TED vs. Sarah Silverman debacle turns uglier

TED Organizer Chris Anderson isn’t a man to be trifled with. If you criticize his event you don’t get invited back. “I know I shouldn’t say this about one of my own speakers,” he said on Twitter, “but I thought Sarah Silverman was god-awful…” “Silverman made people uncomfortable by saying, over and over, that she wanted to adopt a retarded child. Like other comedians lately, she was using the word to remove its power to hurt people, and as a jab at Governor Palin’s recent jihad against the word. The whole talk flew right over the TED crowd.” Anderson deleted his tweet, but Silverman hit back with her own, saying “Kudos to @TEDChris for making TED an unsafe haven for all! You’re a barnacle of mediocrity on Bill Gates’ asshole.” And then, AOL founder Steve Case waded into the fight to defend Anderson. He said “Shame on you” to Silverman, adding “The sad thing is you’re not that funny.” Silverman’s response: “@SteveCase You should be nicer to the last person on earth w an aol account.”

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