Jerry Lewis ousted as MDA telethon host

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Los Angeles Times:

For the first time in 45 years, Jerry Lewis will not be pleading for donations in front of a camera Labor Day weekend after he was abruptly dismissed as the host of the Muscular Dystrophy Assn.'s telethon, an event that drew attention to the childhood disease and in its heyday was an annual television highlight.

The group said the 85-year-old legendary comedian would not appear on this year's telethon, and would no longer serve as its national chairman, a position he held for nearly 60 years. The telethons have raised nearly $2.5 billion, the MDA said.

The announcement and the mysterious circumstances surrounding Lewis' departure provoked an outcry from comedians and other performers, who still widely revere him for his groundbreaking routines and public service.

"As a fellow comedian, it's really crappy the way they treated him," Paul Rodriguez said. "The man is an institution. They should have found a better way to let him go."
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Wow. I remember seeing these when I was younger.

[SrWoodchuck]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8PxYqMwVGg&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpaL3oCdnjU&feature=player_embedded

[pollyannaish]

I have to say that our culture these days is getting incredibly disrespectful and derisive of people over 50. There are a few hipsters that have made it...Betty White comes to mind...but so many people, even in every day life...are treated very badly by younger people who consider themselves so much smarter than their elders.

 

It's kind of scary.

 

I was never a fan of Jerry. But I sure do respect him. He was incredibly talented, not only as a performer and philanthropist, but as a creative genius when it came to new technical ways of doing things in the movies.

[Casino67]

It may just be a coincidence, but Jerry did an interview just prior to his dismissal, where he ripped the current tv industry and movies. Considered almost all entertainment as trash compared to what it used to be. He had a point but I think he pissed a lot of people off and maybe the industry was threatening to ignore his show this year.

 

Just speculation on my part. He sounds like a typical cranky senior citizen. He looks like death warmed over too.

[pollyannaish]

It may just be a coincidence, but Jerry did an interview just prior to his dismissal, where he ripped the current tv industry and movies. Considered almost all entertainment as trash compared to what it used to be. He had a point but I think he pissed a lot of people off and maybe the industry was threatening to ignore his show this year.

 

Just speculation on my part. He sounds like a typical cranky senior citizen. He looks like death warmed over too.

 

Sometimes it sucks to be right. I'd take a million MDA telethons over Jersey Shore, which is the highest rated show in the country this week.

 

What a shame.