5007: American Apparel on Immigration.

From the New York Times…

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Politics Wrapped in a Clothing Ad

By LOUISE STORY

IT is not often that a clothing advertisement includes the words “apartheid” and “purgatory” along with a quote from President Bush, but American Apparel has always been different from other consumer brand companies.

The clothing company, known for its tight-fitting jersey T-shirts and brazen attitude, regularly runs advertisements showing scantily clad young people, photographed by the company’s founder and chief executive, Dov Charney, that some critics say border on the pornographic.

In a new series of ads, American Apparel is moving in a political direction. The cause is immigration reform, and the ads say in part that the status quo “amounts to an apartheid system” and should be overhauled to create a legal path for undocumented workers to gain citizenship in the United States.

The black-and-white quarter-page advertisements show American Apparel employees of Guatemalan origin — fully clothed. The ads have run in newspapers like The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times over the last month. Like the company’s usual sexually charged ads for T-shirts and leggings, the political ad bears the imprint of Mr. Charney, himself an immigrant from Canada.

“These people don’t have freedom of mobility, they’re living in the shadows,” he said in an interview. “This is at the core of my company, at the core of my soul.”

[Read the full story here.]

5006: Historic Calls and Hang-Ups.

Making the calls with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The Super Bowl will mark another milestone as Mike Carey becomes the first Black head official in history. Carey has worked as an official for 18 years and has been a Super Bowl alternate, but was never named the referee. Refs are often accused of being blind. Looks like NFL officials are moving toward being colorblind too.

• Sprint officially announced plans to cut 4,000 workers and shut down 125 retail stores in response to customer defections. The cell phone company lost 683,000 customers in 4Q 2007. Wow, people were dropping Sprint at the speed of light.

5005: Hip Hop High.

From The Los Angeles Times…

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Students get a last chance – rap
Hip Hop High counters a neighborhood culture of extreme violence and poverty with respect, attention and the chance to make music.

By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Jennifer Murphy knows tough schools. She has been cursed at and threatened, has broken up fights and confiscated weapons. Still, she looks slightly queasy as she sits in her glass-walled principal’s office, staring at a huge flat-screen monitor.

A videotape is playing. It shows a teenage girl standing outside the main office of Murphy’s school. The girl glances around furtively, then hoists herself onto a counter and slides through a pass-through window, into the office.

Murphy freezes the image, then rewinds it. The girl goes through the motions in reverse, hopping down, backing away. Murphy does this repeatedly, forwarding, reversing, forwarding again, as if willing the sequence to change. It doesn’t. The girl makes the same bad decision each time.

It is not yet 10 a.m., the beginning of the school day at Media Arts Academy, a charter school in Hawthorne that calls itself Hip Hop High and exemplifies, in some ways, the promise and the challenges of the charter school movement.

It is a place where failing students get a second chance. Media Arts showers them with attention, treats them with respect, offers plenty of independence and, along the way, gives them the opportunity to lay down their own hip-hop beats and raps.

Some days, it all works beautifully. Today is not going to be one of those days.

Murphy minimizes the video image, which was recorded earlier that morning. She stands, a tall, striking woman whose long red hair glides down the back of a black leather jacket. An ankle tattoo is visible.

Behind her is a cabinet, which has been rifled. Cash has been taken. The girl on the surveillance tape is the sole suspect.

“I’m going to have to talk to her,” Murphy says.

I am really friendly

I wonder if I’ll make it to my 40s.

I hear gunshots

I see myself lying on the floor

I want world peace

-- Maria Olmedo

12th grade

Media Arts was founded in 2004 and endured a couple of years of dreadful academic performance before turning a corner last year under Murphy’s leadership. Its Academic Performance Index score shot in one year from 386 -- about as low as a school can go -- to 537.

That is still extremely low, more than 150 points below the state average and 15 points below nearby Leuzinger High School, a regular public school in Lawndale. Not a single student at Media Arts scored at the advanced level in any subject included in state standardized tests. In math, not one was even judged proficient.

