Regis Philbin smacks Nicki Minaj’s behind and tells her he ‘wishes’ he could ‘get hard’ and a majority of viewers find it ‘funny’
So I’ve never been a big “Regis and Kathy Lee” fan…which is probably obvious since I am still calling it “Regis and Kathy Lee” even though Kelly Ripa became the new co-host years ago, but this Monday, I felt really good knowing that I’ve never wasted my time watching this particular talk show when Regis Philbin grabbed Nicky Minaj’s behind after her performance on their show (see video below). This was right after he mentioned how much he loved the way she dresses while checking out her hemline and then saying, “it looks like you have a little strap around you there, you know what I mean?”
To add insult to injury, after Nicki Minaj said that she received the advice “Go hard” in the music industry, Regis responded with: “Go hard? Wish I could!” How clever.
Oh Regis, perhaps it’s time to call it quits eh? And since it seems that you’ve never left the 1950s, here is a tip: grabbing women’s bodies in front of millions of viewers and spouting out come on jokes is not only sleazy, it also won’t win you more audience among daytime TV watchers. Or will it? Apparently according to a poll on The Huffington Post, over 55% percent of those watching the show said that not only did they feel Regis was not behaving inappropriately, they also thought that “it’s no big deal, he was just being funny.”
And there we have it people. We might not be in the days of Mad Men but we still live in a world where an old nasty man smacking a young women in public is ‘funny.’ I don’t know which is worse, the action itself or the fact that people still see it as “no big deal,” although reading some of the comments which echo the old “she was asking for it” schpeel was rather hard to take. When people say that because Nicky Minaj dresses in a provocative manner or ‘acts whorish’ she therefore deserves to be groped is not only slut shaming 101, it also condones such offensive behavior on a larger scale. So ladies, next time you decide to wear that short skirt or dance in a wee too sexy way in a club, expect your ass to be up for grabs by any man young or old because hey, it’s cool on TV so why not! This type of behavior happens too often on television for example when Isaac Mizrahi grabbed Scarlett Johansson’s breast at the Golden Globes or Richard Gere grabbed and kissed Indian actress Shilpa Shetty during an AIDS awareness program. Both of these events lead to outrage, protest and apologies; I can only hope that Regis keeps being called on his outrageous behavior until he too apologizes and learns to spell the word RESPECT.
