Gawker: Irony

Press-Stifling Dictator Wins Journalism Award

Jeff Neumann — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 05:09:52 EDT

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez yesterday was awarded a prize from the communications department at Argentina's La Plata University for his support of "popular communication." Wow. We're assuming the award is for his stupid Twitter account? Or perhaps his talk show, Aló Presidente? More »

Justin Bieber is Well Aware of Website "Lesbians That Look Like Justin Bieber"

Leah Beckmann — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:35:00 EST

Leave it to Chelsea Handler to address the big Bieber elephant in the room. After informing him that "even lesbians like you now," Justin Bieber recommends a website that everyone should become familiar with: Lesbians That Look Like Justin Bieber. More »

God Not Saving Churches From Foreclosure

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:06:20 EST

"Since 2008, nearly 200 religious facilities have been foreclosed on by banks, up from eight during the previous two years and virtually none in the decade before that." We'll tastefully omit the gloating and obvious theological jokes. [WSJ. Photo via] More »

L.A.'s Real Double Rainbow Teaches Unexpected Lesson in Postmodernism

Max Read — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 02:29:17 EST

A real double rainbow unfurled across the Los Angeles sky tonight! And, of course, Twitter freaked out, because of this year's biggest viral video—"Double Rainbow"—turning "double rainbow" into a worldwide trending topic More »

John King Wishes He Could Shoot His Wall With a Gun

Max Read — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:52:28 EST

CNN anchor John King got so frustrated with his "magic" computerized touch-screen wall before the elections that he had a "meltdown" and told crew "I wish I brought a gun to work." To shoot the wall, one hopes. More »

Kids Becoming Ironic at an Alarmingly Young Age

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 16:27:04 EDT

Twin discrimination! Sexing to success! Kiddie irony! Erasing wrinkles! Beating obesity! Late night fat! Insomnia menopause! Blindness progress! And bilingualism! It's your Tuesday Health Watch, where we watch your health—in English, y en Español (poquito)! More »

Ronn Torossian Knows What He's Talking About Here

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:08:47 EDT

Incompetent superflack Ronn [sic] Torossian actually wrote an op-ed on "The Importance of SEO." Ahem. More »

Umbrella-Wielding Homosexual Activists Ruin Peaceful Family Rally

Richard Lawson — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:23:22 EDT

Watch as gay freaks who want families of their own, and thus hate families, "bully and intimidate" a poor Albany woman who was just trying to sit and watch a National Organization for Marriage rally in peace. She was threatened! More »

Is the 'TV Hat' the Stupidest Invention of 2010?

Brian Moylan — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:49:23 EDT

Since there aren't any more Snuggie jokes to be made, Americans have moved on to ironically loving a new ridiculous product: the TV Hat. Can we all agree to stop wasting our money on this crap? More »

Ascot-Wearing 'Converted' Gay Man Denounces Homosexuality

Max Read — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 01:16:04 EDT

Is it possible to fulfill half a dozen gay stereotypes and also preach hateful bigotry about homosexuality in the name of religion? Adam Hood of Recycle Your Faith says: Yes. (This is a parody, right? Right?) [Joe. My. God. via] More »

Racial Profiling Probably Won't Disturb PR Conference

Hamilton Nolan — Thu, 27 May 2010 12:27:46 EDT

Is there anyone left who's not boycotting Arizona? Oh yea: PR executives. More »

Andrew Breitbart Wants to Tell You About His 'Irony Mustache'

Adrian Chen — Wed, 12 May 2010 21:11:02 EDT

Conservative publisher Andrew Breitbart explained his "irony mustache" today. This is like an "ironic mustache," except for old people. Listen to Breitbart and MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan re-enact a conversation that was had 100,000 times in early-00s Williamsburg dive bars. More »

Queen Latifah Makes Surprise Cameo at Chely Wright's Cinco de Gayo Coming Out Party

Brian Moylan — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:33:39 EDT

Right now the New York Times website features an ad for the new Queen Latifah movie Just Wright next to a story about country music star Chely Wright coming out of the closet in this week's issue of People. Oh, the irony! A screenshot is below: More »

Keith Olbermann Enraged Over Being Called 'Angry'

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:50:24 EDT

Donny Deutsch got a weeklong anchor slot on MSNBC. He did a segment about angry TV pundithosts (click to watch). One of those featured was fellow MSNBCer Keith Olbermann. Now, Donny's been dumped from his gig. Why? More »

Somali Pirates Seize US-Bound Oil Tanker

Jeff Neumann — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 07:48:57 EDT

Those wily pirates are at it again, this time grabbing a South Korean super tanker loaded with Iraqi oil bound for the US. Double steal. More »

Sarah Palin Supports Government-Run Health Care, Inadvertently Uses 'Ironic' Correctly

