Reception
In response to criticisms that the song had racist overtones Limbaugh noted that he was not the first person to apply the magic Negro moniker to Obama, David Ehrenstein was. Limbaugh also argued that Ehrenstein had not been criticized for his op ed because he was a black man and a member of the liberal media establishment, therefore, double standards were being applied to conservative commentary.
Political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson called the song "crass, tasteless, and race tinged, but ... accurate." Camille Paglia of Salon.com called the song "very daring and funny", although she claimed that Limbaugh had overplayed it.
Al Sharpton discussed the song with a New York Times reporter and stated: "Limbaugh puts things in a way that he can’t be blamed for easy bigotry. Some of the songs he does about me just make me laugh. But he’s the most dangerous guy we have to deal with on the right".
Peter Yarrow, who co-wrote the original song "Puff the Magic Dragon" condemned the parody as "shocking and saddening in the extreme," stating that "taking a children's song and twisting it in such vulgar, mean-spirited way, is a slur to our entire country and our common agreement to move beyond racism… Puff, himself, if asked, would certainly agree."
Read more about this topic: Barack The Magic Negro
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion.... Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art.”
—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)