On the plus side, few schools have achieved such strong growth in a single year.

This year, Media Arts formed an alliance with a Minnesota school, the High School for Recording Arts, founded in 1996 by rapper David “TC” Ellis, whose career was nurtured by the rock star Prince. The idea, he said, was to provide “experiential education” built around something that urban kids loved, hip-hop music. Now Media Arts is using some of Ellis’ ideas to motivate students through music.

“A lot of these kids wouldn’t even be in school if it wasn’t for a place like this,” Ellis said on a visit for the opening day of the school year. “Traditional schools are losing, like, half their kids. It works for some, but not for a lot of them.”

[Read the full story here.]

5004: Steve Biegel the Slave?

Advertising Age reported on the latest drama involving Steve Biegel versus Dentsu. Biegel had been ordered to present more support for his sexual harassment and discrimination charges (see Essay 4961). In the newest filing, Biegel blasted the Dentsu culture as “slavishly deferential” to agency leaders.

Ah yes, Evil Japanese Overlord Toyo Shigeta ruled with an iron fist, subjecting minions to excruciating cruelty.

Um, not buying it.

Sorry, Steve, but slaves don’t make six-figure salaries.

When two Indonesian housekeepers recently testified against their Long Island bosses—successfully arguing they were modern-day slaves—the women were not seeking million-dollar payments.

It’s possible the prostitutes working at the infamous Prague whorehouse were slaves.

New Jersey legislators are considering officially apologizing for slavery, but it’s unlikely Biegel will be included in the gesture.

No, lifetime Madison Avenue executives are not slaves. And they shouldn’t toss around the term to sensationalize court documents.

Then again, watching this case unfold is starting to feel like torture.

5003

There’s nothing original in this ad.

5002: Golfweek Magazine Is Sorry.

Golfweek magazine apologized for its cover featuring a noose (see Essay 4998). Plus, the publication replaced the editor responsible for running the image.

“We apologize for creating this graphic cover that received extreme negative reaction from consumers, subscribers and advertisers across the country,” said the Turnstile Publishing Company president. “We were trying to convey the controversial issues with a strong and provocative graphic image. It is now obvious that the overall reaction to our cover deeply offended many people. For that, we are deeply apologetic.”

It is now obvious? Wow, talk about reinforcing all the stereotypes regarding the exclusivity of golf.

The article posted at Essay 4998 certainly hinted at Golfweek’s cultural cluelessness. The dumped editor claimed “he checked with Black staff members before making the decision.” Now that was undoubtedly a pleasant exchange. It would be interesting to learn if the Black staffers were on the editorial board or mailroom personnel.

The magazine also originally wrote, “…the Golf Channel, Comcast and the PGA Tour expect a highly paid and high-profile personality such as [Kelly] Tilghman to have the presence of mind, experience and intellect to know the difference between clever and offensive. Tilghman didn’t.”

Apparently, neither did Golfweek.

Finally, if the publication decided it was appropriate to oust its editor, should anyone consider Rev. Al Sharpton’s contention that Tilghman should be terminated too?

5001: Mickey D’s Report Cards and Failing Ad Shops.

Flunking out with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Mickey D’s decided to drop its sponsorship of school report cards in Seminole County, Florida, following criticism from the public and advocacy groups. The fast feeder was part of a program that rewarded good grades with free Happy Meals. But protestors argued it was a really bad idea given the rise in child obesity. McDonald’s officials announced the company withdrew from the program “because we believe the focus should be on the importance of a good education. …McDonald’s, not the school district, will cover the cost to reprint the report-card jackets …[and] remove our trademarks.” The director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood expressed her happiness by saying, “In the absence of needed government regulation to protect schoolchildren from predatory companies like McDonald’s, the burden is on parents to be vigilant about exploitative marketing aimed at children.” Hey, most of the parents are probably too busy filling their faces with Big Macs and Fries.