Pareene — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:58:56 EST

Whoops, Sarah Palin said something that sounded "folksy" and "commonsensical" when she thought of it that turned out to be an explicit endorsement of liberal policy. Did you know that she used to take advantage of socialized medicine? More »

We Fully Support the Betty White Resurgence Movement

Brian Moylan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:58:34 EST

Betty White, 88, is having a moment. She has movie roles, a Facebook campaign, and a popular ad when most actresses her age only have cataracts. Why do we support this comeback? Because it is free of irony and nostalgia. More »

Rupert Murdoch Asks New York Times to Help Rupert Murdoch Kill New York Times

Hamilton Nolan — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:34:02 EST

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Well, well, well. How does Rupert Murdoch feel about his precious newspaper war now? (Just fine). Rupert was so hot to build a New York edition of the WSJ to crush the rival New York Times once and for all, but apparently there is one small issue: he needs to borrow the NYT's printing press to make this whole thing work. More »

This Is Exactly What Martin Luther King Jr. Dreamed Of

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:43:44 EST

After two board members were charged with theft and sexual harassment, members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference marched through Atlanta "with signs...calling the [SCLC's own] board members thieves and liars." The view from the mountaintop is unspeakably beautiful. [NYT] More »

Bushwick 'Artist Community/Trailer Park' Is Brooklyn's New Hipster Hell

Maureen O'Connor — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:06:30 EST

Every year they add a new level to the Dantean inferno that is artistic living in Brooklyn. Now that the youth hostel of infinite microphone feedback, McKibbin flats, is so 00's, they're building an ironic trailer park for 2010. More »

Magazine of the Future Ruined by Magazine Delivery System of the Past

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:50:16 EST

Esquire decided to SAVE MAGAZINES this month by putting another weird little "hold it up to your webcam" hologram augmented-reality gizmo on the cover, but alas: the magical doohickey is obscured by the address label. Curse you, ignoble media irony. More »

Eliot Spitzer will deliver a lecture on ethics...

Maureen O'Connor — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:51:20 EST

Eliot Spitzer will deliver a lecture on ethics at Harvard's Center for Ethics this afternoon. $20 anyone who manages to utter Ashley Dupre near an open mic. More »

Vandals Vandalize Vandalism

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:45:45 EST

Normally the city council of Sutton (UK) is very much of the "No Graffiti Here, Thank You," school of thought. But then a famous graffiti guy, Banksy, did a piece! So they voted to preserve it. More »

Chicken Piss On Your Soul

Foster Kamer — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:30:00 EDT

Remember those charming self-help Chicken Soup for the Soul books that went from bestselling lists to greeting card stores to the bargain bin? They can also be filed in the "Impetus For Irreversible Psychological Damage" section as well! More »

Stuff (Demographic Group) (Feeling) Meme Almost Entirely Used Up

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:09:37 EDT

"Stuff White People Like." It seemed so innocent for those first few hours. Now the whole format has been squeezed dry and used up like an old bottle of shampoo. Which is Something Hipsters Hate. More »

The Cop Who Arrested Henry Louis Gates Teaches a Racial Profiling Class at the Police Academy

John Cook — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:15:08 EDT

No, not a how-to. James Crowley, the Cambridge police officer who hauled Henry Louis Gates to jail for breaking into his own house, teaches police recruits in Lowell, Mass., a class on how to confront racial issues on the job. More »

The Hipster Sensibility Matrix

T.A.N. — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:30:19 EDT

The sensibility of all hipsters have two axes: 1. "irony" 2. "alternative". This weekend I got hipster-lit, myspace-account broker, and quirky-NYM-darling Tao Lin to help me plot current events on The Hipster Matrix. More »

AP Funneez: Shepard Fairey Edition

Hamilton Nolan — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:30:00 EDT

The AP is currently suing (and being sued by) Shepard Fairey over his famous 'Obama' image, stolen from the AP. Here's the front page of the AP photo site on Friday. Ha. SUBTLETY. More »

Men's Health Staffers Strewing Cigarette Butts Everywhere

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:18:19 EDT

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Rodale, publisher of Men's Health, Prevention, Running magazine, and other clean living rags, doesn't allow its employees to smoke anywhere on its property. So instead they all go smoke in the park across the street. More »

AOL Email Now as Ironic as a Trucker Hat

Owen Thomas — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:49:21 EDT

Is AOL email now retro cool? One longtime AOL user sure hopes so! More »

Scant Future For Plenty

Ryan Tate — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:05:48 EST

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It turns out Plenty was paying attention to the wrong climate change: A tipster tells us the environmental magazine laid off almost the entire staff today after a funding round fell through. More »

England Is Now Safe For Irony

Hamilton Nolan — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 11:47:23 EST

A "landmark" court ruling in the UK means that it is now legal to make jokes there (without having to pay millions in defamation damages). Jokes about Elton John, especially. More »

