by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
February 2, 2004
The elite left wing media, much like the left itself, have two sets of rules, one for themselves and one for everyone else. a shining example of this occurred when outtakes of a promo done by Citytv’s Gord Martineau and anne Mroczowski recently surfaced on the internet.
The outtakes that were done in 1999 show Martineau making fun of children with cancer, serious diseases and gays. The anchor of the most politically correct media outlet in Canada, if not the world, refers to Canadian singer Roch Voisine as a "homo" as he lisps and says "oooh". according to a report in the Ottawa Citizen, co-anchor anne Mroczkowski is heard saying, "he’s a Pepsi?", Pepsi being a derogatory term to describe French Canadians.
Later on when Martineau shows displeasure with an upcoming story on pancreatic cancer and Mroczkowski says that the piece is interesting, Martineau tells her that it’s not, points to his groin and says that, "This is interesting". at one point on the outtake, the juvenile Martineau rolls up a piece of paper and holds it in front of his groin area.
The incident, especially the use of the words "homo" and "Pepsi" would be bad enough if anyone had said it; but this is Citytv that prides itself as being the bastion of political correctness, tolerance and diversity. The station brags about the diversity of its staff and takes active steps to become as politically correct as possible. Prostitutes do not exist--they are "sex trade workers".
In this day and age hardly anyone other than hardcore haters uses the term "homo" to describe gays and lesbians. Citytv was at the forefront of the media in championing same sex marriage. When the Ontario Court of appeal ruled that the restriction of marriage as a union between a man and a woman was unconstitutional, City led the way in oooing and awwwing. a casual viewer of the station would be forgiven if they thought that Gay rights activist, Michael Leschner was a City employee, given his frequent exposure promoting the cause. Yet this is the station where the anchors and anchorettes refer to gays and French Canadians using crude derogatory language.
You would think that if Citytv actually believed in the leftist, politically correct ideas that they constantly spew, they would fire or at least discipline Martineau for his "homo" reference. It should come as no surprise, but they didn’t.
Both Martineau and Stephen Hulburt the Vice-President of News Programming issued self-serving and hypocritical statements. Martineau said "I’m personally mortified some tired, silly and inappropriate comments I made might damage the stellar reputation that Citytv has earned." In other words, he’s not sorry that he called Voisine a "homo"--he’s sorry that it got out and made the station look bad. Martineau also asked that he be judged "on the work I’ve been part of for the last 30 years and not on a regrettable incident."
Sorry Gord, but people should be judged on what they say and how they act when they think that no one’s looking--not on the way they read the news from a teleprompter.
Hurlburt stated that every member of his staff, including Martineau share values of respect, inclusion, fairness and social justice, yada yada yada.
Hurlburt hit the nail on the head. The liberal elites of society can do anything they want; they can be as intolerant as they want to be as long as they have the right "values". Their attitude is similar to Bill Clinton supporters who allowed the former president to get away with all the improper sexual behaviour with women that he wanted to because he championed their idea of sexual equality.
Is there any doubt that if a Tory backbencher had called someone a "homo" or a "Pepsi" the station would have been outraged. adam Vaughan, with his indignant little smirk would be interviewing members of other parties who called on that member to resign. The station would hit the streets so they could air people on the street saying how terrible this Tory MP was. But when one of their own calls a prominent Canadian a homo, it’s no big deal. Do what I preach and not what I do. Hypocrisy at its best.
If Martineau really had any principles he would quit. If the station truly believed in the principles that they dish out, they would fire him. Now that, unlike Martineau’s penis, would be interesting.