• One of Mickey D’s advertising agencies, Leo Burnett, dumped 30 workers—approximately 2 percent of its staff—in a corporate restructuring. Restructuring seems to be the new code word for downsizing.

• Chicago Sun-Times advertising columnist Lewis Lazare speculated about the happenings at DDB, McDonald’s other ad agency. Lazare reported that the new CEO might be maneuvering to replace the current creative leader at the agency. DDB also let staffers go recently. Wonder if they’ll rename severance as “restructuring payment.”

Essay 5000

Essay 4999

Dupri, Diddy. Diddy, Dupri.

Essay 4998

From Newsday.com…

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Golfweek’s noose cover re-sparks controversy

BY NEIL BEST

Just when it seemed as if the controversy over host Kelly Tilghman’s recent comments on the Golf Channel was fading, Golfweek magazine this week revived it with a cover that shocked the golf community and appalled much of it.

Beside the headline, “Caught in a Noose,” the magazine pictured a swinging noose, a reference to Tilghman’s joking suggestion that young golfers faced with the specter of Tiger Woods “lynch him in a back alley.”

Tilghman made that remark Jan. 4. Newsday reported it four days later, and one day after that, she was suspended for two weeks. She is due back next week for the Buick Invitational.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem harshly criticized the magazine Thursday in USA Today. He deemed “imagery of a swinging noose on its cover to be outrageous and irresponsible. It smacks of tabloid journalism. It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion.”

Bob Combs, the Tour’s senior VP of communications, and other staff members met with editors from Golfweek Thursday at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.

Combs said the meeting had been scheduled for weeks and was not arranged because of the cover. He said the subject did come up but would not characterize the discussion. He said Finchem’s comments in USA Today are “reflective of the PGA Tour view.”

Golfweek editor Dave Seanor did not return calls seeking comment. He told USA Today, “Was it an arresting image? Yes, it was. We chose it because it was an image we thought would draw attention to an issue we thought deserved some intelligent dialogue.”

Seanor told the Orlando Sentinel he checked with black staff members before making the decision. “For this story, that’s the image that comes to everybody’s mind is a noose,” he said.

The magazine devoted three articles to the topic, including an editorial asserting the newsworthiness of the story, writing that “the Golf Channel, Comcast and the PGA Tour expect a highly paid and high-profile personality such as Tilghman to have the presence of mind, experience and intellect to know the difference between clever and offensive. Tilghman didn’t.”

There were two articles on Tilghman in Golf World, Golfweek’s main competitor.

Golf World’s cover story this week? “The Tragedy of Bill Spiller: The story of one man’s battle to break the color line.”

NBCSports.com removed its link to Golfweek because of the controversial cover.

Dan Higgins, a spokesman for the Golf Channel, declined to comment on the cover but said e-mails from viewers generally have been more supportive for Tilghman since the suspension was announced.

Woods is a friend of Tilghman’s, and his agent last week declared the matter a “non-issue.”

Combs said of Tilghman, “A lot of the players and staff of the PGA Tour have gotten to know Kelly, and it was clear to us that although her comments were very unfortunate, they were in no way intentional or malicious.”

Essay 4997

A light MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The new CEO at Sprint announced his intention to fire thousands of employees for cost-cutting efficiencies. Talk about moving at the speed of light. Sprint ahead—to the unemployment office.

• Foxy Brown filed a request to be released from prison early “due to her emergency medical condition relating to her progressively deteriorating hearing loss.” Plus, the rapper insists she’s a reformed woman. Wonder if the judge will buy these declarations. Sounds like in addition to growing deaf, Foxy’s getting dumb too.

Essay 4996

From The New York Times…

-----------------------

Revising a Name, but Not a Familiar Slogan

By DOUGLAS QUENQUA

MORE than 35 years after its debut, the slogan for the United Negro College Fund, “A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste,” remains one of the most recognized in American advertising history.

