Bill Donohue comments on a poll taken today on the website of USA Today asking respondents to choose which video they liked best: the one where David Letterman compared all priests to molesters, or the one where Jay Leno said Pope Francis could be mistaken for Lady Gaga:
Leno’s jab was inoffensive, but Letterman’s July 23 monologue (which I commented on), was vile. His “altar boy” quip—World Youth Day is called by the Vatican “salute to altar boys”—is a vicious hit on 40,000 innocent priests.
USA Today took Letterman’s offensive remarks to a new level. It not only flagged his bigotry, it celebrated it. Predictably, many more respondents preferred Letterman’s obscene statement to Leno’s throw-away line.
USA Today is exercised over racial profiling, but it obviously thinks religious profiling is acceptable, at least when it comes to Catholic priests. And they consider themselves open-minded and fair.
Contact USA Today Standards and Ethics Editor Brent Jones: bwjones@usatoday.com
