EdwardKnoxII 0 Report post Posted December 24, 2003 http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,13162,00.html Bruce Finally #*&!-ing Pardoned by Julie Keller Better late than never, dammit. Nearly 40 years after cuss-happy comic Lenny Bruce was convicted for swearing during a show at a Manhattan night club, New York Governor George Pataki has issued a pardon. In a statement Tuesday, Pataki called the move, the first posthumous pardon in the state's history, "a declaration of New York's commitment to upholding the First Amendment." The late funny man, a pioneer of standup comedy with his raucous routines on such previously taboo subjects as sex and religion, was charged with giving an obscene performance following a November 1964 gig at Café au Go Go in New York. Undercover cops said he swore more than 100 times during his show. Bruce was convicted after a six-month trial and sentenced to four months in jail, effectively ending his career. He then mishandled his appeal, never filing the correct paperwork. When he died of a drug overdose in 1967 at the age of 37, he hadn't yet served any time but the conviction remained on his record, much to the chagrin of fans and First Amendment proponents. His free-speech battle has become legend in the show-biz world, particularly among comedians. Several stars, including Robin Williams, the Smothers Brothers, Phyllis Diller, Margaret Cho and Penn and Teller, joined with Bruce's daughter and a team of lawyers to fight to get the conviction overturned. Bruce "almost single-handedly turned comedy clubs into free-speech zones," Ronald Collins, a legal scholar with the Virigina-based First Amendment Center and a mastermind of the pardon campagn, told the New York Times. "He needed to be vindicated," Collins told the Times. "We're elated. It's very important that now this record has been set straight." Collins cowrote The Trials of Lenny Bruce with David Skover, a law professor at Seattle University. The two men used the Website for their book to launch the campaign to clear Bruce's name. Their book is just the latest project to reevaluate Bruce and his groundbreaking role as both an entertainer and free-speech advocate. Dustin Hoffman scored an Oscar nod for his starring role in the 1974 biopic Lenny, and Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth, a 1999 HBO documentary narrated by Robert De Niro, was nominated for a documentary feature Oscar. "In the tradition of Lenny Bruce, it's about f---ing time," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "This is an important step toward setting the record straight about Lenny Bruce, about his role not as a criminal but as a visionary in American humor. And we're pleased that the governor has righted this wrong." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2GOLD 0 Report post Posted December 24, 2003 Ummm....yay? Way to stand up and....umm....do something good.... What the hell do I say to a pardon for a dead man??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1234-5678 0 Report post Posted December 24, 2003 More then 35 years too late. Big fucking deal. They already killed him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
