repeatedly asked woman if he could masturbate in front of them.

Truth be told I am not outraged over it.  Is it bizarre and uncalled for behavior?  Yes.  It appears, however, that in most cases he actually asked permission.  He wasn’t forcing the women to stay or threatening physical violence.

That said, I agree that it is freakishly abnormal behavior.  It’s outside the bounds of our social contract.  But what are you going to do?  Some of us are freaks, and truth be told, we all probably have something that we do that is freakish — it’s just that it may not be sexual in nature.

The through-line that I’ve noticed with all of the recent sexual scandals is how easy it is for wealthy and powerful people to get away with abuse.  The Weinstein style casting couch has been going on for decades and we’ve all been aware of it.  The same goes for politicians and athletes, who seemingly can do whatever they want and cover it up with money.

I’ve said it all along:  The real divide is not black and white, men and women, or gay and straight, it’s rich and poor.  Like Cartman in South Park, the rich do what they want.

Your Oscar recap

In this wasteland of sports between the Super Bowl and the opening day of baseball, we must thank the Academy for choosing March to air their big night. That being said what we got was a big bowl of bland.

I was happy to see the Hurt Locker win most of the big awards, and it was good to see Jeff Bridges setting the record for the most ‘mans’ uttered during an acceptance speech.

Where was the wattage? I missed Jack Nicholson leering from the front row, or drunken Dustin Hoffman drooling on a scantily clad Sharon Stone. There were no streakers, no politics, and, sadly, no wardrobe malfunctions. Hell, I would have settled for a Sally Fields weird and wacky speech. Sandra Bullock’s speech was eccentric, but in a joyless way.

Here is the unkindest cut of all. I was listening to a radio interview with the producer of the Oscars who revealed that he had wanted to book Sasha Baron Cohen as the host. The network refused thinking he would be too controversial and would have upstaged the stars. This is a sad commentary on our standards, but consistent with a country that finds Jay Leno funny.

Just get me through these next four weeks…