Jay Leno’s joke about Obama and “Big Brother” has prompted some questions on the internet about its appropriateness.
Perhaps because he is in the process of being kicked to the curb by NBC, Leno is seemingly the only late-night comedian that is willing to poke fun at the Obama administration or other liberal sacred cows. In 2014, as part of the network’s musical chairs, Jimmy Fallon will replace Leno as Tonight Show host while Seth Myers will take over Fallon’s gig.
Leno recently quipped that Obama should close the IRS rather than Gitmo and that the Associated Press stylebook should refer to illegal aliens as “undocumented Democrats.”
Ironically, despite the fact that he is on the way out, Leno is killing his chief competitors David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel in the ratings and seems to be experiencing a resurgence in viewership.
Some observers have raised questions about one of his jokes from his Thursday night opening monologue in connection with a possible racial component, however. See embed below.
In that monologue, Leno made reference to the latest spying scandals engulfing the Obama administration in which it was revealed that the National Security Agency is massively snooping on phone records and email messages. Leno said, “See, when I was growing up, we were always afraid of Big Brother watching us. And now with Obama, we actually have a brother watching us. See what I’m saying. We got a brother watching us. That’s right.”
Leno also joked about his own lame duck status with NBC: “And Attorney General Eric Holder said despite all these controversies, he has no intention of stepping down. Hey Eric — I didn’t either. Sometimes it just happens. Okay? Sometimes it just happens. Welcome to show business.”
“Big Brother” of course was a character in George Orwell’s classic 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty Four about an omnipresent, surveillance-oriented government dictatorship.
Do you think there is anything inappropriate at all about Jay Leno using the term “brother” in this joke? Watch the video below and decide for yourself.
[Top image credit: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com ]