Bill Maher goes as Steve Irwin

[boolean]

LOL!


On Edit: Don't lie. You laughed.

[Taverner]

1. Very Funny

Someone did this at a recent halloween party I went to.

And before you call "bad taste" or "too soon" keep in mind Steve Irwin himself would have found this funny.

[RobertSeattle]

11. Maybe Steve would, but not his family

[WI_DEM]

32. How do you know Steve would have found it funny?

[Taverner]

36. I've seen him in interviews - he is his own first target of jokes

The man had an amazingly funny sense of self-deprication.

[Marnieworld]

2. oooh Bill looks pretty toasted

That must have been some party. Where did you get that?

[WI_DEM]

9. I agree he looks loaded

[Marnieworld]

37. he stole this from South PArk anyway

And they made fun of the "dude too soon." mentality except it was actually Irwin. He baited dangerous creatures for a living knowing full well that he'd probably die early because of it. I don't think Irwin is this sacred untouchable.

[kath]

46. But he was NOT, repeat NOT, baiting the stingray at the time he was attacked.

It was an accident:
"He came over the top of a stingray that was buried in the sand, and the barb came up and hit him in the chest," Stainton said.

Wildlife documentary maker Ben Cropp, citing a colleague who saw footage of the attack, told Time.com that Irwin had accidentally boxed the animal in. "It stopped and twisted and threw up its tail with the spike, and it caught him in the chest," said Cropp. "It's a defensive thing. It's like being stabbed with a dirty dagger."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/04/australia.irwin/index.html

Ray Attack Unprovoked
<snip>But police investigations have ruled out the possibility that Irwin aggravated the ray.

Superintendent Mike Keating said today police had viewed footage of Irwin's death.

"There is no evidence that Mr Irwin was intimidating or threatening the stingray," he said.

"My advice is that he was observing the stingray. There are no suspicious circumstances in relation to the death of Mr Irwin." http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20349560-661,00.html

[Karenca]

3. Not funny.

[waiting for hope]

4. I'm sorry - I really don't see the humor

in this - The man died a tragic death. Why advertise it?

[Karenca]

6. Bad taste.

An insult to Steve and his family.

[zanne]

80. Yup. I wasn't a fan, but it's incredibly bad taste. Not funny. nt

[WI_DEM]

5. Ouch! I hate to say it but that's in poor taste

maybe in a year or two but so soon after the guy died.

[rubberducky]

7. Disgustingly NOT funny.

[Karenca]

I love Bill Maher---I HATE what he has done here. n/t

[OneBlueSky]

8. proving yet again that Maher is one of the media's all-time . . .

assholes . . . what a complete jerk! . . .

[trumad]

10. Not only not funny--- but stupid.

[partylessinOhio]

12. Bill Maher is so freakin' ugly and this just made him uglier.

Tasteless.

[tabasco]

13. That's sick.

Maher could just come as himself - the amazing spineless man.

[NoodleyAppendage]

14. Get over it, people. Halloween is a celebration of life in the face of death.

Halloween is an unconscious social force used to assist in our coping with the uncertainties and horror of death. Maher's outfit is very appropriate for a holiday that mocks death and gives us the opportunity to laugh at our unpreventable demise.

J

[Karenca]

17. Too soon to mock Steve Irwin's death.

Have some respect for his family, please.

[NoodleyAppendage]

31. Oh, I see. And trotting Erwin's daughter out for a TV show...is evidence of respect?

Again, get over it.

Many cultures celebrate a person's death and mocking death itself is a psychological defense mechanism.

However, the Animal Planet channel approaching Erwin's daughter for her own "nature" show within a month of her father's death to capitalize upon his fame is the TRULY horrible event.

Maher dressing up as Erwin = minor. Corporate shills playing up the insecurity of his daughter and memory of Erwin = major.

J

[Karenca]

39. "trotting Erwin's daughter out"

We're not talking about Steve Irwin's daughter--
The thread is about this disgusting costume.
So, do not tell me to get over it.


And I DO NOT CARE that many cultures celebrate a person's death by mocking it---My culture doesn't, and neither do I.

[hiaasenrocks]

42. He's trying to draw a comparison and convince people that

one is more disgusting than the other. And, like you pointed out, there is no comparison to be drawn here.

Plus, he doesn't even have the facts right. Not much more to say about it than that.

[hiaasenrocks]

40. Perhaps some facts would help here.

Irwin's daughter does indeed have a TV show but to say she was "approached within a month of her father's death to capitalize upon his fame" is just not accurate. The show had been planned before his death and he was in fact going to be part of the show.

The show, now in the early stages of production, was originally "going to be a father-daughter thing," starring the nature-loving duo, Discovery publicist Annie Howell told the Associated Press on Monday. "Steve and Bindi were very enthusiastic about doing the show together."

