TMZ Mocks Tea Party Coloring Book: 'No Colors Allowed!'

Known more for getting in the faces of celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber, the tabloid/paparazzi show TMZ turned its camera sights on conservative Ted Cruz and the Tea Party. Not surprisingly the cast couldn’t get through the segment without mocking conservatives as racist, homophobic and just totally uncool.

After ambushing the GOP senator to get his take on a coloring book titled “Cruz to the Future” being a top Christmas-seller, the TMZ team turned to a different book that featured the Tea Party, as the announcer mocked: “Meantime you got the Tea Party Coloring Book. No Colors Allowed!” The show also created a fake coloring book where the user could make Glenn Beck “a black guy,” or make Herman Cain “a black guy” and have Michele Bachmann preside over a gay wedding.


The following is the relevant excerpt from the January 7 episode of TMZ:

OFF-SCREEN VOICE to TED CRUZ: How are you doing Senator Cruz?

TMZ ANNOUNCER: Fellow Americans, what a treat! Republican Senator and Tea Party figurehead Ted Cruz from the great state of Texas, home of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson and Gary Busey. Okay. So what’s up with Teddy?

OFF-SCREEN VOICE to TED CRUZ: You have the number one coloring uh, coloring book.

TMZ REPORTER 1: This is true.

HARVEY LEVIN, TMZ FOUNDER: What?

TMZ REPORTER 1: It was over Christmas. The number one coloring book on Amazon was-

ANNOUNCER: Cruz to the Future! And it’s great! Kids can color in a picture of Ted Cruz. A picture of Ted Cruz giving a speech. A picture of Ted Cruz holding a 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun. Because you youngins got a right to bear arms! Tell you what?! *spit noise*

LEVIN: Wait a minute, who’s buying this book?!

REPORTER 1: Lots of people.

ANNOUNCER: And all kinds. Because it’s advertized as a non-partisan book which informs children that President Obama wants to take away all their Constitutional rights, etc. But it’s non-partisan!

REPORTER 1: They made a Tea Party coloring book. The Tea Party one’s got pictures of people you can color. One of them is Glenn Beck.

TMZ REPORTER 2: It would be fun just to make him black.

(Laughter)

TMZ REPORTER 3: Put a gold chain on him, a backwards hat.

LEVIN: We should do that. We’ll make our own coloring book.

ANNOUNCER: No. We should hear more from Senator Cruz.

TED CRUZ: As Ronald Reagan would say-

ANNOUNCER: Yeah, screw it! Let’s do the coloring book. The Tea-MZ Fantasy Coloring Book kids! You can show Glenn Beck as a black guy! Michele Bachmann presiding over a gay wedding or Herman Cain as a black guy. Meantime you got the Tea Party Coloring Book. No Colors Allowed! Thanks, Senator.

— Geoffrey Dickens is Deputy Research Director at the Media Research Center. Follow Geoffrey Dickens on Twitter.