Former radio host Garrison Keillor published a Facebook post this week in which he suggested Democrats should give up fighting “culture wars” about things like LGBTQ equality, women’s rights, and universal healthcare because, as a straight, white, male millionaire, he’d rather talk about tax policy and the economy.
While opining on SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett, the 78-year-old said Tuesday that he believes she’s going to be confirmed and that Roe v. Wade and the Affordable Care Act will be overturned and homosexuality will be criminalized and that’s OK with him because those issues have poisoned American politics so maybe it’s better to just give up and admit defeat.
Did we mention that Keillor is a Democrat?
“It seems clear that Judge Barrett will sit on the Supreme Court and this will mean the reversal of Roe v. Wade and some deep dents in the Affordable Care Act,” he wrote, adding that he doesn’t think these issues are “worth fighting for anymore” because they have “torn the country asunder.”
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“We can accept a system of states’ rights, whereby abortion is legal in some states, illegal in others, same as you have a death penalty in some states, not in others,” he continued. “Let South Dakota be South Dakota and if they wish to criminalize LBGTQ, then they can deal with the consequences. Let’s give the cultural war a rest and focus on the economy and tax policy and environment.”
This isn’t the first time Keillor has made problematic comments about LGBTQ people.
In 2007, he wrote a column criticizing gay parents, who he said were “sardonic fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers.” He later apologized for the column.
After deleting his original post on Tuesday, Keillor published another one sarcastically claiming his Facebook page had been “hacked by some fool expressing his ignorance of political issues and using my name.” Then, borrowing a page from Donald Trump‘s playbook, he said he wasn’t responsible.
“My Facebook page has been hacked by some fool expressing his ignorance of political issues and using my name,” he joked. “I am not responsible. My wife Jenny is in charge of politics in this household and she strongly dislikes Judge Barrett and so that is my opinion too. I shall now go back to writing my novel.”
My Facebook page has been hacked by some fool expressing his ignorance of political issues and using my name. I am not…
Posted by Garrison Keillor on Tuesday, October 13, 2020
In 2017, Keillor lost his longtime gig as host of A Prairie Home Companion, the wildly popular weekly radio variety show that had been on the air since 1974, as well as his weekly column in the Washington Post after he was accused of “inappropriate behavior” by at least two female colleagues, including propositioning them for sex and unwanted touching. Later it was reported he tried paying one woman $16,000 for her silence but she refused to accept the money.
Keillor responded to his 2017 firing by saying “the country is in the grip of a mania” around the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace and that “I wish someone would resist it.”
Matthewnow
Keillor is dick. And not the good kind.
DrTCH2
Ha ha!!
vinnieboiblue
Do believe you meant Prick!
Vellala
Ha!ha!
Cam
So an old rich straight guy who was fired for sexual harassment thinks bigotry should be catered to.
WashDrySpin
You forgot WHITE…very important
Heywood Jablowme
“sardonic fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers.”
He says that like it’s a BAD thing!
WashDrySpin
“Disgraced radio host Garrison Keillor says states should be allowed to “criminalize LBGTQ”
NO HE DID NOT….first of all reading comprehension is lacking for you here at Queerty…
Cam
If you’re going to lie, please try not to lie about something that is a few inches up the page in black and white. He said “Let South Dakota be South Dakota and if they want to criminalize LGBTQ people let them deal with the consequences”.
So now that we’ve established you are lying to defend a bigot, we can go from there.
gracchus
I agree with you that he didn’t say he supported allowing states to criminalize LGBTQ people. What he said, to paraphrase, was that if a state such as South Dakota was going to be foolish enough to criminalize LGBTQ people, then let them deal with the consequences of that foolish decision. He was likening the state-by-state criminalization of LGBTQ people to what is currently the state of the law with regard to the death penalty.
I think this is a very poor analogy because in my opinion, the death penalty should be administered the same way in every state (frankly, it should be outlawed as cruel and unusual punishment). But the Court, trying to please everyone and ultimately pleasing no one, kicked their responsibility for interpreting the Constitution down the road on the death penalty. If we were to go down that same road on LGBTQ rights, there would be similar results, which would tie up the courts dealing with the various mutations of that policy in each state, and trying to thread the needle between balancing equal protection principles against a public’s fear of a misunderstood minority group. If anything has come out of the Supreme Court’s body of opinions regarding LGBTQ rights over the past 25 years, it is that public animus can never be determinative of whose rights are protected and whose rights are ignored.
I believe that Keillor is dead wrong, and really wish he would just shut up and go away. But I don’t think that what he said can be reasonably construed as supporting a move to criminalize LGBTQ people.
