On Sunday night, comedian and actress Tina Fey won the Mark Twain Prize for Humor on PBS’ annual broadcast of the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. As a popular Sarah Palin impersonator on Saturday Night Live, Fey did not miss the opportunity to make a few jokes about Palin during her acceptance speech. However, some of Fey’s more controversial jokes were conveniently removed by Public Broadcasting System (PBS) in the final cut of the awards show, though PBS claimed the editing was not politically motivated.
PBS’ Sunday night airing of Fey’s speech was seemingly innocuous:
I would be a liar and an idiot if I didn’t thank Sarah Palin for helping get me here tonight. My partial resemblance and her crazy voice are the two luckiest things that ever happened to me. All kidding aside, I’m so proud to represent American humor, I am proud to be an American, and I am proud to make my home in the ‘not real’ America. And I am most proud that during trying times, like an orange [terror] alert, a bad economy or a contentious election, that we as a nation retain our sense of humor.
Newsbusters reports, however, that the full version of Fey’s acceptance speech featured a large chunk of Palin jokes that were entirely edited out of the aired version:
And, you know, politics aside, the success of Sarah Palin and women like her is good for all women [applause before the joke kicks in] — except, of course, those who will end up, you know, like, paying for their own rape kit and stuff, But for everybody else, it’s a win-win — unless you’re a gay woman who wants to marry your partner of 20 years — whatever. But for most women, the success of conservative women is good for all of us — unless you believe in evolution. You know — actually, I take it back. The whole thing’s a disaster.
Conservative pundit Michelle Malkin reacted to Fey’s jokes, asserting that Fey is “still repeating thoroughly debunked campaign lies spread by the Soros-supported Internet smear machine.”
Of particular interest to Malkin was the reference to the “rape kit,” a smear that was “dismantled two years ago.”
Two years ago, Newsbusters reported on the smear campaign:
The latest myth touted on liberal blogs that’s bubbled its way into mainstream news headlines is the one where Sarah Palin ordered rape victims to pay for their own rape kits.
"Palin’s Town Used to Bill Victims for Rape Kit" was headline on Thursday USA Today news story. Reporters Ken Dilanian and Matt Kelley used a 2000 quote from former Wasilla Police Chief to blame Palin for an outdated, now illegal policy she never supported.
"In the past, we’ve charged the cost of exams to victim’s insurance companies when possible," former chief Charlie Fannon told the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman in 2000 as then-Democratic Governor Tony Knowles was signing legislation to make local police branches cover the costs of the kits.
"I just don’t want to see any more burden on the taxpayer," Fannon said at the time, which was reprinted in the USA Today.
Fannon went on to say that he believed the criminal should be held responsible for the costs, which run from $5,000-$14,000 per year for an assault case. USA Today did not reprint those quotes from the interview, though.
Regardless of what the interview revealed, however, liberal blogs like the Huffington Post and Daily Kos used the interview with Fannon to accuse Palin of supporting making rape victims pay for their own kits.
The Daily Kos wrote, “It would appear that Sarah Palin has a problem with rape. In addition to not supporting the availability of abortion for victims of rape, Mayor Sarah Palin, Maverick, Fiscal Conservative, also had citizens of Wasilla pick up the bill for their own forensic tests.”
Referring to Fey’s obscure, and inaccurate, reference to the “rape kit” during her acceptance speech, Malkin wrote, “Shame on Tina Fey for scraping the bottom of the liberal blog barrel for a cheap laugh.”
Nevertheless, PBS asserts that the edits made to Fey’s speech had no connection to her political jokes. The Blaze reports, “The Washington Post, which first broke the story, talked with one of the event’s executive producers about the editing. According to him, PBS was not trying to shelter the comedian from criticism, nor was it trying to censor the jokes.”
PBS producer, Peter Kaminsky, remarked, “It was not a political decision. We had zero problems with anything she said.” Instead, the editing was in an effort to cut 19 minutes out of the award show. “We snipped from everyone.”
Fox News contributor Monica Crowley contends that there is another reason for the cuts: “The real reason they did it was because the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB) — the parent company of both PBS and NPR — is under the gun after NPR’s absurd firing of Juan Williams. Newly empowered Republicans are gunning for the CPB, threatening to eliminate all of its public funding. (This, of course, should have been done long ago.) PBS didn’t want to give them any more ammunition, so they sliced and diced Tina Fey’s remarks to keep them as bland as possible.
"Nothing to see here, Republicans! Move along.”
The Post reports that PBS has acquired a bit of a reputation for encroaching upon the jokes of its guests. “This isn’t the first time editors have stepped on a Twain recipient’s bit. When George Carlin was posthumously awarded the prize in 2008, the show’s producers spared the ears of the Kennedy Center audience by bleeping out the naughty parts from a video of George Carlin doing his famous ‘Seven Dirty Words’ routine.”
“Thus, a monologue about words you wouldn’t say on television became one you couldn’t say in the Kennedy Center, either,” the Washington Post joked.
A representative for Tina Fey indicates the actress has no comment at this time, except that she hopes a similar storyline makes its way onto an episode of 30 Rock.
Photo of Tina Fey: AP Images