The years, however, have not been as kind to the organization’s name, which has gradually become a source of alienation to the very people the group aims to serve. And while the fund is not prepared to drop the word “Negro” from its name, it plans to try to shift attention away from it.

A branding effort being introduced Thursday will seek to play down the full name and instead highlight the nonprofit’s initials, U.N.C.F. An updated logo will seek to communicate the changing direction of the group while putting renewed emphasis on the well-known slogan.

“Forty-plus years ago, when I started at Morehouse, I thought of myself as a Negro,” said Michael L. Lomax, U.N.C.F.’s president and chief executive, referring to the historically black college. “By the time I graduated in 1968, I was black. And then in the last 15 to 20 years I’ve become an African-American.”

The nomenclature issue is a decades-old predicament for U.N.C.F., which has long struggled to keep up with younger generations of African-Americans without abandoning nearly 70 years of hard-won brand equity.

“We want to hold on to our heritage, but we also want to find a way to say who we are that speaks directly and positively to a younger generation,” Mr. Lomax said. “I think we’ve found a happy medium.”

[Read the full story here.]

Essay 4995

On the cover of the February 2008 issue of VIBE magazine, Mary J. Blige asks, “What you know ‘bout me?”

Um, is that question directed at folks conducting the latest steroids investigation?

Essay 4994

Essay 4993

Yo hey, I’m a shitty ad.

Essay 4992

(Cartoon from The Chicago Sun-Times.)

Nutcase closed in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Senator Larry Craig received help from the ACLU, as the organization filed a brief citing a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that states folks having sex in closed public toilet stalls “have a reasonable expectation of privacy.” The 38-year-old ruling means prosecutors can’t prove the senator was inviting the cop to engage in public sex. The ACLU contends that even if Craig was initiating naughty behavior, his actions were not criminal. Look for Craig to celebrate with a private party at the nearest airport men’s room.

• O.J. Simpson watched his bail amount double as a judge reprimanded him for violating the terms of his original bail. “I don’t know, Mr. Simpson, what the heck you were thinking—or maybe that’s the problem—you weren’t,” declared the judge. “I don’t know if it’s just arrogance. I don’t know if it’s ignorance. But you’ve been locked up at the Clark County Detention Center since Friday because of arrogance or ignorance—or both.” It could have been worse for Simpson—he could have been locked up at the airport toilet stall with Senator Larry Craig.

Essay 4991

The good folks at Adrants reveal that at least one blog visitor believes the model in the Lenscrafters ad on the left bears a resemblance to Barack Obama. MultiCultClassics presents a crude Photoshop® rendering to clearly illustrate:

1. Our industry is far from being colorblind—but may be totally blind.

2. There are many people out there in dire need of the services of Lenscrafters.

To quote the advertiser’s tagline, open your eyes.

Essay 4990

Bill Green alerted MultiCultClassics that General Motors invested in Coskata, an Illinois company developing ethanol from “crop wastes, wood chips, scrap plastic, rubber and even municipal garbage.” The big news inspired another parody ad…

Essay 4989

Essay 4988

This ad is pretty whitebread.

Essay 4987

If Gerry Graf leaves TBWA\Chiat\Day and brings along his Grady Wilson banner, will Saatchi & Saatchi count it toward the agency’s minority hiring goals?

Essay 4986

Insanity pleas in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The latest celebrities being investigated for steroid use include Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent and Wyclef Jean. The probe is taking place in upstate New York, and authorities have no evidence the celebrities violated any drug laws. Hey, it’s pretty rare when hip-hop stars haven’t violated any drug laws.

• Wesley Snipes presented the names of over 70 potential character witnesses during the first day of his tax fraud and conspiracy trial on Monday. He’s probably prepared to pay each of them for their support with all the loot he collected via tax evasion over the years.

