"Uninvited" Celebrity

From NOLA dot com
Less than 24 hours after announcing that comedian Carlos Mencia would be one of three celebrity guests in this year's parade, the Krewe of Orpheus uninvited the Comedy Central star.

Doesn't NOLA dot com own a thesaurus?


The reason: a tape of a December 2005 broadcast that shows Mencia making a series of controversial Hurricane Katrina-related jokes at the expense of African-Americans and Hispanics.

My take on it — black people, you’re f**kin’ funny, you’re hilarious. You will get on a bus to go to Million Man March, but you won’t get on a bus to get away from Katrina. It’s funny to me. That is hilarious.”

According to Wikipedia, Mencia’s also the comedy giant behind these steamers:

• “Why are we rebuilding New Orleans? Whose idea was this, Aquaman?”
• “Hurricane Katrina was caused by political correctness. I said it!”
• “I’m glad Hurricane Katrina happened. It taught us an important lesson: black people can’t swim.”


Based on those remarks, "we thought it was best for all concerned -- best for him, best for the club, best for all the citizens -- for him not to ride this year, " Orpheus Captain Sonny Borey said Thursday. "We want to put the best positive light on the city."

Borey said Thursday that he and other Orpheus officials had no idea the explosive tape existed when they announced that Mencia would ride in the parade.


Maybe Orpheus should use Wikipedia to research their picks for celebrity riders in the future.