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Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Moe the Clown is Probably a Racist

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Boycott the Berry Big Circus!

If there is one thing that KoopaTV doesn't tolerate (and... there isn't just one thing), it's when people denigrate African countries.

For example, we wrote a whole article defending our country of residence, Sierra Leone, when President Donald John Trump allegedly declared it a “shithole.”

Lawrence “Moe” Curls, the current ringmaster of the Berry Big Circus out in California, had this outrageous comment to say about an African country... and we got it RECORDED:


“You sourpusses are so boring! You're like a country in Africa — you've got to go!”
Allegedly, Japanese witnesses to the remark believe that Moe said this instead:
“You guys are such a bore. I can't stand people like you. You've just got Togo!”
It doesn't really make sense if Moe was referring to the great African nation of Togo. Togo, in all languages, is pronounced as “Tohgoh”, rhyming with the word “logo.” This is quite different than “to go.” Plus, it's not an action. It's a respectable place. Totally proper noun.

Let's therefore take what Moe said, on tape, at face value. Moe is alleging that the target of his verbal assault is like a country in Africa — creating an equivalency between an African country and his verbal victim — and then says that the target has “to go.” What does that mean? They have to leave the circus grounds? Do they have to get his groceries? Or... is it a death threat, and they have to go leave the land of the living and die? Since whomever is the so-called sourpuss has to share the same fate as an African country, it follows that Moe's directive has to be something both the sourpuss and an African country can do.

I think being wiped off the Earth makes sense as the context. A person can die. A nation can be removed from the map and annexed, much like what the liars-on-nuclear-policy at Iran keep trying to do with the nation of Israel.

Moe the Clown is making some kind of genocidal statement regarding his wishes for the fate of the unnamed African country, and a murderous one regarding his wish for the sourpuss. Everyone knows that genocide against an African country is probably a racially-tinged comment against black people, so we can say that Moe the Clown is probably a racist. (And a danger to society.)

I have two more bits of evidence to support this.

One, there are no black people, or anyone who isn't white, for that matter, working at the Berry Big Circus under Moe's leadership. Now, you can't tell me in a place as diverse as California that there are no qualified funny black people that have tried to apply to the Berry Big Circus. I know for a fact there are lots of funny black people who would do fantastically at the circus!

Berry Big Circus cast members staff Ace Attorney anime Moe the Clown
This is the cast of the Berry Big Circus. No black people.

Evidence two: Moe has culturally appropriated the black culture iconic television show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, as part of his stand-up routine. (...During a court case, no less!)

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Moe the Clown Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Justice For All
Moe isn't black, and he's quoting the The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air song created by and for black people.
What does he gain from doing this?

The only thing we can do with a probable racist like Moe the Clown is boycott his business, the Berry Big Circus, and no-platform him. KoopaTV will do just that. Will you join us? (Even if you don't care about the owner's probable racism, the Berry Big Circus also happens to be an awful circus experience in general.)


KoopaTV will not feature the Berry Big Circus in its articles, except to write when it is eventually shut down from the boycott movement. That does not stop KoopaTV from putting the Berry Big Circus in its Feedback Forms and Quizzes, where it currently sits as a possible multiple choice answer to a question in KoopaTV Quiz Part XVI. Is it the correct answer? Find out by taking the quiz!


Under the author's leadership, KoopaTV has never employed a black person.
Ludwig also culturally appropriated The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with a Koopa Kingdom version.
Lemmy Koopa's circus is a lot better than the Berry Big Circus, if you're looking for circuses.
The Ace Attorney Funimation dub of part two, featuring Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All, was released two weeks ago.

16 comments :

  1. I don't like traditional circuses anyway for how they beat up animals until they have no choice but to jump through a ring of fire or do some other terrifying performance. Regina has a whip, we know that tiger is probably fearing injury or even death.

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    Replies
    1. I heard a rumour that the previous ringmaster shot their lion to death, so that tiger's fear is completely warranted.

      Delete
    2. The ringmaster shot the lion because its jaw was latched onto one of their darker-skinned group members' heads and it wasn't letting go. And it only took one shot to kill. Also, there is no evidence that the tiger was even around at the time. It's a rather small tiger, so it is possible that it is only 6 months old itself.

      Delete
    3. It's possible the tiger is at the circus BECAUSE it's unusually small.

      Word of these things gets around.

      Delete
  2. I've been boycotting the Berry Big Circus ever since Moe became the ringmaster. His jokes have never been hilarious, and when I thought he could not get any worse, I find out that he is a racist too. The circus is in critical need of new management or else they will risk alienating customers. Nearly one year ago, the critically famed Ringling Bros. Circus performed for the very last time and I have a feeling that the Berry Big Circus will meet the same fate.

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    1. Oh damn that happened on May 21, 2017.

      Yeah, very good timing on my part, then.

      Thank you for your support! Together, we can affect REAL CHANGE!

      Delete
    2. His jokes have been lost in translation. If you understood any Japanese and viewed it that way, it would have been more laughable unless you are that much of a Papyrus about puns.

