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Old 04-21-2004, 05:48 AM   #1 (permalink)
Tophat665
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The Onion mocks Weird Al over his parent's death

Good morning.

I am not easily offended, and I understand (unlike Shin Wa news) that the Onion is a humor site. Today (4/21/2004) the Onion ran the following as their final News in Brief segment:

Quote:
<b>Weird Al Honors Parents' Memory With 'Tears In Heaven' Parody</b>
FALLBROOK, CA—Zany, mourning entertainer "Weird Al" Yankovic has parodied Eric Clapton's eulogy song "Tears In Heaven" in loving tribute to his parents, who recently died of carbon-monoxide poisoning in their San Diego home, a spokesman for Yankovic said Monday. "Al's hurting deeply right now, and this is his way of honoring Nick and Mary," Karl Tuft said of the song in which a subdued Yankovic sings, "First you lit some flames / Then the smoke stopped your breathin' / Carbon mono's th'way you went... / Up to heaven" over a somber, minor-key accordion melody. Tuft added that the best way for Yankovic to give voice to his pain and loss was by altering the voice of Clapton's pain and loss.
I expect occasional bad taste from the Onion, or any humor outlet, but this is just unnecessarily hurtful. Al's (so far as I can tell) one of the good guys, and there is no rhyme or reason in salting his recent wound like this.

urge each of you to contact theOnion at infomat@theonion.com and let them know that this was despicable and
unnecessary.

Here's the text of the letter I sent them:

Quote:
Folks,

I appreciate that in pursuit of humor, you are going to push the bounds of propriety and good taste. I expect that and I can live with it. I understand that you are going to pillory public figures for their least little slip (often to good effect), and that your stock in trade spans any irony your writers can wrap their minds around.

That said, the News in Brief item in your 4/21/2004 edition, "Weird Al Honors Parents' Memory With 'Tears In Heaven' Parody", is grotesquely inappropriate. While I recognize that your writer has attempted to combine Weird Al's talent for parody with the penchant of certain popular artists to make a buck off a tragedy - yes there is irony there, the payoff is tiny and the offense great. Your job is to be funny, and so is his. You both take it (here's some irony for you) seriously, and, therefore, as much as you or your writers would listen to Weird Al's songs to spot useful ideas, he will likely read this. It's disgusting. We're not talking about "Area Man's Mother and Father" here, these are real people with real feelings, and they're really dead and Al is, understandably, really sad about it. It's impolite, tasteless, mean-spirited, and well beneath the quality I would expect from your publication.

You owe Al an apology big-time.

Sincerely,
JT Thomas
If you agree with me on this, I really wish you'd let the Onion know about it, and let your friends know about it too.

Mods: If this qualifys as spam, my apologies and feel free to delete. This has me angry enough that I had to do something about it, though.
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