July 27th, 2012 | 6:27 pm by Halle Kiefer (@hallekiefer)

Dane Cook Apologized For Dark Knight Shooting Joke, Should Have Learned From His Fellow Comics

Dane Cook Jokes About Dark Knight Rises Shooting

Read the room, dude! One week after the Dark Knight Rises shooting killed 12 movie goers in Aurora, Colorado, Dane Cook took the stage at L.A.’s Laugh Factory and joked, “I know that if none of that would have happened, pretty sure that somebody in that theater, about 25 minutes in, realizing it was a piece of crap, was probably like ‘ugh f—ing shoot me.’” Regardless of whether his bit even made sense (everyone liked The Dark Knight Rises, didn’t they?), Cook eventually realized his mistake, tweeting today: “I made a bad judgment call with my material last night & regret making a joke at such a sensitive time. My heart goes out to all of the families & friends of the victims.” We can’t say we’re surprised, either that Dane Cook would make a shooting joke or that he apologized for it. You think he would have learned from his fellow comedians who had to deal with a “too much/too soon” backlash to their material:

Read more…

May 22nd, 2012 | 2:41 pm by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

Selena Gomez’s “Fifty Shades Of Blue” And 5 Other Parodies That Make The Movie No Longer Necessary

A more cynical writer (or less indulgent reader) might say this marks the moment that 50 Shades of Grey — or, more accurately, making fun of Fifty Shades of Grey — jumped the shark. Selena Gomez and Nick Kroll have made a Funny or Die video in which the teen queen fantasizes about her gross house painter as a result of reading a little too much E.L. James. But I’m not going to say that, because I have laughed at EVERY SINGLE ONE of these, and I’m showing no signs of tiring of the topic. Comedians of the world, you may still keep these parodies coming, for our appetite is as insatiable as Anastasia Steele’s. What I do fear is that by the time they get around to actually making the real movie, we won’t be able to take it seriously in the least. If we ever would have, that is. (OK, if Ian Somerhalder plays Christian, I promise to take it seriously.) Here five other readings/parodies to enjoy … until the next one comes along. None of these are SFW, btw.

1. Fifty Shades of Grey, the animated trailer. If you’ve read the book, I have two words of warning for you: blue string. If you haven’t, just prepare for some CGI gross. Read more…

December 21st, 2011 | 1:00 pm by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

25 Apologies We’ll Fondly Remember From 2011

In the age of Twitter, it’s pretty amazing that more celebrities aren’t putting their foot in it these days. But enough of our favorite (or least favorite) actors, musicians and other public figures managed to say and do the kind of awful things that simultaneously give publicists strokes and keep them in business. After those awful things come the kind of public apologies that make us cringe, squirm and thank god we’re not in their shoes. From Chris Brown to Gilbert Gottfried, Arnold Schwarzenegger to Lea Michele, Hilary Swank to Mythbusters, we had a lot of Schadenfreude to enjoy in 2011. We’re pretty sure the culprits would like us to forget these moments, but here’s a little gallery to remind you:

Did we leave out one of your faves? Share it in the comments!

[Photos: NBC, Getty Images]

March 15th, 2011 | 5:15 pm by Liz Black

Gilbert Gottfried Apologizes For Insensitive Tweets About Japan

Comedian Gilbert Gottfried, who was fired yesterday from his job as the Aflac duck after writing a series of tacky, insensitive Tweets about the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, has apologized for his behavior. The comedian, who is known for his raunchy humor, deleted all his offending posts and wrote today “I meant no disrespect, and my thoughts are with the victims and their families.”

Some people, like Howard Stern and Joan Rivers, think Gottfried shouldn’t have been fired or even apologized, however. Rivers Tweeted after Gottfried’s firing “That’s what comedians do!!! We react to tragedy by making jokes to help people in tough times feel better through laughter,” and Stern defended Gottfried on his show this morning, saying “[Aflac] hired him in the first place knowing… this guy is offensive… everyone knows what Gilbert’s act is. This was no different.” Personally, we think the Tweets were both offensive and unfunny, making it a double whammy of bad taste, what do you guys think?

March 15th, 2011 | 4:18 am by Ambika Muttoo (@missmuttoo)

Gilbert Gottfried Gets Axed From His Aflac Gig For Japan Tweets

Did Gilbert Gottfried think he could get away with those incredibly tasteless tweets about Japan? He thought it would be particularly funny to write messages like, “I was talking to my Japanese real estate agent. I said ‘is there a school in this area.’ She said ‘not now, but just wait’,” but they’ve since been deleted. No one’s laughing, and everyone read them, and that makes him one ignorant, idiotic troglodyte. And you know who agrees with us? Aflac, who have fired Gottfried from his job as the voice of their duck mascot. Hah. We normally don’t revel in someone losing their job, but anyone who thought that the disaster — that’s still unraveling (also because of their damaged nuclear plants) — was even remotely funny, doesn’t deserve sympathy.

A statement from Aflac has been released, explaining their stance with, “Gilbert’s recent comments about the crisis in Japan were lacking in humor and certainly do not represent the thoughts and feelings of anyone at Aflac … Aflac will immediately set plans in motion to conduct a nationwide casting call to find a new voice of the iconic Aflac Duck.” We trust that they don’t represent “the thoughts and feelings” of anyone, hopefully. And Gottfried, karma’s a b—h.