Garofalo Tests Limits of “24” Loyalty

21 Apr, 2009 by Lorie Byrd

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I have been a fan of “24” since the first episode of season one and have never missed an episode in seven seasons. For a couple of seasons I liveblogged the show and I wrote an essay about the series for a book last spring. I don’t own any “24” tee shirts or other “gear” but I have been a faithful follower of the series, even through a couple of pretty crappy seasons.

There have been a few politically correct storylines that I overlooked in past seasons and I even forgave the annoying global warming PSAs this season (thanks to DVR, I can fast forward past those without missing any of the show). I stayed with the show even when they killed Tony Almeda, and more recently, when they brought him back as a bad guy. But if Chloe, or some other “24” character, does not soon get rid of (or at least give a butt kicking to) Janice, the annoying character portrayed by Janeane Garofalo, I might have reached the limit of my loyalty.

I realize that most actors lean left politically. If they are good actors, it is usually possible to get past even outspoken off-screen activity and appreciate the talent they commit to their characters. The character Garofalo plays on “24,” Janice, the computer geek counterpart to the ditzy, but lovable original cast member Chloe, is almost as annoying as the actress herself. One reason I’ve been able to enjoy the show in spite of the addition of Garofalo is because this season has been so much better than the previous few. But it takes a whole lotta good to overcome Garofalo’s recent statements that the hundreds of thousands of Americans attending tea party protests were a bunch of “teabagging rednecks” and that the tea party protests were “about hating a black man in the White House… racism straight up.”

Doug Powers had an excellent question for Garofalo at American Thinker:

“Ms. Garofalo, if somebody on the political right disagrees with America’s first black president and calls him a socialist, you claim that critic is a ‘racist redneck.’ If somebody is on the political left and disagrees with the first African-American Chairman of the RNC and calls him ‘self-loathing,’ you say that critic is a ‘progressive.’ Do you believe that a white person deciding which blacks deserve protection and which don’t is not a form of racism?”

Powers also quoted Lloyd Marcus, a black conservative who wrote The American Tea Party Anthem:

Your arrogance in saying that I suffer from “Stockholm Syndrome” because I am a black man who loves his country and my fellow Americans is beyond measure.

I cannot begin to express how offensive it is for me to hear narcissistic superior liberals lecturing me on why I should view myself as a victim and hate white America. You are sick, evil or both.

As a black man, I ask that you please confine your liberal insulting rhetoric on my behalf to your elitist cocktail parties where you pat yourselves on the back for the number of blacks on your guest list.

I wonder if Powers or Marcus watch “24.” Unless they kill off the majority of the main characters and give Garofalo’s annoying “Janice” character a lot more screen time, I’ll most likely remain a loyal watcher — at least as long as the fast forward button on my DVR holds up.

Cross-posted at Wizbang.