I'm having a hard time with this one. Some woman on the Apprentice apparently just lost her real-life job because of something she said on the show when it was taped months ago. At first I'd read that she referred to two women as "jewish old fat ladies" and I went, wow. Then I read the entire story. Read this first, then let's discuss:
Crisafulli's troubles began Wednesday night--in front of 14.7 million TV viewers.See, here's the thing. I'm from Chicago, and in that city, you ARE your ethnicity. You have a Polish cleaning lady, an Irish guy who's putting in the new kitchen, and the Italian family down the block. And yes, you even have the black guy who cut you off on the road (or who helped you change a tire).
In the third installment of The Apprentice 2, Crisafulli was shown the boardroom door by Trump after her team, Apex, botched a restaurant opening.
In his usual personable style, Trump told Crisafulli she was hated by everyone on her crew.
"Jennifer, this is really easy," Trump said, per the NBC Website. "You're fired."
But other words would come to haunt Crisafulli more. In the episode, Crisafulli complained that Apex's restaurant reviews were sabotaged by a pair of customers: "It was those two old Jewish fat ladies...jaded old bags."
Apprentice player Stacy Rotne, an attorney, took note, if not offense. "I'm Jewish and I'd like to understand Jen C's motives behind saying this," Rotne said on the show, per NBC.
According to Crisafulli, she didn't mean anything by the remark--especially nothing hurtful.
"I'm a New Yorker," Crisafulli is quoted as telling the Post. "I call an Italian an Italian...a Jew a Jew.
Now, I don't know how New York is, but in Chicago, while sometimes those comments are rooted in prejudice, more often than not they're simply innocent ways of describing people. In Chicago, at least, you ARE your ethnicity. Probably the biggest thing I miss moving from Chicago to DC is that I stopped being Greek once I got to DC (though, ironically, everyone here thinks I'm Jewish - but that's another story). Back home, I was always the Greek guy. Here, well, here I don't know what I am.
So, when a woman refers in anger to two old Jewish fat ladies, would we react the same way if she'd mentioned the two old Russian fat ladies? Maybe she did mean it as a slur. But I can't help wondering if this isn't all just a bit overblown. Then again, I'm not Jewish - so maybe I just don't get it.
Help anyone?