      Delete
  3. I regret to say, your article makes a very poor argument.
    "'To go' and 'Togo' have very different pronunciations" my foot. They are off by a hard vowel. Say it right, and you won't be able to tell the difference. AND USING A COUNTRY'S NAME AS PUN IS NOT RACIST. He's not saying "an African country's gotta go, just like you"; he's formulating a poorly executed pun: He sets the punchline up by mentioning "a country in Africa" and then he drops the punchline by naming the country he was referencing. A better execution of the joke would be this:
    "You really didn't get it? Boooorrrinnggg! You guys are like a certain African country. If you're not going to laugh, you Congo!" (pun for 'can go'). However, the writers chose to nix something like this and phrase it so that it wouldn't come off like name-calling or like a negative association. Saying "You have Togo" is complete nonsense, and thus not racist. Saying "You Congo" is easier to understand, but can be misconstrued. The writers did the right thing. You are wrong to accuse them of racism, especially when you misinterpret the joke. Togo is not doing the going. Togo IS the going. You also have to factor that this is an interpretation, not an exact translation, per se. "To go" and "Togo" have completely different pronunciations when translated to Japanese. It is likely that the original pun made more sense in Japanese, referencing Togo but likely attaching it to a different word.
    As for the rewritten lyrics of the opening to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," there's nothing racist about that. It's literally a meme. There's a comic that utilizes this theme, rewriting lyrics accordingly, featuring a Magikarp. Would you call that racist just because they rewrote the lyrics? If so, you're really losing it. Or, should I say, LUDWIG IT!
    "No black people." Acro and Bat both had darker skin tones, so it's not like there's a lack of diversity.
    If you watched more of the anime, you would see that the animals are treated well in the Big Berry Circus. The whip is NEVER used (except by Von Karma, and never toward an animal), the tiger is friendly with people and responds to commands WILLINGLY, not fearfully. It was determined that the violence by the lion was due to a sneeze, not any kind of intentional violence. Acro's birds had no fear of him. Even Muni the Monkey was friendly (except when people tried to take back what he steals from them). Conclusion: You have no right to declare Big Berry Circus worthy of boycott on any of the bases you covered. It is not an ordinary circus (in that it treats animals well), and the funny man is not racist (you don't see him wearing blackface, do you?), and they can't help it that black people don't want to join their troop. It's not like they'd turn anybody down! (Also, on that point, I can't think of many anime or JRPGs that feature black people whatsoever, so if you're going to declare anything as being discriminatory, call out the anime industry!)

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    Replies
    1. Hard vowels are significant...!

      I didn't say anything about Moe's joke writers (which I assume is... Moe himself), this is about Moe!

      Acro and Bat are imprisoned and comatose respectively, so, I mean, how'd that work out for them? They clearly aren't currently working at the circus. (Also, they're definitely not black.)

      There's clearly other ways Moe can express racism besides be in blackface. If it was just blackface, we could forgive that. Virginian Democrats and Canadians sure have.

      Delete
    2. At first I thought this was a joke but I’m starting to think you’re actually a retard

      Delete
    3. "Hard vowels are significant…!"
      You do realize Moe has an accent, right? Here's an example of an accent-induced joke:
      Person A: "Good grief, the comedian's a bear!"
      Person B (has accent): "No, he's a-not-a; he's a-wearin-a-neck-a-tie-a!"
      This is funny because Person B responds to Person A as though Person A was saying "the comedian's bare" with Person B's accent.
      However, Moe wasn't using his accent to make the 'Country in Africa' joke. My point in mentioning this is that, when it comes to accents, mispronunciation should be disregarded, and when it comes to puns, it is almost to be expected. What made Moe's joke 'bad' is the fact that it was a pun. Many people hate puns. It's almost a Japanese cultural trope. https://blog.gaijinpot.com/oyaji-gyagu-a-guide-to-japanese-dad-jokes/

      Moe's joke writers are not Moe himself. The first writer was Shu Takumi. It was then translated into English by Eric Bailey, Brandon Gay, Jean Pierre Kellams, and Janet Hsu. The English was then checked by Eric Bailey, David Crislip, and Brandon Gay. In the JP Anime, he was voiced by Takeshi Uchida, and in the English dub he was voiced by Sonny Strait.

      If you have any quarrel with the jokes, take it to CAPCOM.
      As for the character of Moe himself, nothing he has said or done hints at demeaning a race or an ethnic group or even a country. The only people he actually demeans in any way are those who were adverse to his style of humor (i.e. puns), and his way of doing that was to call them sourpusses (which is, by definition, somebody who cannot be made to laugh; if you think otherwise, look it up in the Oxford dictionary). To think that Moe was racist whatsoever would mean either that you are triggered by anything even remotely related to race, or that you are actively seeking to slap the label of racism on literally anything.


      Now, about the comment by the user who goes by the username "Penis"… I don't know at whom that was directed, but it's not okay to throw that diagnosis around like an insult, even if one believes it to be medicinally true. It is considered ablism, since it is based on a stereotype and not on actual clinical evidence. I think a more accurate term would be "ignoramus," "simp," or "clown yourself."

      Thank you for attention, and have a nice day.

      Delete
    4. Hey, I gotta deal with that red-hatted plumber and his thick accent OFTEN, and I don't find it funny. Well, maybe sometimes to laugh at him. ...And then he jumps on my skull while I'm doing so. Not good!

      That said, I love puns! I love wordplay! You look around the other articles on this site and you'll see all kinds of literary devices used.

      However, I think it's a mighty problem to pass off responsibility of Moe's poor attempts at humour to other people.

      I actually thought that Penis was you under another name, but I'm happy to hear that you are not Penis.

      Delete

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