Saturday, December 15, 2007
"The Ballad of Bobby Pickton"- Why Now?
After months and months of the Video Of "The Ballad of Bobby Pickton" being on YouTube, now the press is on it. Why? Cause the case is done, and they need to keep earning. I haven't made a cent off this piece, but every one from the media that began chasing the story, are being paid. So whose the opportunist? My condemning of the media in the song, never seems to make it into the reports. Hmmmm. They play the families like pawns, use me as a scapegoat - and cash the checks. Anyway, I have more shows to do, which is how I get paid, by standing up. Not by hiding behind facts and quotes, but by presenting my ideas, and "Standing Up" for them.
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Why? Because a family member just found it. If you don't understand why it's so offensive, you never will. They were just hookers, right?
ReplyDeleteThey were human beings, you piece of shit. You deserve every lambasting you get.
Regardless of the media's sick appetites, what you did was obscene. Racism, sexism, callous opportunism. You are twisted if you find humour in this. To create it, you are deranged. You need compassion and to be called on your gross error. I am certain you will receive the latter but I believe the former will not be available.
ReplyDeleteYou have the right to say what you want to say about almost anything.
ReplyDeleteBut, there is the question of rights vs. responsibility.
You have the right to keep reading this Ballad, but should you?
Should you take license to say what hurts and offends rather than leads to proactive measures by your audience?
Who and where are the people who understand your intended message?
Who has responded to your message and done something about it?
A few people responded via comments at Youtube, but that was the extent of it.
You say that your message is intended to “Stand up” for them.
If that is your intent, the meaning is lost.
Even in satire, the message is evident to listeners when the intent is to stand up for someone who could not stand up for themselves.
It sounds like you are making fun of the women who were murdered, more than calling attention to the media and authorities into accountability.
How does hurting the women in death and their families you say were used as pawns, call the media and authorities into accountability?
Your graphic and specific words on the demise of these women were offensive and disturbing.
Your intended message is moot.
The Ballad is deplorable and disrespectful.
You are not a scapegoat here.
The media is only representing a part of your community who is trying to ask you to reconsider this part of your act.
You and the writers of this Ballad are dishonoring my sister who died at this farm.
No one, including myself, is disillusioned at the manner in which she or others lived.
There are common and similar stories for each woman that ended up working on the street.
Not everyone on that path ended up at the DTES or even in similar places.
But these women did. I do not understand it and have never lived it.
But I do know the way she and the other women died is not something to be laughed at.
I am asking you to stop using this Ballad out of respect for my sister and her friends who died at that evil place.
Keep bringing attention to the case, but I am asking you to do so in a way that does not denigrate the victims of Pickton’s crime.
He gets enough press as it is, and this is just another way to honor him, and dishonor and forget his victims and their horrible demise.
--ARR
when i was younger, my grandmother told me that it was better to laugh than cry [when in pain]. perhaps that is a lesson some of your critics could learn.
ReplyDelete"k said...when i was younger, my grandmother told me that it was better to laugh than cry [when in pain]. perhaps that is a lesson some of your critics could learn."
ReplyDeleteYou will have us believe you had a close relationship to your grandmother and that she spoke words of wisdom. Do you really thing she would support your comments in this context?
Is your grandmother still alive? Let us suppose she was also one of the victims. How funny would that be? A real knee slapper indeed.
Lett isn't the first to make a song based on a heinous crime. Look at the children's popular camp song, "Dunderbeck's Machine". It's a similar tale involving a crazed butcher. "Ring Around the Rosy" also has its history in real deaths, from the bubonic plague. Making song from an event is not the same as trivializing it.
ReplyDeleteI think his point is it went so far and too long and nobody cared till it was too late and lots of people new about and did nothing. More than one person was involved in this horrible crime.And to think that Bobby was acting alone is naive.
ReplyDeletePeople need to wake up and open their eyes and ears and see and hear what people are saying instead of pointing fingers at an artist who chooses to voice his opinion by song once or twice on stage. What you've done now is created a hype for people to now intern want to hear it ! See ya on Jimmy Kimmel Lett !!! :)
ALl of those songs "K' mentioned go back way longer than 20 years. Hey, what's next as funny limerick about Clifford Olson's victims? Sad part is that if it was 26 soccer moms, this song would have never been sung.
ReplyDeleteThere's no excuse for this kind of crap. People tortured and killed in terrible ways is not funny and can't be made funny.
Just a test...
ReplyDeleteThere’s no doubt Richard Lett’s “Bobby Pickton” song is tasteless, and depressing. But it garnered attention and opened many people’s eyes. That is a good thing, and probably why it was written. However, his sad ditty was recorded many years after these heinous murders were committed and Richard Lett cannot be held responsible for the grief generated by an insane person. Also, his song was recorded well after the police even bothered to investigate the cases of all those missing women. Perhaps the public awareness component to this song may prevent the creation of future victims. The mob condemnation of this insightful comic is a classic example of “Shooting the Messenger.” It is very strange that many of the people who could’ve helped prevent these horrible crimes, or at least quickened the speed in which they were investigated, thereby ensuring the evil perpetrator was caught and punished before he could harm others, are now being critical of a stage comic making poignant statements which may assist others. It has been said that comedy, especially poignant social commentary, is not necessarily pretty. Imagine the furor that would be generated if Richard’s next recording is “Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be hookers?” Ernie – Excalibur Comedy Club.
ReplyDeleteStop trying to make it sound like Richard is some kind of great soldier for these girls. He made fun of them and their grisly murders. The police or the media, aren't the ones he upset by it. He upset the victim's families, and that's who's been doing the criticizing. If he wanted to highlight hte police inaction, he wouldn't have made fun of the victims themselves... just the police. What a weasly cop-out for getting called on tasteless shit.
ReplyDelete