Al Sharpton: The Early, Homophobic Years

In case you think that Olbermann and Beck are something unique in American television history, Mediaite posts the trailer of a forthcoming documentary on the ne plus ultra of shouting lunatic talk show hosts, Morton Downey Jr. (and never forget Rebecca De Mornay's father, the late Wally George). Mediaite's Mark Joyella notes that 1:40 into the video, viewers are reminded that Al Sharpton, before he would offer deeply serious opinions on Charlie Rose, used to fight people on talk shows and call them "punk faggots." Behold the awesomeness of 80s trash television:

Bonus video: Why did G.G. Allin never make it to his Morton Downey taping? Ask the staff at the Red Roof Inn.

Comments

[Hugh Akston]

If somebody linked to this video and talked about something Al Sharpton said 25 years ago, we would rightly denounce him as a lefty-baiting, Kulture Warring, troll.

I suggest we treat this post accordingly.

[dbcooper]

The GG Allin non-appearance clip is pretty sweet though.

[Hugh Akston]

Was that the guy with the knockers around its knees?

[John C. Randolph]

There's plenty to knock Sharpton for that happens all the time.

-jcr

[Yup]

You can find Ron Paul on Morton Downey Jr talking about legalizing all drugs.

[Bingo]

Best Paul clip

[dbcooper]

Gold my friend, gold.

[Bingo]

The funniest thing is that Paul's argumentum ad absurdum of government trying to control people's weight is now reality.

[dbcooper]

Comedy/tragedy/thin-line etc.

[Rock Action]

Shook my head at that myself. Wow. Great clip, though.

[Colin]

There's another funny clip somewhere when Downey threatens to put out his cigarette in Paul's eye.

Downey's show was great for about week, as there was nothing like it on TV before that. But it got old fast.

Interesting side note: Downey left a radio show in Sacramento to do the show. He was replaced by Rush Limbaugh.

[Old Man with Candy]

Downey's show was great for about week, as there was nothing like it on TV before that.

Joe Pyne, 20 years earlier. Morton Downey Jr with 40 more IQ points and a wooden leg.

[Cytotoxic]

Chubby asshole get Ronpwned.

[Jerry]

Ron Paul: The Early, Already Consistent Years

[Bingo]

Beat you to it!

[Fluffy]

Morton Downey Jr's best work was in the vastly underrated Predator 2.

[Fatty Bolger]

Blech. Hated that movie.

[Episiarch]

One forgets how casually people used homophobic insults back then. "Faggot" and "queer" were super common, especially amongst boys (I'm sure that's still somewhat true today). You can also see it if you watch 80's movies.

[Jerry]

Or when people call you a crypto-Nazi.

[Jeff Spicoli]

You can also see it if you watch 80's movies.

It's because those guys are fags!

[Hugo Chavez]

You tell 'em, amigo!

[Iranian Leader]

None here.

[BenDU99]

I think fag is still used pretty commonly just not in an anti-gay sort of way. Like the South Park episode that dealt with it from a season or two ago.

[jasno]

Love the pic towards the end of Morton with a swastika on his face. I'm pretty sure the last time I saw him on TV was around the time that they found out he did it to himself for publicity.

[Edwin]

I guess I don't dislike Al Sharpton that much then

[Milton Quaffalot]

Somebody notify the FCC.

[Morton Downey Jr.]

Fucking mirrors, how do they work?

[Douglas Fletcher]

I seem to remember Downey died of some lung ailment. Doesn't seem possible.

[Mike M.]

Damn, I had almost forgotten that when I was a little kid you could smoke on airplanes, TV shows, almost anywhere.

Things have changed in America, that's for sure.

[JD]

That was before we knew a single whiff of cigarette smoke could cause you to drop dead on the spot.

[Juice]

I used the watch the hell out of that show when I was a kid. That was the best show on television, period.