• R. Kelly made a brief court appearance, listening to a judge deny the prosecution’s attempt to admit the testimony of a forensic and developmental pediatrician. The witness would have provided an opinion regarding the alleged victim’s denial of being a victim. The judge had previously nixed the witness’ testimony, but the prosecutors tried again. Not sure there will anything left to discuss when the trial actually takes place in May.

• O.J. Simpson is bragging he’ll be out of jail by midweek. Plus, when heading to prison last week, Simpson allegedly told pals, “It’s OK. I’ll spend five days in the slammer. Who cares?” Good question.

Essay 4985

Essay 4984

The creatives responsible for this ad aren’t even qualified to be clowns.

Essay 4983

Designing With Diapers, Part 2. (See Part 1 here.)

Essay 4982

Essay 4981

YARIS | bangin’ clubbin’ borin’

Essay 4980

From the January 14, 2008 issue of Newsweek.

Essay 4979

At Advertising Age’s The Big Tent, Alberto J. Ferrer commented on the recent Advertising Age story presented in Essay 4929. Check out Ferrer’s perspective here.

Essay 4978

Slow news day in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Can’t help but wonder what’s really going through President Bush’s head while dealing with foreign cultures. Then again, he often appears equally uncomfortable when coping with American culture.

• O.J. Simpson left a nasty voicemail message with a bail bondsman, which led to the man’s latest trip to jail. And the bail bondsman believes someone working for Ron Goldman learned about the message and ultimately prompted him to forward it to the Clark County D.A.’s Office. The bail bondsman said, “I believe [the person who called and threatened to tell authorities about the voicemail message is] working for the Goldman family. He was asking a lot of specific questions.” But Goldman insisted he knew nothing about it. “I’d like to tell you that is accurate but I don't think it’s true,” said Goldman. “I wish, but unfortunately, no.” Simpson probably wants to leave a nasty voicemail for Goldman. And vice versa.

Essay 4977

Great. Even cartoon animals diss the advertising business.

Essay 4976

Ciroc awarded Diddy the title of Brand Manager, with control over marketing, advertising, promotions and more. Based on this ad, the vodka maker should revoke Diddy’s creative director responsibilities.

Essay 4975

Taking out the trash in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The Minutemen anti-illegal immigration group joined California’s Adopt-A-Road program, taking responsibility for cleaning a 2-mile stretch of highway. The deal comes with the right to post signs identifying themselves at two points on the road. “We’ll be out there in dorky-looking vests, hard hats and goggles, picking up trash,” said a group official. Don’t they realize it’ll be much easier to hire some undocumented workers to do the job for them?

• DMX has an IOU for $1.5 million. The rapper lost a defamation suit brought by the mother of his love child. The mess started when DMX told Sister 2 Sister magazine that he was sexually assaulted during a one-night stand in 2003 that led to the pregnancy. Looks like the woman wound up financially assaulting him.

• Toyota may beat General Motors as Earth’s biggest automaker, a title GM has owned for 76 years. GM has not yet released its international sales figures. The automaker has, however, released lots of employees in recent years.

Essay 4974

From The Politico via CBS News…

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Racial Tensions Roil Democratic Race
Comments From Clintons On Obama, MLK Jr., Have Infuriated Some African Americans

By Ben Smith

A series of comments from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, her husband, and her supporters are spurring a racial backlash and adding a divisive edge to the presidential primary as the candidates head south to heavily African-American South Carolina.

The comments, which ranged from the New York senator appearing to diminish the role of Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights movement - an aide later said she misspoke - to Bill Clinton dismissing Sen. Barack Obama’s image in the media as a “fairy tale” - generated outrage on black radio, black blogs and cable television. And now they've drawn the attention of prominent African-American politicians.

“A cross-section of voters are alarmed at the tenor of some of these statements,” said Obama spokeswoman Candice Tolliver, who said that Clinton would have to decide whether she owed anyone an apology.

“There’s a groundswell of reaction to these comments - and not just these latest comments but really a pattern, or a series of comments that we’ve heard for several months,” she said. “Folks are beginning to wonder: Is this really an isolated situation or is there something bigger behind all of this?”