Media Matters Freudian Email Slip Outrage

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:57:19 EST

Liberal media watchdog Media Matters has revealed its true colors. In an email blast just now touting the "most inane punditry of 2008," MM offers this option: "Barnes: Obama 'not strong on national security' because he opposed war 'when the entire world believed' Obama had WMD." THEY MEANT 'SADDAM' BUT THEY WROTE 'OBAMA.' When will Media Matters stop being so racist? More »

Hot Chicks With Douchebags Sue Hot Chicks With Douchebags

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:59:18 EDT

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Hahaha. Some New Jersey girls are pissed because they were caught on camera with douchebag Jersey guys! Three "Hot Chicks" are suing the author and publisher of the fine educational volume Hot Chicks With Douchebags, because they were pictured therein. It's destroyed their reputations, down there in Jersey! Because they were depicted as "females who date dubious men." Outrageous! Here are the actual plaintiffs in question: More »

AIG Takes Its Ads And Slinks Away Quietly

Hamilton Nolan — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:07:49 EDT

The ad industry is perfectly confident that this whole "meltdown of the US economy" thing will be but a blip on their radar. Uh, as long as you weren't on that AIG account. The broke ass insurance giant has (wisely) decided to pull all of its corporate advertising for the remainder of the year, which will save them slightly less than 0.1% of the $85 billion they now owe to you, the taxpayer. More importantly it will save them the absolute humiliation of the ads themselves, in which a little tot can sleep safely knowing that his family has AIG and its "Strength to be there." [In debtor's prison]. You won't have to see this bullshit any more: More »

Living Symbol of Extreme Wealth Decries Elitist Black Man

Pareene — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:51:06 EDT

Bad news, Obama partisans: a prominent female Hillary supporter has openly defected to John McCain, calling the Democratic candidate "an elitist." That supporter? Lynn Forester de Rothschild. You know, of the Rothschilds. The beloved Real American, salt of the earth banking and finance dynasty. Their very name is synonymous with heartland values like a life of suffocating spiritually empty glamor and excess. So we're sure John McCain is thrilled that he now has the support of Lady de Rothschild. Except, you know, he actually probably is happy about this, because she has lots and lots and lots of money. Oh but Barack Obama still has the support of America's real elites. [Political Ticker/CNN] More »

Paris Hilton Sued For Being Publicity Shy

Richard Lawson — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:17:00 EDT

Gadzooks. Paris Hilton has been accused of not doing enough publicity for something. The sort-of heiress and other things-doer basically lives for that stuff, so it's odd to hear that an entertainment company is suing her for inadequately press-whoring for something called National Lampoon's Pledge This!. More »

Closing The Barn Door After The Horse Already Left Is What They Say Down South

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:18:27 EDT

There was a press conference scheduled at the beach in Queens yesterday, so a Congressman could talk about how he was getting much-needed funding for more lifeguards. But it had to be canceled, because a dead, drowned body washed up on the beach. That's not funny. [NYS] More »

Remnick Defends Obama Cover, Idea That Readers Aren't Retards

Pareene — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:17:14 EDT

This is the problem with being an editor or publisher or writer or cartoonist or even blogger and having some small lingering trace of a sense of irony-sometimes you accidentally assume that the Vast and Mysterious "Audience" shares that subversive French sense. Thankfully, after what will presumably be a full week of Outrage and Demands for Apologies, David Remnick and his New Yorker will never make that mistake again. As you might've seen, the cover of that influential publication this week shows Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim, and he is Terrorist Fist-Bumping his aggrieved wife as a flag burns in the Oval Office. This obvious and heavy-handed satire has enraged Democrats and liberal media critics because now they are pretty sure this nation of child-like imbeciles will believe it to be an un-retouched photograph from the FUTURE. New Yorker editor David Remnick defended the cover to the Huffington Post. Did you know that sometimes that magazine makes "jokes"? More »

Hipster Irony Removes Fun From Pop Music, Leaves Various Words For Butt

mr.guyball — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:22:38 EDT

Acoustic versions of highly produced pop songs are the new easiest irony, as evinced by yesterday's most watched Youtube video, an acoustic version of Four Minutes to Save the World. This is just-add-water cultural criticism that bespeaks no thought or compelling effort, but which is publicly lauded for adhering to the structure of an actual parody. Ironic T-shirts, I'm talking to you. The acoustic cover amusements began with Alanis Morisette's version of My Humps. That actually was funny, My Humps has stupid lyrics, and underscoring them with legitimate sentiment was something like a commentary. Then there were the thousands of Umbrella covers. At the beginning of hers, Mandy Moore talks about how she doesn't like pop music. This is precisely what's wrong with this trend: Mandy Moore is not allowed to condescend to pop music, she is pop music. After the jump, the Four Minutes video. More »