The traditional understanding of marriage is just another punchline to Jay Leno and CBS.
Leno declared that those who wish to defend the sanctity of marriage should “ban Kardashian weddings.” CBS apparently thought that Leno’s crack was too good to pass up, highlighting Leno’s quote on at the start of its February 8 “CBS This Morning” show.
In his opening monologue on the February 7 “Tonight Show,” Jay Leno expressed support [1] for gay marriage: “A huge victory for gay rights. A federal appeals court today ruled that California cannot ban same sex marriage. Here’s my feeling, let me tell you. If you want to respect the sanctity of marriage, ban Kardashian weddings. Ok, why don’t you ban those? Those do more damage…”
The February 8 CBS “This Morning” show touted Jay Leno’s joke mocking the sanctity of marriage in its “Eye Opener” segment [2], quoting this line: “If you want to respect the sanctity of marriage, ban Kardashian weddings.”
CBS, which previously invited a guest on who attacked traditional marriage [3] by declaring it a “morality cage,” is now touting sophomoric jokes bashing supporters of traditional marriage for not respecting marriage.
Ironically, one of the homosexual couples who first pushed for homosexual marriage in California in 2008 is now filing for divorce. [4]
CBS’ use of Leno’s quote wasn’t the only way in which CBS signaled its support for same sex marriage. Leno was referencing a recent decision [5] by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which declared Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, “works a meaningful harm to gays and lesbians.” CBS “Evening News’” coverage [6] of the Proposition 8 ruling was skewed in favor of the court’s decision, quoting 2 supporters of gay marriage and one opponent in a segment about the ruling.
By contrast, NBC and ABC gave comparatively balanced views on the ruling. NBC “Nightly News [7]’s” segment on the overturning of Prop 8 read from the ruling, and featured one supporter and one opponent of the ruling. ABC’s “World News Tonight [8]” did only a short, factual segment on the ruling.