Why Kathy Griffin should not be edited from the Emmy's

Kathy Griffin won an Emmy for Best Reality Program for "My Life on the D-List", but people are talking about what she said when she won - and I'm going to talk about what is being done about it.

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences said they are going to cut her comments from the pre-taped telecast, which in my view just mounts to my growing concern about censorship in America. Why is the broadcast to decide what is acceptable and what is not, what is funny and what is not?

Here's what she said:

"A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Suck it, Jesus. This award is my god now."

This comment apparently drew fire from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a Roman Catholic group, which called Griffin's remarks "obscene and blasphemous." Are you kidding me? People say stuff worse than that every day, and those people aren't even comedians.

More importantly, the league's president, Bill Donohue, said, "It is a sure bet that if Griffin had said, 'Suck it, Muhammad,' there would have been a very different reaction" and went on to ask TV academy president Dick ASkin to denounce Griffin's "hate speech" and on Griffin to apologize (source: Reuters).

Yeah, there would have been a different reaction had she blasted Muhammad, because in this country, Muslims are a minority, and right now a sensitive minority at that. There is a reason why white people can't make fun of blacks - because blacks are a minority and whites are the majority. It's the same thing for Christianity - if you can't criticize the vast majority, then it sure as hell doesn't sound like what the United States is supposed to be.

I can't stand these religious people that get so offended by little comments like this. It's a comedian's job to get reactions out of people - why put fuel on the fire? If you're offended, fine, but just change the channel or get over it. It's not going to kill you.

As for the academy and its decision to air an edited version of the show, how ridiculous. The comment is hardly groundbreaking, and to bend over for a religious group that wants you to call it "hate speech", you have your priorities seriously misaligned.

Bottom line: The majority needs to be able to laugh at itself. If you're offended, move on. If you find it funny, laugh. And items like this should not be censored because a specific group demands it - what about the rest of the audience who wants to see something that hasn't gone through the Nazi filters?

Oh, and here's what Griffin had to say: "Am I the only Catholic left with a sense of humor?"