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Now maybe the Writers Guild’s definition of a “gentlemen’s club” isn’t a strip club although that’s how I and everybody else would interpret that phrase. But the WGA Foundation’s “Sale of Invaluable Experiences” which ends today at 5 PM includes this bizarre offering: comedy writer/producer Jay Kogen (The Simpsons, Everybody Loves Raymond, George Lopez, Frazier, Malcolm In The Middle) ”will take you go-karting or to a Gentlemen’s Club of your choice. Be brave, it could be the most fun you’ve ever had…well, the funniest, to be sure. Join Jay for an eventful evening.” Like Hollywood isn’t misogynist enough.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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All of a sudden the dearth of women writers on the Black List makes sense. chalk it up to Hollywood boys club, where a trip to a strip club to ogle naked females is considered an charitable endeavor.
Writers Guild Foundation: I will never support you again. Leading members on a lust-fueled trip to an institution that objectifies women is just another example of your putrid, dusgusting ways.
The WGA sponsoring a trip to a strip club. Oh, the irony. Everyone who’s followed the WGA’s would be deal-making of the past two decades knows that the guild is completely impotent.
I get those mailings, too, all about supporting kids and writing and the library, etc. This is the wrong way to get anyone, me included, to donate.
Maybe they could balance this out by having Nancy Meyers offer an evening of chit chat & pinot grigio in her $200,000 kitchen. Lighten up, bid on something else.
Sounds like a hilarious and fun time. Lighten up Nikki, life is too short to not like gentlemen clubs and go karts.
Or go-kart gentlemen clubs! Now there’s an idea!
5 dolla suckie, suckie…
10 dolla make you holla…
20 dolla love you long time…
Ummm, do you take food stamps?
Nikki, I think you’re missing the joke. It’s funny. And harmless.
The only issue I have is, why haven’t I heard of this fundraiser until now? And I’m a WGA member! Terrible publicity. Plus, the website is confusing — on one page, it says bid before Dec 17 (three days ago) when the auctions go up on eBay… but there’s nothing up on eBay that I can find. And on the front page of WGFoundation.org, it says the auction ends Dec 20 at 5. That’s today. Which is it? What’s going on??
You said it, Nikki…
Not anymore. Now it’s a poker game.
Congratulations on saving a hapless dancer from the depravity of a successful Hollywood writer …
… or a hapless writer from the depravity of a successful Hollywood stripper.
Xmas sure is a slow news week.
The Writer’s Guild Foundation actually does some good stuff — working with Veterans, high schools, underfunded libraries…
what a schmuck – now the only news about the Foundation that most people will read this year is this loser’s creepy attempt to be funny. I notice none of the items he’s put up for bid have sold, either.
nice work, jack ass!
It’s what happens when the hacks run out of fresh ideas. They drag out the easy misogyny jokes even though they know they’re lame.
As a person who respects women, this makes me sick.
Everyone on this website has to chill out
It’s just a married dad who coaches little league, writes sit coms and is trying to raise money for the guild.
There’s gotta be better people to trash.
Congratulations on having zero sense of humor. Jay Kogen is widely known as one of the most respectable comedic minds in the business. A kinder, more talented man you will not meet.
Nikki, I believe it was a joke. Actually, it’s pretty clear that it’s sarcasm. The prize is merely spending time w/ Kogen and I think the text is facetious.
You, on the other hand, misspelled “Frasier.”
I used to work with Jay and he’s a great guy. A true gentleman, and very funny. I think any criticism here is misplaced.
Nikki, im not sure what hollywood you work in but in mine any woman who can tell a decent joke can get hired. I lost a job because the network said the show had to hire a woman. Not because she was better, she wasn’t. But because she was a she. If you’re a latina, double whammy. Stop bitching about the old boys club.
as a woman who can tell a decent joke and still can’t get a job, that is a pile of crap.
then your jokes aren’t as good as you think. a female name is an in at any studio/network come staffing season. and yeah, bonus points if it’s not a european name
Nonsense, Lisa. Stop whining and get funnier.
I’m guessing you aren’t any good, Lisa. I have worked with some great women writers and some below average women writers. Maybe you are just below below average.
I know Jay Kogen, and in addition to being very funny, he has built schools in Africa and does a ton of charity work. He also hires women and in all the years I’ve known him, has never suggested we go to a strip club.
He does, however, make jokes that people who are on the lookout for things to get pissed off about get pissed off about. Bobby G, I hope you can find some sort of lifestyle that allows you to float inside a bubble of earnestness where no one risks offending you by trying to be funny.
The time to be offensive (or even risk being offensive) is when you’re raising money for charity, a week before Christmas? gimme a break. They took it down, because they knew it was in poor taste.
it was flat out poor judgment. And if it offended anyone who is now not going to give money to the Foundation (which is obviously the case)– is was flat out stupid. Don’t scream “political correctness” — it was a strip club joke, posted to men and women in the guild at christmas, for a respectable charity, and it obviously offended a lot of them.
