Memo to political candidates: Apparently, referencing the great Steve Martin movie The Jerk will get you in a lot of trouble, even if it seems fairly obvious from the context that you’re doing nothing other than referencing the movie.
In other sort-of Steve Martin-related news, the Anne Hathaway episode of Saturday Night Live was fantastic. The political humor, I expected — the rest, no.
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Context, people. Look at the context before making a snap judgement. I don’t think he did anything bad, nor should he be held to a “higher standard” simply because he was channeling Steve Martin for a high school reunion bio. But in politics, outrage is a currency, so it’s not surprising at the reaction.