Irwin will appear with Bindi in scenes filmed before his death, his manager, John Stainton, said in an interview on People magazine's Web site.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/10/17/irwin.bindi.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

[qanda]

70. I probably should have read your response before I typed my own

[qanda]

68. Actually, the daughter was working on a show before her father passed

I think she was just getting back to her routine. In fact, I believe Steve Irwin was collecting footage for his daughter's show when he was killed.

Just looked it up and found this:

Irwin was killed while shooting footage for a new show he was doing with Bindi.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20349888-2,00.html

I think it's important to have the facts when you decide to judge people.

[trumad]

21. OK---then when when your Mom dies, i'll dress up as her corpse...

No prob there right....

[Karenca]

25. Uh

:thumbsup:

[NoodleyAppendage]

35. What would be the difference between that and a female Zombie costume?

Look deeper into the meaning of things before spouting off what you think is a good (but ultimately pedantic) comeback...

J

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

69. Trumad's costume would be much sluttier

...then your traditional female zombie costume.

But the big difference would be that it'd be a personal attack. Why didn't Maher just dress up as a zombie? Because he wanted to be an asshole.

[soothsayer]

24. True! Definitely has a 'cringe factor' but that makes it successful

as a costume.

[ChickMagic]

43. This is pretty much how I see it

I went to a high-falootin' Halloween party right after the
Delta flight went down at DFW. A couple of girls dressed
as stewardesses ins dresses that were torn and burned.
They said, "We love to fly - and it shows!"

Now, mind you, where I work, I had to walk past the
refrigerated trucks outside of Forensics every single day.

The girls won the costume contest. I consider it
gallows humor.

[NoodleyAppendage]

58. Exactly. We try to find humor in death to deal with it. The PC police around here suck.

I love DU, but HATE the PC police crap.

There's a reason why people have celebrated Halloween (or some form of it) for centuries. Death SCARES the crap out of us and this holiday is an opportunity to mock our own demise.

Those on this tread that don't understand it or protest what Maher did are likely just more afraid of death than others.

J

[nini]

48. While that may be true. there is also an appropriate time frame..

and a bit of tact that should be involved in such things.


A bit too soon for this one.


How many costumes are actually specific dead people exploiting the WAY they died?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

50. I'm glad you agree.

Now I know one person won't be offended when I dress up like a holocaust victim.

:eyes:

[gulfbreeze]

15. YUCK!!!!!! Definitely NOT funny!!!

[RayOfHope]

16. Not funny. n/t

[wicket]

18. Yuck

n/t

[Coexist]

19. Sorry - I think its funny.

[jdadd]

20. Not funny....

Imo....:puke:

[StraightDope]

22. That disgusts me...

I just lost a lot of respect for Maher. I expect the idiots on South Park to lampoon a dead man, but I really would have thought that Maher was better than that.

[elehhhhna]

27. Same here. Not funny.

[Evoman]

23. I laughed

Sure, I felt guilty about laughing, but I did it nevertheless.

But man...Bill just keeps looking uglier...the guy looks like hes been hit in the face with a shovel

[shanti]

26. this is so bad, it's funny!!

i tried to post this pic saturday, but wasn't able to....thanks for doing so!

[I Have A Dream]

28. No, I didn't laugh. n/t

[mindfulNJ]

29. Nope...

I didn't laugh. Not funny at all. What an ass.

[GreenPartyVoter]

30. No, i did not laugh :^(

[hiaasenrocks]

33. No one should be surprised to see this. Everything Maher does is

designed to draw fire from people. He's an attention whore, pure and simple.

[Fierce]

34. Eh, not so funny.

And no, I didn't laugh.

[dkofos]

38. It was better on South Park

[Kerrytravelers]

41. I gasped in shock, not laughter.

I hope the family doesn't see this picture.

[Chimichurri]

44. I wonder how Steve's little girl feels about this costume.

[NYCGirl]

45. Does Steve's little girl go to Hollywood costume parties?

I'm sure I'll see LOTS of Irwins around NYC tonight.

[LordLovesAWorkingMan]

47. Guess it's not enough that he's on TV

Has to be looked at and talked about 24/7. Poor guy.

[TankLV]

49. Ha ha - loved it! VERY FUNNY!

Ha!

[BoneDaddy]

51. Love ya Bill

but that shows a lack of class.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

52. Any respect (which wasn't much to begin with) I had for Maher just went down the drain.

Totally fucking tasteless.
And no, I didn't fucking laugh.

[boolean]

53. To all those saying "too soon"

Tell me when it's OK to joke around. I'd like to hear some of your responses. Give me a time frame, because if Bill Maher did this a year from now, two years from now, I'd bet my left nut that there would still be people screaming about it.

