The Scene and Herd

Perhaps you’ve heard of Lars Von Trier’s “Hitler gaffe” by now. If not, the above clip is definitely worth watching. It’s a real train wreck of a clip and Kirsten Dunst is PRICELESS.

I tend to really relate to folks who put their foot in their mouth in public, and the morning after an international incident I always feel so thankful that it wasn’t me. The interesting thing about it being caught on camera, is that you can sometimes see the moment of realization, when the offender realizes that SOMETHING HAS GONE TERRIBLY WRONG, THE JOKE DIDN’T TAKE, THE STATEMENT WAS MISUNDERSTOOD. Let me tell ya, there’s a real lesson in there: as soon as you realize you said something stupid, stop. everything.

I need to bring up Michael Richards for a second, that terrible, terrible thing that happened a few years ago. Both he and Von Trier went on their own, unique racist tirades and both outbursts may have been, to varying degrees, motivated by underlying racism. But neither Richards or Von Trier are idiots and both, definitely realized early on that it was not going well, but chose to take things up a notch in order to diffuse the situation. This never works.

Now I need to bring up Sarah Silverman, that wonderful, wonderful interview that happened about a year ago. She didn’t say anything racist (for once) but there is a familiar moment in this interview in which the viewer can see the exact moment when she realizes, “this is not working out well.” There is an incredible (and delightful!) lesson here about how to diffuse the situation (happens at about 1:15). I wonder how differently things would have gone for Richards or Von Trier if they had just done what Sarah did. Things sure couldn’t have gone any worse. Cheers!