Using Hep C for a joke!

[gene53]

I was watching Saturday Night Live last night and there was a skit where they had one of the actress's  dressed up like a drug addict and say I have Hep C like that was supposed to be funny.
I realize this is a comedy show but that just kind of freaked me out a bit using Hep C as a joke. I know I have other things to be more concerned with like my upcoming treatment for Hep C but that just kind of blew me away to use this horrible HCV in a comedy skit.
It's no joke to me and I don't think it's to funny to anyone doing the treatments and so on.

What do you think about that????????????

Gene

[RainLover71]

Yeah, welldone keith,you're the man.It's a sad world we live in when TV programs make fun and jokes when people with HCV are suffering and trying to cope as best they can with it.Very sad and just not right.

[suezeeque]

From some of the comments above, it looks like many of us 'joke' about HCV.  Laughter is the best medicine, isn't that what "they" say?  ;)

Laugh or cry.  I choose to laugh.  :D

[Dee1956]

Thank you for posting, I have been thinking that we need someone famous and well respected to come out and bring attention to the real facts of Hep C
I was on tx in 2008 when Natalie Cole was on tx and there was an article in People.  I guess it will take more.  
Also, on tx now and I completely understand, I will say something and be so shocked by peoples response, not here, in my every day life
Here I feel safe and "allowed" to share this Incivek experience

[gene53]

You know,    I should apologize!!!

When I started this thread I pretty much stated my opinion right or wrong and then I ended it with a question.....What do you think?

So obviously everyone has the right to there own opinion & I was wrong to  expect everyone's opinion to match mine and I should of just let it go.

So for that I apologize.....OK.....Me Sorry!!!!

Colonel Angus still Rocks!!!!!

Mean Gene

[kenseth70]

LOL!!!

[gene53]

Thanks for that clarification. I guess I stayed up late for the SNL news for nothing.
I'm just a big dummy but i thought I mentioned something about awareness in here somewhere.
Ya I know the take it or leave it bit too... turn the channel if you don't like it, whatever!!!!
It's just comedy and nothing should be off limits..... OK, then how bout some aids jokes,or breast cancer? I don't remember those skits.
I still like the show for the most part and I can ignore the Hep C stuff too
It just kind of rubbed me wrong but to each his or her own....
this was my dime and my opinion and I'm sticking to it,,,at least for now..
maybe by the time this thread reach's 100 comments I'll start saying how great it is to crack jokes about people with Hep C and if they got Hep C from drug use then they deserved it and how funny they are when there puking there guts out on the tx as well, or how funny it is to see some hepper die from ESLD or HCC, but I seriously doubt it.
I guess I shouldn't have said anything here and just drafted a letter to Dr. Phil or Dr. Oz or Ozzy Ossborn or Judge Judy

OK- Sorry- I'm dun

Colonel Angus Rocks!!!!!

NEXT?????????????

[madad00]

SNL is a comedy show not a news / education program.  you can't tune into it expecting politically and medically correct jokes. if they apologize  to everybody they offend on a weekly basis they would need to air another 1hr program to do so. its just comedy - in that forum nothing should be off limits. whats funny to one might be offensive to another.  doesn't mean you have to like it or agree with it and  they shouldn't need to apologize for it.

i think the bigger point raised here is the lack of awareness and understanding  for this dreaded disease.   starting to see some awareness with  the new treatments coming to market - TV commercials  and doctors doing the news circut.
but maybe a more effective campaign would be to write Dr. OZ  or The Doctors to shed some light on this in an informative educational setting  instead of trying to get a fake apology from an SNL skit writer.  

[orphanedhawk]

Yes, of course.
I guess we could all just  watch South Park and see everyone else get ridiculed.

[Willy50]

I wrote Steven Tyler's publicist after Russell Brands dumb azz SNL monologue and asked for a public statement, support etc.  Never heard back.

Wrote a long one in a petition about the Hep C reference in Bewitched.  There were some wonderful but heart wrenching replies in that petition, but when you consider the context it was used in the movie, it was really offensive.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-american-liver-foundation-condemns-motion-picture-bewitched-for-tasteless-hepatitis-c-joke-54467032.html

Nora Ephron; I have not forgotten.  : (

[orphanedhawk]

I'm not sure if I was clear. What I mean is, for instance, you say, " did you see that horrible reference to hep C on SNL the other night?"
Then you get to inform someone about what was wrong with it.

But maybe, we should organize a campaign to write in to SNL informing them, why it is offensive.

[gene53]

Hi OH

If want to see this clip, go to   Flcyclist  third response, he gave the link then go down to the ' Buble Duet ' skit

Kind of funny skit until the Hep C comment which I just thought was lame, as mentioned in most everyone's response's

Just kind of the wrong kind of ' awareness ' to me anyway, not that my personal opinion matters...