If it was meant to solicit donations, it obviously did more damage than good (since the damn thing didn’t get bid on anyway.)
all you guys apologizing for Mr. Kogen know that it was dumb. You’re just sticking up for him anyway. GREATEST GUY IN THE WORLD or not — it was a dumb thing to do, and defending it is even dumber.
you REALLY think this is great publicity for the guild? for the Foundation? for the charity?
whether you’re offended or not — if you’re arguing that this DOESN’T represent the Foundation poorly, you’re full of it.
they took it down. good. but too late. damage done. it shouldn’t have happened, and the guys who okayed the sexist “joke” are also turkeys.
and I never said i was offended. I said he was a schmuck, for offering to take bidders to a strip club, for the Foundation’s charity.
If he likes to “make jokes that people who are on the lookout for things to get pissed off about get pissed off about,” I sure the other WGA members are glad he used the WGA’s charity drive as a forum. Mission accomplished == seems like some people are pissed off!
That means less donations! Less resources for the schools we’re trying to help, and our nation’s Vets, who came to the Foundation for help! Good job! Great bit of press for the end of the year!
Kogen’s offer has been replaced by a lunch on the page.
It was pretty clearly a joke. Maybe someone could auction off an evening of earnest talk about political correctness.
I would agree if it only said Gentlemen’s Club, but together with go-karts it’s clearly a joke. If you think it’s a lame joke, fine, but calling it misogyny is totally ridiculous. And by the way, why are you all assuming it doesn’t include male stripper or gay joints? After all, it said “of your choice”.
Be proud WGA members. Be very proud how your dues are spent.
I think we can all agree that the path to a stronger, more vibrant entertainment industry is through political correctness.
Thank you Nikki. WGA is clueless and deeply sexist to allow this supposed “joke” to slip through… and p.s. it didn’t read like a joke, don’t know why all you apologists are trying to sell that… wonder if WGA woulda thought it was funny to offer a trip to a minstrel show… ha ha ha. Not.
Who is being an apologist? When someone says go-karts and gentlemen’s club back to back like that, it’s not only clear that it’s a joke, but it’s also clear that there is no intention to go either go-karting or to a strip club. The prize is to hang with an established sitcom writer and these are simply two unexpected activities put in the description for comedic effect. Frankly, if unexpected activities were not mentioned in the description I would think less of that person as a sitcom writer.
It’s about intent, isn’t it? I don’t see anything here that is legitimizing or glorifying gentlemen’s clubs. And frankly, yes, I could see getting away with “minstrel show” if the set-up was appropriate and made it clear it was being used for comedic effect only. Perhaps setting up a political context and then saying something like “a civil rights rally followed by a minstrel show”? It’s walking a fine line to be sure, but as long as it was very clear that the writer was using it for comedic purposes only and was making fun of minstrel shows as opposed to legitimizing them, I don’t see the issue. That’s how comedy works, doesn’t it?
Have we really reached the point where the mere phrase “gentlemen’s club” — even when completely used in jest — is offensive?
Even if the joke didn’t work, there is still a big distinction between that and actual misogyny. I don’t think it’s fair to jump to misogyny when we’re talking about an established sitcom writer whose job is to be writing jokes. The much simpler and more correct explanation is an attempted joke that fell flat. So just say that instead of calling the person and the entire WGA misogynists.
To Lisa: You say you can tell a decent joke and still can’t get hired. Maybe that’s because most writing jobs require you to “create” jokes, not just repeat them.
sweetheart, that was implied. come on now, let’s rub a few brain cells together.
I’m sure Lisa can create jokes just fine. Her use of “tell” was a callback to the previous poster, which anybody who writes comedy would have recognized.
I was going to throw in a few negative things about your lack of qualifications, Flynnfan, but then I realized, we all need to to stop beating each other up on these boards. If people aren’t getting work–or as much work as they need–it’s because it’s a tough, competitive business. Sometimes talent and hard work pay off, sometimes they don’t. Like our parents said, we all should’ve gone to med school.
We should strike! Who’s with me?
Two things:
Jay Kogen is a great guy and in no way a mysoginist.
Women who are funny get hired and are highly sought after. I don’t know any women writers who are truly funny who aren’t always working.
1) Love Nikki, but this was clearly a joke and I find it rather depressing that people are jumping on him for it. Feels like I’m back in Sociology 101 in the early 90s.
2) It is an absolute lie for so people to insist that women can’t get hired on writing staffs. Every staff I’ve ever been on has gone above and beyond to find female writers to hire. If they’re not getting hired, their material isn’t good enough. That simple.