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| russell brand photo by richard young of rex features from the guardian |
good comedy makes it nearly impossible to tell the difference between jokes and truth. that’s what makes russell brand a master. good luck figuring out whether he’s joking or serious.
on september 3, russell spoke at the gq men of the year awards ceremony to accept his oracle award. first
thing brand attacked was how fake all the pompous parties associated with such events are.
then he bagged on his own oracle award, which
he said “sounds recently made up.” getting
more serious, concerning boris johnson
(the london mayor who had just won the politician of year), brand said, “glad
to grace the same stage where boris johnson has just made light of the use of
chemical weapons in syria. gq can now stand for ‘genocide quips.’” but the most notorious part of brand’s speech
was, of course, the comment regarding hugo boss (the event sponsor). “we had a
lot of clients in the 30s and 40s. i can’t remember all of them” brand joked to mock his
revelation that hugo boss made the uniforms for the nazi party in world war 2. “the nazis did have flaws, but you know they
looked fucking fantastic! lets’ face
it. while they were killing people on
the basis of their religion and sexuality.”
history is not as forgiving as current times for covering up
actions, so hugo boss can’t exactly deny the claims. on the contrary, siegfried boss said, “the whole industry worked for the nazi army” in a huffington post report. that’s an interesting quote in so much as it
sounds as cavalier as it does obvious. sure, in a you’re either with us or with them society, the lines are
clear cut and you stand either to kill or be killed. my guess is that most people would want to join the side of the victor. (i am not sure who the “whole industry” refers
to. all the clothing manufacturers or all businesses
in general?) still, i would assume most of the ones allowed to live did support the nazi army.
but the attitude didn’t seem one of remorse or compassion on boss’ part
as much as a disconcerting, almost a boastful pride. speaking of not
telling the difference between jokes and truth, maybe siegfried boss should go
into comedy. the more things change,
the more they stay the same. by
supporting politicians who condone the use of chemical weapons, how much does
gq or hugo boss regret having supported the nazis in the 30 and 40s? then to now, nothing has really changed.
russell brand, congrats! not just for exposing a little known fact,
but for putting it into perspective. i mean,
if there had to be one thing positive said about the nazis, they did have
impressive uniforms. i am not sure brand
wasn’t serious on that. i suppose hugo boss was running with pride in their work. and brand
certainly wasn’t joking about the “fake parties,” so it was most likely to his
delight that he was kicked out of an after party due to his speech. “the glamour and the glitz isn’t real. the party
isn’t real. you have a much better time mucking around trying to make your
mates laugh. i suppose that’s obvious. we
all know it. we already know the important stuff like don’t trust politicians,
don’t trust big business and don’t trust the media. trust your own heart and each other. when you take a breath and look away from the
spectacle, it’s amazing how absurd it all seems when you look back.”
brand’s point in the guardian article in explaining his comments,
questioned some glaring truths known that are certainly not funny, “if you can’t criticize
hugo boss at the gq awards because they own the event, do you think it is
significant that energy companies donate to the tory party? will
that affect government policy? will the relationships that ‘politician of the
year’ boris johnson has with city bankers… influence the way he runs our
capital? is it any wonder that amazon,
vodafone and starbucks avoid paying tax when they enjoy such cosy relationships
with members of our government? ought we
be concerned that our rights to protest are being continually eroded under the
guise of enhancing our safety? is there
a relationship between proposed fracking in the uk, new laws that prohibit
protest and the relationships between energy companies and our government?
that’s asking some serious questions. russell brand is the second brit to win the rabble rouser of the month award in the last three months and perhaps the first true celebrity to win it (in addition to the prestigious oracle award obviously).
here is a video of the acceptance speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8U9JBJTm40
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