TheAbsoluteTRUTH
Thank god your smart enough to understand sarcasm, given the long running prairie home companion you’d think people would get it but alas gays are worse professional victims now with rights than we ever were without and thats the absolute truth periodt as u young hip gays like to say
WashDrySpin
Cam you are in need of an education that teaches you the layers of language and tone…because the word that you are failing to understand is “if”
barryaksarben
You need to just STOP with your horrible stands on non-issues
barryaksarben
you do nothing but attack and attack gay men so go away already
dwick
Just bless your heart
Cam
@gracchus
1. He never used the word “Foolish”
2. He wouldn’t be as dismissive if he was talking about laws that would take away the rights of men over the age of 60.
Mister P
The repugnants should give up those issues. They are holding society back with their stupid religion talk.
cuteguy
We should be able to criminalize his ugly mug
WashDrySpin
So many dumb gay men here on Queerty no wonder they write articles at a 5th grade level
DarkZephyr
@WashDrySpin
Then just go away. You always support the ones who hate us. Go be with them.
Cam
@WashDrySpin
Awww, how cute, the troll account needed to create something that wasn’t said so it could play victim.
TheBigOne
Looking at his face, I just have to wonder how many times gay men have said “no” to his advances.
“Straight” but probably not by choice…
WashDrySpin
Yet another gay man who attacks him on his looks because you are vapid and have no real argument regarding his words…you are so small minded
AxelDC
It’s easy to be cavalier with someone else’s life. For me, abortion is not an issue, but I am not going to support forcing women to have children. Apparently, Garrison doesn’t care if gay people go to prison or not.
dracukon
Re his 2007 comment that gay parents are “sardonic fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers,” one could also say that straight couples are “humorless couples with messy hair who live in under-decorated apartments with a beige sofa and a big smelly dog and who worship muscle men that run around throwing balls at one another.” Same difference.
Shackrat
He USED to be popular here in the Twin Cities years ago…..haven’t heard much of him after he was fired. Interesting to see his true ” feelings ” coming to light……..
PSHank3
What a monster. And I used to take crap from people because I found his radio shows to be idiotically boring and not even vaguely funny. Now I see why! A complete loser.
barryaksarben
I agree that show was so Fn dumb with its lawrence welk hokeyness
acna64
In another week or two he will be found with another man busted! All these freaks end up the same way. Full of hate to others yet think it’s ok if they do it.
WashDrySpin
You can’t stop thinking with your sexuality…so easy to think he is a closet case…sad really but it is so easy to spread that ignorance….
DuMaurier
I only heard parts of his show on long drives when I landed on it accidentally. Way back when I thought about him the way I did Mr. Rogers; not a fan but sounds like a sweet, gentle man we should be glad is in the world.
So all these things with Keillor have kind of jolted me. Now please—no Rogers revelations!
Essie
Welllll, Mr. Rogers did not allow a gay Black actor on his show to come out because he feared it would harm the show. Can’t remember the guy’s name but he wrote a book last year with this revelation in it. This is not nearly as disgusting as what Keillor said but still . . .
Cam
His eyebrows look like they’re trying to eat his eyes.
WashDrySpin
You must get all the numbers at the local glory hole
AllenSF
Why not bring back slavery while we are at it? After all it really tore the nation asunder.
TommyIL
Precisely! He’s suggesting that it’s the standing up for rights that is tearing us asunder and not the backlash to attempts at making this a more just society.
brusselsprout
I am deleting Keillor’s “The Writer’s Almanac” from my daily podcasts. His weird sense of humor was loved by my dad and one of my previous bosses for “Prairie Home”. DELETING ON PRINCIPLE—-will miss him!
?????
speakout1
I ask you to read my longer post further down in comments. So much more to the story. Headline readers need to dig deeper. PHC and TWA highlights many diverse performers and poets. Absolutely zero prejudice.
vinnieboiblue
Drop dead you old geezer and take Trump with you!
The real Bruce
He looks like the dONALD five years from now, after he gets kicked out of the White House! Poor Mr. Keillor, I think his Prairie Home Companion these days is an old Sears Catalog.
Diogenes
Sadly true. No matter how much I enjoyed PHC back in the day. Its and his times have passed.
TMBisAOK
He has an interesting take on just let the states handle it, but that only makes for a heated debate with friends over some beers, it is not realistic for our country whatsoever. We cant have a country with such varied laws over things like civil rights ffs! To compare gay, women’s and health rights to some states having a legal death penalty is ignorant and shows the privilege he has as a straight white male. And these issues didnt tear the country apart…THE RIGHT WING ZEALOTS HAVE TORN THIS COUNTRY APART!
WashDrySpin
I have never been more disappointed at the level of miseducation that some gay men embody here on Queerty…be brave my gay brethren and work harder on learning what sarcasm is and what it means to be sardonic ….