[Buddyblazon]

54. People seem to forget....

that shortly before his death, Irwin made a commercial for (I believe) FedEx...where he played himself...on his show.

In the commercial...he gets bitten...and because they didn't use FedEx...they don't have the serum on hand.

So mid "KRIKEY!"....he locks up...and falls over dead.




If the guy had no problem making fun of his own possible death because of his line of work....I don't think he would've had a problem with this.

That doesn't mean his family would like it.


But for the most part, we tend to have a few people here at DU that are WAAAAAAYYYYYY over sensitive.

That type of behavior is one of the main digs on us from the right. The fact that we're over sensitive. Though they are just as guilty in many cases, there are times I have to agree. And that would be the absolute ONLY thing I think I've ever agreed with them on.


Lighten up.



Okay....flame away.

[boolean]

61. And they call themselves liberals

One thing I love about liberals is that we have a sense of humor. It's the pukes and the freeps that get all bent out of shape over silly things.

[Buddyblazon]

62. Maybe it's not a party thing...

maybe it's just uptight people.

People like that always ruin the party. Ya know...the "buzzkills".

[Beausoir]

64. Possibly the most moronic post I've ever read. n/t

[Buddyblazon]

67. Hey thanks!

Who loves ya! ;)

[trumad]

76. I 2nd that...

Accept it's not possibly the most moronic post I've ever read... it is.

[DaveJ]

55. The costume is okay but...

Wearing in a public venue was inappropriate.

Isn't Halloween originally supposed to be a day to invite the spirits of the dead into one's home? In that respect the costume is fine, but he is not just doing this privately in ones home but spreading it around for the world to see.

Maybe it is in the spirit of his Home Box Office heyday, but very self serving.

[NYCGirl]

60. He was at a private party. NT

[DaveJ]

66. My bad then...

Edit: In that case it's appropriate.

[Beausoir]

56. Toiler humor. This is why I detest stand-up comedians.

They will ALWAYS pander to the lowest common denominator.

Next year, still out of any funny or new material, he'll dress up as a turd...and some people will howl.

[danimich1]

57. Sick

And no, I didn't laugh

[Theres-a]

63. Me neither.

Not funny or clever.Just sick.

[verse18]

59. lol

:rofl:

Every time I look at that pic, I start laughing all over again.:evilgrin:

[donsu]

65. I didn't laugh - what a slimy thing Bill did - may he bite his own tongue

nt

[Kerrytravelers]

71. There is a difference between being an over sensitive cry baby and

having class.

This costume, in my opinion, displays a remarkable lack of class.

[boolean]

73. It's HALLOWEEN, not Yom Kippur

Sheesh. I didn't know we had to have class on Halloween.

[Kerrytravelers]

77. Class doesn't disappear simply because of Halloween.

Class isn't taking the fun out of Halloween. It isn't being tight ass. I'm all for being as gross as possible on Halloween. But an ax in the head costume is far different than this. Yes, people have died from an ax in the head, but the costume isn't depicting a particular person that everyone can immediately recognize. It's not mocking a particular person. This costume is mocking the way a particular person died. It's mean spirited and I have never, ever appreciated mean spirited.

As someone mentioned earlier, I thing dressing up as a Holocaust victim, or perhaps the assassinated kennedy would be completely tasteless. Perhaps a white person could go in blackface as the assassinated Martin Luther King. While Steve Irwin was no Holocaust victim, Kennedy or King, he was still a person- a person who is being mocked for the unusual (unusual because it is so rare) way he died.

Personally, I couldn't stand Steve Irwin. I found his show moronic and I felt the animal kingdom was terrorized every time he showed up with his camera. I could care less that his kid is getting her own show, except to think it is really a way for Steve Irwin to pick up a new show- by using his kid. But, even with such a negative opinion of the man himself, there is a huge difference in not caring for him and actually mocking his death for attention and cheap laughs.

When one has to do something so tasteless to prove how edgy and hip they are, perhaps they're trying a bit too hard.


Edited to add; I'm sure I will be called a tight ass, humorless snob. Hardly the case, but ok. I can live with the name calling knowing that I would never be as mean spirited as Bill Mahr.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

79. Just Halloween?

[Beausoir]

72. UGLY man..in every sense of the word. What a vile pig.

[King Coal]

74. Uncool. Unfunny. Uncaring. Unliberal.

[Haole Girl]

75. No...

..I am not lying when I tell you I did not laugh.

His body is barely cold in the grave and the man has small children.

Bill Maher is a jerk.

[Phillycat]

78. I'm not shocked or anything, but I did find it unfunny.

Which is par for the course re: my reaction to Bill Maher. Always, always unfunny.

[buddhamama]

81. Locking