The keffufle over one of TED Talks’ presenters last week is quite curious. I haven’t seen the sketch featuring Sarah Silverman (in which she uses the word “retarded” over an over) however it doesn’t take much to imagine what transpired. The TECHCrunch view of events is fairly spot on.
I only started following Sarah Silverman since her pro-Obama campaign, the Big Schelp, hit You Tube. Her approach to comedy is fairly consistent: offend everyone, for a good cause.
TED’s ‘curator’, Chris Anderson [TEDChris], is now trying to distance himself from Silverman in his latest post - justifying an earlier Tweet saying “Sarah Silverman was god-awful.”
Silverman’s reply is equally hostile (see her Twitter profile) with some admittedly funny things said about TED and AOL.
Yet is it cool to attack one your guest presenters? Especially when Silverman dished her standard variety of uncomfortable humour? It’s like a “curator” of gallery criticising an artist for work she/he chose include in an exhibit.
The TED Conference, held annually in Long Beach, is now one of THE most exclusive events in the world. A high price and limited seats results in a hand-picked elite group of guests. I doubt the sense of uber-exclusivity is lost on its presenters.
That Silverman chose to jiggle around the stage singing about ‘penises’ might suggest that she knew exactly who she was trying to offend. Not everyone was miffed – some audience members tweeted at the end of the performance that Silverman ‘had nailed it’.
TED Talks should upload the presentation in full - true to their mission – and let their followers decide whether these ‘ideas are worth spreading’.
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