There's one thing to do a stupid joke that you shouldn't have done, and then it's another to not even have the balls to follow through on the joke.
Case in point: last night's MTV Movie Awards. Seth Rogan and James Franco presented the award for Best Summer Movie of the Year So Far, and while doing it, they did a little plug for their new movie Pineapple Express. They pulled out a bag of fake (?) weed and smoked (?) it onstage, explaining more than once that it was fake and that kids shouldn't smoke it. But take a look at the video after the jump below. As the joke starts, MTV's cameras pull away to a shot that seems to be taken from across the street. You can't even tell what Rogan and Franco are doing on stage, you can only hear them inhaling and introducing the nominees in the category.
Franco says that MTV is the one that came up with the idea, wrote the script, and supplied the weed, and then at the last minute pulled away because they had second thoughts about it. I applaud them, actually, for pulling away (come on, this is a stupid joke for a show a lot of kids watch and was just inviting trouble), though I do wonder what was real, the joking or the fake marijuana?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-02-2008 @ 2:14PM
Midnight13 said...
The fact that Franco says that the idea for this was MTV's changes everything. Here is a network who used to blur out marijuana leaf images on T-shirts in music vidoes and they pull a publicity stunt like this, and then don't even have the...guts to go through with it? Actually sounds a lot like what MTV does. Encourages controversy from its guests, and then says they weren't responsible for said controversay.
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6-02-2008 @ 2:31PM
Buffmom said...
As I watched this I must say that I was more offended by the fact that one of the nominees, and the eventual winner, in the category they were introducing was Robert Downey, Jr. - a man who has worked hard to overcome addiction and get his life back on track. It just seemed such a horribly innappropriate and disrespectful thing to do to someone you are honoring. I know people have varying opinions about marijuana, but let's respect others struggles with addiction by avoiding tasteless jokes and not putting these type of substances, whether real or not, around them.
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6-02-2008 @ 2:44PM
josh said...
downey jr.?come on he wasnt addicted to pot no one truly is it is a choice plant not even a drug and it doesnt cause car crashes downey was on serious drugs he still looks like a potsmoker to me not coke and crack and heroin anyway
this is wayne gale signing off
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6-02-2008 @ 3:43PM
Franklin said...
Not even a drug?! Doesn't cause car crashes?! Man, you need to get yourself informed. I suppose next you'll say alcohol isn't a drug, either.
6-03-2008 @ 1:00PM
The Pepto Pimp said...
Josh, that's an idiotic statement. Do yourself a favor and stop posting.
6-02-2008 @ 2:47PM
Zach said...
I agree the whole segment just came across as awkward and slowed the pace of an otherwise entertaining two hours, Wayne and Garth and the Tropic Thunder viral video were hi-larious.
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6-02-2008 @ 4:36PM
Prateek S. said...
As far as it being offensive to Robert Downey Jr. anyone who saw the Tropic Thunder short would know that they took a couple nasty shots at him and he did those in good humor. My problem with the Weed bit is that it's not funny or that appropriate. MTV loves to rile up controversy but then deny any involvement. They'll try to pin in on Rogen which is fucked up. It is television and since this show is watched and probably voted on by middle schoolers this is not the best thing to show. But the comic mindset on MTV these days is bad words/drugs/nudity no creative humor. You had Jason Bateman shouting... Han...Cock. Steve carrell doing sex jokes and Rainn Wilson running around half naked. Kinda funny but really lame and probably not appropriate for 12-13 year olds. Either way, I tuned in to support cool guys like Rainn Wilson, Rogen, etc. But yikes these MTV awards are more shoddy than ever. I'll admit, Mike Myers is versatile and provided funny moments but still it doesn't do anyone justice to tune in to the craphole that is MTV. Keep Human Giant on the air and that's it. But I doubt they'll do that.
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6-04-2008 @ 4:09PM
nattyff said...
in not a pot head, but i though it was funny, plus they did it for the controversy, c'mon, really??? like no one would be offended by that!!!
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