Tag: Bill Murray

Should Bill Murray Be Canceled?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I really like Bill Murray — as do a lot of other Americans — and the idea that we would “cancel” a national treasure like Murray is something I struggle with. The reason is, we all have a dark side, we have all “fallen short of the glory that is Christ,” as The Bible teaches us.

And yet.

We are in a new age where seemingly no one is safe from the wrath of the “woke cancel culture mob.” And there have been some pretty disturbing alligations lodged against Murray over the years, from his ex-wife accusing him of abuse to whatever it was that caused him to fight with Lucy Liu on the set of Charlie’s Angels.

I suppose what bothers me, though, is it’s all kind of murky. So he problematic, it’s not like he married his step daughter, you know? I think the question at the moment is if the current trouble he finds himself in is a mortal blow to his career, or if it will just blow over and be forgotten.

Some of all of this is we don’t even really know what being “canceled” means in the first place. All your typical conservative knows is they fear they risk, an abstract way, their entire life being ruined simply for being conservative. Even though, really, the whole thing is generated by the hot air of Fox News and Right wing podcasts than anything else.

I mean, if you can’t tell me what you’re afraid of, aren’t you really telling me that you just don’t like, in general, the mentality of center-Left people who you don’t understand don’t really want to? You want things to go back to the way they used to be when you were young, only with wifi and Netflix.

But the key thing to remember is many, many of the people who are allegedly “canceled” either haven’t been canceled in real terms — Dave Chappelle, Louis CK — or what they did was REALLY BAD and they deserved it (name any number of cretens who were exposed because of the #MeToo movement.)

My gut tells me that Murray is down but not out. He’s always been a unique fixture in American pop culture and I just can’t see him being totally excised from American life because of what’s going on. At least, I hope not?

Are We Canceling Bill Murray Now?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s been an open secret for ages that Bill Murray has a dark side. And, yet, to date, his persona has been such one of a lovable eccentric that we’ve collectively agreed to look the other way. In particular, there was the allegations of domestic abuse against him by his ex-wife and the bad blood between Murray and Lucy Liu on the set of Charlie’s Angels.

And, yet, the last year or so has not been kind to Murray. First, there was the turmoil around Aziz Ansari’s movie that Murray was set to star in. Now, as I understand it, Geena Davis has also suggested that Murray acted inappropriately with her at some point.

I don’t know what to tell you. It’s something of a conundrum because it’s easy to see Murray’s fate becoming yet another partisan issue in the woke cancel culture mob wars that we seem to be engaging in now. There will be plenty of people who are willing to forgive Murray for his transgressions because we’re all human and we all screw up. Meanwhile, there will be more Left leaning people who will want to throw the book at Murray for being a dick and HE CAN NEVER BE FORGIVEN.

We live in interesting times. It will be interesting to see what happens next for Murray. Will this bad behavior gradually be forgiven….or this it? Are we going to be in the post-Murray era?

Let’s Address The Quentin Tarantino Comment About Chevy Chase Verses Bill Murray Movies


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Quentin, I love you bro, but this time you’re full of shit. The reason why his statement that Chevy Chase movies are better than Bill Murray is personal to me is I remember when the movies in question came out. For someone who is so attune to the nuances of storytelling, Tarantino is strangely totally wrong on this issue.

What’s worse, his very bad hot take on this subject is gist for Chads who want to get all worked up about how Cancel Culture is depriving us of a good Star Wars franchise or some such. The idea that Chase movies are better than Murray movies because Chase’s characters are “allowed” not to redeem themselves by the end of the movie is nothing more than horseshit. The whole point of a good movie, generally, is there is some redemption or change on the part of the protagonist. Something has to change.

There’s just no excuse for such a bad hot take on Tarantino’s part. Also, in general, Murray movies are just better, period. I mean, Chase’s career was very scattershot in quality, while Murray has, over the years, been in classic movie after classic movie.

Why Tarantino would make such a weird, erroneous observation about the two men’s careers is very curious. The weakest Murray movie between 1980 and 2000 is far, far better than Chase’s strongest movie between when he left SNL to when his movie career fizzled out in the late 80s. I mean, when it comes to cultural relevance the first Fletch movie is probably all Chase has. I think there may have been a Chase movie or two in the 70s that was pretty good, but they’ve faded into the historical shadows.

Edit: I totally forgot the Vacation movies that Chase did. Which, I think, tells us how bad, in real terms, they were.

Anyway, lulz.