[orphanedhawk]

I didn't see it.
One positive thing I can think of, is if it brings up the subject of Hep C, it gives us the opportunity to educate others.

Its been mentioned on the forum before how it'd be great to have a public service message showing people from all walks of life,
saying, " I have hep C."

As far as 'House' goes, anyone who's been sick and/or in the hospital knows it is pure fiction.

[Bill200]

I think just ignore it.  Personally I think the jokes were caused by Pamela Anderson.  She was the first one I started hearing jokes about it with.

[jules2551]

I just noticed someone changed the public email address that i posted earlier.  I guess that is not allowed?  I mean its public...that is how I found it.

Jules

[gene53]

Thank you all for your responses,

Karen, I know you didn't intend to offend, especially since you are going through this too.

I agree there is a stigma assigned to HCV and I don't expect that to change anytime soon.

I also wish someone like Steve Tyler or some other celebrity would use there celebrity status to bring more attention to this HCV.
It doesn't matter to me how one contracts this virus or disease weather it was through drug use, tattoo, piercings, blood transfusion, or any other means.
Having treated twice before myself and relapsing and preparing for round 3 now with Incivek. I am now reading all my brother and sister warriors experiences here like a friend who had to quit tx after 12 weeks because of possible irreversible sx. Another friend with end stage liver disease and cancer, waiting for a transplant. Another only in his second week of tx and contemplating quitting tx because of the sx. The list goes on and on.
Maybe if someone could bring attention to what each of us has to go through in these treatments to the naive public,  then possibly these television shows might have a different take and show a smidgen of compassion.
I know until I was diagnosed in 2003 I had no clue what Hep C was.

I guess the bottom line is this can be summed up in one word ' Awareness '

Thanks again to everyone for your responses!

Gene

[jules2551]

You can send an email to ***@**** you won't get a response but a generated letter like Keith mentioned earlier.  I shot off one yesterday so if you are interested go for it

[printze]

I hope Steve Tyler was watching  the show , I bet he didn't find ot funny just like the rest of us .I f I was on the show I would have refused to do that skit . Very cruel and insensitive, put the writers and producers in our situations and see how much they laugh about it . Disgusting.

[crossroadsec]

Just talked w my daughter who saw the skit. She said it was pretty tasteless and made drug references. I think SNL is tasteless at times and pick when to watch according to guests n hosts. I probably have an odd sense of humor.
That said, I live a quiet lifestyle and thankfully have not had to address any negativity re my diagnosis last year. BUT, I avoid discussions n refer to it as a blood disorder. Would I love to see some credible media? You bet. I'll never watch House again.
Bottom line is that people are ignorant.  I have an open heart n mind and I'm always surprised by cruelty. I made a careless summary about something that many of you have had tough experience with. I sincerely assure you no harm was intended.
Peace on Earth...
Karen :)

[Dee1956]

After trying to get my own family the seriousness of this virus and my need to treat; getting no where with them or friends, I  come here for support, compassion, caring and support
People do not understand.  We need a Rock Hudson or a Liz Taylor

So sorry
Happy Holidays
Dee

[ceecee444]

Hummm just watched can't say that I am please with the show or NBC for making a joke of Hep c as we all know IT'S NOT A JOKE ...shame on them all

[shelby02]

Gene..you read my mind...I was just about to post on the SNL skit from last night.. I love comedies, but as I have been sick on the couch watching TV while going thru 3x tx, I have seen no less than 4 prime time shows make a joke out of HepC. They always portray an 'unclean' person who is someone to avoid. It hurt every time -  I have had this disease for 12yrs and have had to hide my diagnosis from all but my closest family- the media has created such a stigma, that it makes it hard for people w/HCV to reach out for support. I have such compassion for all of us.

[candyce1953]

That is terrible we should draft a group letter to the station and the show
It is the stigma that stops treatment and education about the disease

[Willy50]

In general the skit was funny.  The Hep C thing fell flat for me.

I found in great that they mocked Russell Brand and rather odd that given he used Hep C as a punchline in his monologue/monotonolouge.

I found Brand's reference both factually and politically incorrect and injurious.  This one much less so.  Lame or flat ; oh yeah.

willy

[gene53]

Ya, I agree better awareness for HCV would be Great. It just seemed to me like as jules mentioned if it were a parody making light of Breast Cancer or Aids, or something similar would that have been funny too?

I know, I know, I need to lighten up!!!  Agreed!!!

Gene

P.S. I think I heard something about one of the Alman Brothers doing a Hep C awareness concert or something this year.