10. Sandra Bernhard
In September of 2008, one week before Sarah Palin was scheduled for a campaign stop in New York, Sandra Bernhard was performing at Washington, D.C.’s Theater J. During her stand up routine entitled “Without You I’m Nothing”, she made the following controversial remark:
…If Palin ever visited New York, she would be “gang-raped by my big black brothers.
Bernhard was scheduled to perform at an annual fundraiser for a women’s shelter named Rosie’s Place, which was promptly cancelled after her controversial remarks about Palin. The spokesperson for Rosie explained that “we don’t think violence against women is a laughing matter. That means not including Sandra Bernhard at this time.”
The comedian tried to defend her comments in an interview with NY Daily News. It was, she said, “nuanced” and only a part of her show about “women, racism, freedom and the extreme views of Gov. Sarah Palin.” Besides, it wasn’t meant literally!
Subsequently, Bernhard attempted to deny she used the term ‘gang” or “raped” at all, claiming she could not remember her exact terminology because the show was an “an improvisational act”. Too little, too late, for you, Bernhard, were videotaped.