Clinton supporters responded to that suggestion with their own outrage.

“To say that there is a pattern of racist comments coming out of the Hillary campaign is ridiculous,” said Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones. “All of the world knows the commitment of President Clinton and Sen. Clinton to civil rights issues - and not only the commitment in terms of words but in terms of deeds.”

Referring to the King quote, Sheila Jackson Lee, another Clinton supporter, said Clinton was trying to contrast King and Obama, not to diminish King: “It really is a question of focusing on the suggestion that you can inspire without deeds - what is well known to the child who studies Dr. King in school is that yes, he spoke, but he also moved people to action.”

But other black Clinton supporters found themselves wincing at the Clintons’ words, if not questioning their intent.

[Read the full story here.]

Essay 4973

The talent in this ad probably want to talk with their agents.

Essay 4972

If you’re in downtown Indianapolis, check out the Eiteljorg Museum.

Essay 4971

Overreaction of the Week: Officials at the Tiergarten Nuernberg Zoo in Germany separated the baby polar bear pictured above from its mother because they feared she might harm the cub. Would the concern have been different if it was a Black bear?

Essay 4970

There’s a blog worth checking out: CultureLab.

The blog is the work of a research and ad agency based in Texas that specializes in youth and young adult audiences.

Essay 4969

Liars, liars in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The New York Knicks are taking heat for a commercial campaign depicting fans gushing over the team. Seems the “fans” are fake—they’re just actors. Not sure what the problem is. It’s not like the Knicks are real NBA players.

• Marion Jones was sentenced to six months in prison plus 800 hours of community service for lying about her steroid use. The Knicks will probably ask her to appear in their commercial campaign.

• The IRS claims Wesley Snipes owes taxes on $38 million. Additionally, the actor allegedly tried to get fraudulent refunds totaling $11.3 million. Have any of the newspaper reports run with the headline H&R Black? Just wondering.

• O.J. Simpson is back in jail for bail violation. Note to O.J.: Don’t ask Wesley Snipes to bail you out.

• A mid-level employee for Ace Hardware apparently made innocent-yet-incorrect ledger book entries leading to a $152 million accounting error. The employee is no longer with the company. He’s probably working as Wesley Snipes’ accountant.

Essay 4968

Hadji Williams putts a perspective on the Kellynch Tilghman fiasco. Check it out here.

Essay 4967

From The Associated Press…

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Anchorwoman Suspended For Lynching Comment
Al Sharpton Has Called On Golf Channel To Fire Tilghman

HONOLULU — Golf Channel suspended anchor Kelly Tilghman for two weeks on Wednesday for saying last week that young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should “lynch him in a back alley.”

Tilghman was laughing during the exchange Friday with analyst Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and Woods’ agent at IMG said he didn’t think there was any ill intent.

But the comments became prevalent on news shows Wednesday, and the Rev. Al Sharpton joined the fray by demanding she be fired immediately. Golf Channel didn’t know who would replace Tilghman in the booth this week at the Sony Open or next week at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

“There is simply no place on our network for offensive language like this,” Golf Channel said in a statement.

Tilghman became golf’s first female anchor last year when the PGA Tour signed a 15-year deal in which Golf Channel broadcasts the first three events of the year, weekday coverage of all tour events, and full coverage of the Fall Series and opposite-field events.

The suspension ends in time for the Buick Invitational on Jan. 24, when Woods will make his 2008 debut.

Faldo and Tilghman were discussing young players who could challenge the world's No. 1 player toward the end of Friday’s broadcast at Kapalua when Faldo suggested that “to take Tiger on, maybe they should just gang up for a while.”

“Lynch him in a back alley,” Tilghman replied.

“While we believe that Kelly’s choice of words was inadvertent and that she did not intend them in an offensive manner, the words were hurtful and grossly inappropriate,” Golf Channel said in its statement. “Consequently, we have decided to suspend Kelly for two weeks, effective immediately.”

