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Did Hitchens call Sykes a black dyke?

Posted at May 19, 2009

Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

No doubt you have read the words attributed to Christopher Hitchens after Wanda Sykes’ routine at the White House Correspondence Dinner.

The president should be squirming in his seat. Not smiling,” he said. “The black dyke got it wrong. No one told her the rules.”

Hitch’s lastest Slate.com article is all about the dinner. However, he does not confirm or deny these words. Media Matters sees this as ploy to deny the words were ever said or reported.

In the article, Hitchens says:

…the main point of the evening, which is that any humor must in some way be at the expense of the guest of honor…”

Also, he points out, Sykes did not do this, but made fun of the Bush adminatration and Rush Limbaugh instead.

When comedians flatter the president, they become court jesters, and the country becomes a banana republic. There are probably even people who would wish to misconstrue that last phrase of mine if they felt “sensitive” enough. In which case they can take a number, get on line, and ask to suck my thumb.

At least this covers the “no one told her the rules” part of the quote.

First, let me make clear that I absolutely love Wanda Sykes. She is one of the funniest comedians around. However, I do think she could have included some good zingers about Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers.

Brother Richard