Iona Lexiss
And to think I used to listen to his show. UGH. Is this another case of an old white guy saying stupid stuff because he doesn’t know any better or is it that famous tune “tolerance” hitting the American Top 40 all over again, especially given the ignorant comments by that Amy Coney person about “sexual preference(?).” When are these people going to die off…for good? Bottom line on our rights is this..WE PAY THE SAME DAMN TAXES AS EVERYONE ELSE AND MARRIAGE IS NOT PART OF RELIGION. Marriage is a financial function of OUR government so there’s no picking-and-choosing who gets what, where they get it and when they get it. You buy a license, you file/pay taxes differently, and each persons’ responsibilities change within the context of who makes decisions, survivorship, etc. You don;’ pay a religion to get married and “they” can’t perform the ceremony unless they are “authorized” to do so.
renzinthewoods
Why aren’t you dead yet?
marcbruer777
Garrison Keillor.
LOL!!!!
Who is she?
Who was she?
Who does she hope to be?
WashDrySpin
IDIOT MAKES AN IDIOT RESPONSE
caliboy17
HE DID NOT SAY THAT AT ALL! Do not allow your remedial “reporters” to “interpret” other people’s tweets. It does a disservice to all of us. It makes you look like FOOLS. Don’t get me wrong, I am NO FAN of Garrison Keillor. He is disgraced for a reason. He should be disgraced and remain so. However, he was actually making some very cogent and important points about the lunacy of our CONSTANT CULTURE WARS in America. They are just more right-wing Smoke and Mirrors. We have been told to fight about Gay Rights and Abortion and Religious-Disenfranchisement WHILE THE WORST OF THE WORST RAPE AND PILLAGE THIS COUNTRY IN THE BACK ROOMS – UNOBSERVED!! I want Gay Rights. I want Gay Marriage. I want a Woman’s Right To Choose. But what I want most is for the corruption to end and the corrupt to be punished. DUMP TRUMP! THEN PUNISH TRUMP! VOTE!
trsxyz
Well said. You make many excellent points!
WashDrySpin
EXCELLENT COMMENTARY….but so many gays have to up in arms about something without reading the fine print….
EvB
Right on!
ElPillo
Interesting viewpoint. I wonder if alive in the early 1800s he would have said that discussion about slavery also was poisoning national politics.
Fname Optional Lname
Someone should inform him that the only change that needs to be made is that those eyebrows need to be illegal in every state! Ewww, thought a caterpillar crawled up his face and just died, twice!
garybw
Sometimes old hateful bigots need to take a walk into the woods and die
frankcar1965
Hopefully he will get Covid an turn blue and die.
James
NAZI TRASH LOSER.
WE WILL BE FREE !!!
CityguyUSA
I warned everyone when the court decided that LBGTQ should have equal rights that it was the beginning of the same war that women and black Americans started fighting about 60 years ago and still had not won.
trojanboy
He is as disgustingly ugly as he is stupid.
When are these assholes gonna realise that their time is over?
Jim
No fool like and old fool.
Kangol2
I reread Keillor’s paragraph several times, and while he may have been somewhat sarcastic, the overall tone is one of seriousness and smug privilege. It’s what I expect from him, though, given his history of casual homophobia, sexism and misogyny. He essentially is saying that he, a rich, White liberal in a comparatively progressive state (New York, Minnesota, or wherever he’s living now) feels that the Democrats/liberals should focus primarily on economic issues and climate change, which are undeniably important, and leave social and cultural issues to states to decide, whatever the effects might be on residents of those states.
First, this is a spurious dichotomy; you can focus on both economic and cultural issues. Second, his perspective shows the privilege he possesses to not have to worry as an person of color, or a woman, or an LGBTQ person, or a religious minority, or someone with physical or mental disabilities who will not have the protections provided by a more liberal or progressive state. As we saw with the 100 years of de factor and de jure Jim Crow segregation, after 200 years of chattel slavery, leaving key matters of human rights and equality up to individual states can be disastrous for millions of people. As I need not tell anyone here, US states’ history of homophobia and transphobia, discrimination against women, etc. is pretty awful as well. But from his gilded perch he clearly doesn’t care, or thinks that sarcasm is enough to address the issue. Yes, Don the Con has to go, but that doesn’t mean we also conceded the battle for equality for all Americans to a piecemeal approach that will lead to continued suffering for some while others just look away with indifference.
speakout1
Again headline readers have missed a lot.
First – did you know MPR settled with Keillor
Second- did you know the 16k check was proven to be severance
Third- did you know that nothing has happened on this matter other than original complaint.
Fourth- did you know MPR hushed the current staff (18 people avg years of working w Keillor 15yrs) with threat of insubordination.
Fifth- did you know Keillor was advocate and supporter of LGBTQ Rights to marry and abortion rights and friend of Justice Blackmun (writer of majority opinion). In his comments, he is reiterating the view by Senators that with conservative court any religious hot button will be lost. Votes matter now more than ever at state level.