I watched tonight's interview with Rob Ford on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Well, I only watched part of it. Eventually I grew sick of watching that amoral clown who'll do anything for attention. And Rob Ford was annoying too.
This incident really crossed a few lines: First, from Rob Ford's perspective. It's one thing to be the butt of jokes. That's part of being a politician (not usually this big a part, but always a part.) But actually going out of your way to go on a show to be the butt of jokes is something else. He seems to have transitioned from mayor to full-time publicity-seeker.
And for Jimmy Kimmel. Sure, comedians often joke about liking politicians who provide them with material. But they don't actually help those politicians out. They may say they're going to vote for Anthony Weiner, but they don't actually do it. Yes, I know Kimmel didn't volunteer to work on his re-election or anything, but a softball interview in which Ford is allowed to repeat his usual lies without challenge certainly helps him out more than a campaign contribution. Even Ford's former allies in the Sun wouldn't do that much for him.
When a comedian makes fun of a person, it should be because that person has done something to genuinely deserve it. And if that person genuinely deserves to be targeted, we want to see them actually get ridiculed. Suddenly giving them a free pass makes it seem like you're not a comedian so much as a jerk who'll strike out at anyone when it's convenient, and it's not satisfying to watch that.
The irony is that Kimmel famously disliked Jay Leno, and yet this sort of ideologically empty comedy was something Leno was often accused of: He'd make any joke about any public figure, no matter whether it was fair or accurate or contradicting the joke he made the night before. But now Kimmel seems to have taken up the anything-for-a-laugh (and ratings) mantel.
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