Counterbalance: F__ Jesse Jackson?!
Commentary by Darryl Wood, ^©2002 Wood Communications, LLC 

The top rated comedy movie Barbershop hit a box office homerun with viewers.

The film's jokes about civil rights heroes, however, have activist and preacher Jesse Jackson crying foul. The movie features scenes in which one barber, played by comedian Cedric the Entertainer, blurts tactless, albeit harmless quips about black civil rights pioneers and others. At one point an expletive is used to refer to Jesse Jackson. Jackson says the jokes "…turn tragedy into comedy." Furthermore, he not only demands an apology, but also wants the segments cut from future DVD, cable and video releases of this film.

Talk about extreme contradictions-especially when you stop to consider that the group he's attacking is mainly Black. Why does Mr. Jackson-self-anointed champion of social justice and civil liberties-feel it is his self-appointed duty to deny other Americans their rights to free speech and choice? The last time I checked this is still the United States of America, where the First Amendment right to free speech forbids efforts to silence language with which we disagree. I hope the producers of Barbershop remind Mr. Jackson of that.

A leader of the Rainbow Coalition, Jesse claims to represent people from all racial and religious walks of life. Yet, I don't recall him protesting on behalf of Hindus because of comedic references to Gandhi in an episode of the popular TV sitcom Seinfeld. Likewise, I don't recollect the reverend Jackson crusading against the display of artist Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ," which displays a crucifix submerged in a jar of urine; or against Nigerian artist, Chris Ofili's portrait of the "Holy Virgin Mary," which depicts a black Madonna, complete with a lump of elephant dung and cutouts of pornographic images.¹ Where was the moral outrage over such objectionable artistic expression, Mr. Jackson? I don't recall you sticking up for Hindus or Christians.

Rather than indignation, Jackson should be expressing jubilation. Doesn't the success of Barbershop demonstrate the kind of mainstream, color-blind acceptance for which Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, and many others fought? The picture's creators probably think so.

Nevertheless, the producers Bob Teitel and George Tillman have apologized to Jackson on behalf of everyone involved with the film. That's as far as they should go. To give in to such a duplicitous demand, would be, well, un-American; while at the same time convincing Jesse Jackson and those like him that they have a measure of credibility and moral authority that supersedes even our most fundamental constitutionally protected freedoms.

The jokes in Barbershop don't seem to offend the masses who are capable of deciding what is and is not palatable. As with all socially relevant comedy, I suspect what might bother Mr. Jackson most is that Barbershop communicates a level of truth with which many agree. 

1. Dr. Laura, the Virgin Mary, and Elephant Dung by James A. Cooley, The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 4, No 17, April 24, 2000