Madam Jesse

The Rev. Jesse Jackson unleashed a storm of protest in 1984 when he referred to Jews as “Hymies” and to New York City as “Hymietown.”

In 2001, the “moral and spiritual” adviser to Billy Jeff Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal, was forced to admit that he had maintained a prolonged extramarital affair that resulted in a “love child”

In 2007, Jackson publicly rebuked then-candidate Barack Obama for not taking a stronger position in response to the Jena 6 case. Many felt he went too far when he suggested Obama was “acting like he’s white.”

An open mic was not Jackson’s friend during the 2008 presidential campaign when he was caught muttering that he’d like to “cut his [Obama’s] nuts off” for “talking down to black people.” Despite numerous attempts to walk back his statement, Jackson was left off the DNC convention roster for the first time in decades.

A discrimination complaint was filed with Chicago’s Commission on Human Rights against Jackson and Rainbow PUSH in early 2010 by Tommy R. Bennett, 55, an openly gay Chicago man—a claim which Jackson and Rainbow/PUSH has vehemently denied.

“In the complaint, Bennett describes what he calls ‘demeaning and demoralizing tasks’ that he was asked to perform as part of his duties for PUSH—everything from escorting women to and from Jackson’s hotel room and cleaning up after sexual intercourse, to fetching erectile dysfunction pills for Jackson and, in one instance, being asked to apply ointment to a rash on Jackson’s inner thigh. He was asked to do these things, he says, because of his gender and his sexual orientation.”

In an announcement sent out Tuesday, December 24th, the Reverend compared Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson’s recent comments about African-Americans, gay people and women to comments made by the driver of Rosa Parks’ bus.

"At least the bus driver, who ordered Rosa Parks to surrender her seat to a white person, was following state law,” he said in the release. “Robertson's statements were uttered freely and openly without cover of the law, within a context of what he seemed to believe was ‘white privilege.’”  

Jackson’s human rights group, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, has demanded meetings with A&E and with Cracker Barrel regarding the two companies’ treatment of Robertson, who stars in the show as the head of a Louisiana family that makes duck calls. 

Jackson’s group, along with LGBT group GLAAD and the National Organization for Women urged A&E to keep Robertson on an indefinite hiatus from the show, which the network started following Robertson’s comments criticizing homosexuality in an interview with GQ magazine. 

Cracker Barrel removed Duck Dynasty items from its shelves and then put them back Sunday after customers protested, according to a Cracker Barrel news release. 

“We respect all individuals’ right to express their beliefs,” the Tennessee-based company’s release states. “We certainly did not mean to have anyone think different.” 

Jackson Sr. and the leaders of the other groups are demanding a sit-down meeting with Cracker Barrel and A&E in the next couple of days. 

“It is unacceptable that a personality who has been given such a large platform would benefit from racist and anti-gay comments,” the group leaders state in the release.

Clearly, Jackson sees an opportunity to extort money under the table from scared organizations.  It’s the hackneyed, yet successful formula for making money and generating political attention that this race pimp and über hypocrite employs.  He spews bigotry for profit.

Jackson is well past his USE BY DATE.  He should get off the stage before the lights dim.

In our highly polarized society, where more and more of our speech is controlled and sanitized, the ersatz outrage of the Reverend Jackson is just a touch ironic.  It’s a little like a cathouse madam extolling the virtues of abstinence.