Woods and Tilghman have known each other 12 years. She was picked to host a club demonstration with Woods in south Florida when he talked about new products from Nike Golf.

Tilghman was helped when Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent at IMG, said it was a non-issue and considered the matter “case closed.”

“Tiger and Kelly are friends, and Tiger has a great deal of respect for Kelly,” Steinberg said Tuesday night in a statement released by Golf Channel. “Regardless of the choice of words used, we know unequivocally that there was no ill-intent in her comments.”

Tilghman had said in a previous statement she apologized directly to Woods, and the immediate support from Woods’ camp was critical.

After Woods won the 1997 Masters at age 21 to become its youngest champion, Fuzzy Zoeller referred to him as “that little boy,” and suggested that Woods not serve fried chicken or collard greens, “or whatever the hell they serve,” at the Champions Dinner.

Woods, who had a different management team in his first full season, did not respond for three days to Zoeller’s apology, and it took Zoeller years to recover from the fallout.

Tilghman’s comment made the rounds Wednesday on TV shows such as CNN’s Headline News, and it was prominently discussed on blogs and message boards on the Internet. It also was a topic on the practice range at the Sony Open.

“I’m sure Kelly wishes she never said that,” Jim Furyk said. “I haven’t spoken with Tiger, but I’ve been told that they’ve had their talk and they’ve discussed it. Anything I say is kind of just like pouring salt in the wound at this point. Obviously, she would love to not have said that and for it not to be news. I’m glad that her and Tiger spoke.”

Fred Funk only heard about the comment Wednesday morning.

“There was no ill intent at all,” he said. “I think it was just a slip, and they said that Tiger has already forgiven her. I think when you’re in the TV tower for that many hours, you’re going to wish you didn’t say some things probably, and that was one thing that slipped out. I think you’ve got to give them a little grace.

“Her integrity, how Kelly is respected out here, is pretty good. I think Tiger really likes Kelly, so that helped squash it. Because Tiger could have run off with that if he took it the wrong way. But he didn’t, so that was good.”

Before her suspension was announced, Sharpton spoke earlier on CNN’s “Prime News” and continued to push for her firing, saying he wanted to meet with Golf Channel because the comments were “an insult to all blacks.”

“Lynching is not murder in general, it’s not assault in general,” Sharpton said. “It’s a specific racial term that this women should be held accountable for. What she said is racist. Whether she’s a racist … is immaterial. She’s a broadcaster. The channel has to be accountable to the public.”

Essay 4966

Essay 4965

How to stay in the black. Belt.

Essay 4964

Creativity revealed the crazy kids at TBWA\Chiat\Day have a banner in the agency depicting Grady Wilson of Sanford and Son fame. It makes sense. After all, this is the shop that revamped Uncle Ben as a corporate chairman. Maybe they’ll integrate CEO Grady as the honcho of a waste management empire that he took over when his partner Fred joined Elizabeth following The Big One. Or perhaps they’ll position the image as a peace offering to the New York City Commission on Human Rights. Good goobly goop.

Essay 4963

Essay 4962

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Essay 4961

Dirty business in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Adweek reported the latest happenings regarding Steven Biegel and Dentsu. While the judge denied Dentsu’s motion to dismiss, Biegel was given until January 17 to offer greater details to support his charges. This could be categorized as calling his buff.

• Senator Larry Craig continues to fight his guilty conviction stemming from the infamous toilet stall incident. Craig’s lawyer’s argued in a brief that the act wasn’t illegal because it did not involve multiple victims, and the law “requires that the conduct at issue have a tendency to alarm or anger ‘others.’ … Appellant’s alleged conduct in this case affected only a single individual—[the arresting officer] Sergeant Karsnia. It did not—and could not affect ‘others’ as the disorderly conduct statute requires, and therefore, does not satisfy that element of the statute.” Um, what about alarming, angering and affecting Craig’s wife and about 99 percent of the American public?