Political Talk Show Controversies Edit
‘Republicans and Dominicans’ on Regis and Kelly

TMZ reported this morning that some people in Dominican and Latino cultures plan on protesting today’s Regis and Kelly show over comments they perceive referenced them to “donkeys,” in the “a-word” sense.  As of this afternoon, TMZ interviewed Regis and said that there were just over a dozen protesters demanding an apology.

In the video, Regis and Kelly were engaged in a discussion about politics and children. Kelly Ripa goes on to tell a cute story about her young daughter. Like any good parent, Ripa quizzes her little one on her understanding of the topic. She asks, “Do you know the two parties?”  Her daughter replies, “Yes, the elephants and the donkeys.” 

Ripa then quizzed her daughter further and asked who the elephants and donkeys represented. Kelly’s little one said that the elephants represent the Republicans and the donkeys represent the “Dominicans.” Laughter ensued amongst the audience and Regis, who quickly replied, “She’s [Ripa’s daughter] pretty close.” 

Regis and Kelly, as well as the audience got a good chuckle after that comment, which is the one that has a few Dominicans and Latinos upset enough to protest the Regis and Kelly show.

Personally, and with all due respect to Dominicans and Latinos, though I’m not a viewer, I think this is a case of political correctness gone wild.  Considering the context of the discussion, I’m positive that Regis, as well as the Regis and Kelly audience, were not associating Dominicans with donkies as a$$es but, rather the fact the majority of American Dominicans and Latinos are Democrats—meaning the “donkey party.”