Controversy
Clay is known for a style of comedy that has sparked controversy and much media coverage. He is loved by some and reviled by others, who feel that his act is crude, misogynistic, racist, homophobic and degrading. Clay has been widely opposed by women's rights groups and he has been banned from many radio and television shows for his explicit language and socially and politically charged humor. MTV banned him for life in 1989 for reciting what he called "adult nursery rhymes" during the annual Video Music Awards ceremony (September 6, 1989). In 2011 the ban was lifted by MTV.
In 1990, Clay was invited to guest host the weekly comedy TV show Saturday Night Live. Cast member Nora Dunn declared her refusal to ever appear on the same broadcast as Clay and did not participate in the episode of his guest appearance (May 12). SNL alumnus Jon Lovitz discussed Dunn's boycott of the show in detail during an episode of “The ABC’s of SNL” with director Kevin Smith. "It's the last show of the season. Nora...she caused a lot of trouble. was very hard to get along with, and they weren't going to ask her back, anyway...And this is how the press works. And I'm telling you I'm on the inside of this. They don't know the story. It's like she's just doing it to get press. It's her last hurrah. They're not asking her back onto the show."
Invited musical guest Sinéad O'Connor also boycotted Clay's appearance.
In a 2006 interview with CNN, Clay was asked by the interviewer if he had been running a gym since his comedy career diminished. He then proceeded, before walking out of the interview, to go on a profanity laced tirade that the news anchors never know what they are talking about.
Read more about this topic: Andrew Dice Clay
Famous quotes containing the word controversy:
“Ours was a highly activist administration, with a lot of controversy involved ... but I’m not sure that it would be inconsistent with my own political nature to do it differently if I had it to do all over again.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)