Sarah Silverman in Playboy: Marriage is like joining a country club that won’t allow blacks or Jews

By Emma Kat Richardson | March 25, 2010 at 12:14 pm | 6 comments | News | Tags: playboy, sarah silverman, stand-up

Celebrity marriages come and go, but we know of at least one high-profile personality who won’t be tying the knot any sooner than she’ll be tying her tongue: Sarah Silverman.

In a recent interview with Playboy, the world’s best news source for the bachelor/bachelorette lifestyle, Silverman professed a general disdain for the institution of marriage, comparing it to her vegetarianism. “I’m a vegetarian, but I don’t have a problem if you want a hamburger,” she said. “Marriage to me is like eating meat. I think it’s gross and [bleep]ing crazy.”

She also went on to criticize heterosexual couples who choose to get married, citing the mostly-federal ban on marriage between gay and lesbian couples as a primary reason to withhold participation.

Because gays and lesbians can’t get married in most states, Silverman said, “If you’re getting married today, it’s the equivalent of joining a country club that doesn’t allow blacks or Jews.”

So, what do you think, Punchline-ians? Is the eternal Ms. (never Mrs.) Silverman right on target here? Or is this yet another instance of attention-mongering by a notoriously outspoken comedian?

About the Author

Emma Kat Richardson

Emma Kat Richardson is a Detroit native who received her BA in professional writing and women and gender studies from Elizabethtown College in 2008. Her journalism and feature writing has been published in Alternative Press, Bitch, Punchline Magazine, Bookslut, and Real Detroit Weekly.

http://www.chaseroper.com Chase Roper

I love marriage and being married. It is probably the most fulfilling thing about my life. I also think gay people should be allowed to get married. And finally, I love Sarah Silverman, as a comedian and entertainer, that is. She is favorite attention-mongering / notoriously outspoken female comedian today.
Avi

First off, I’m disappointed by the way this question was posed. To suggest that a courageous celebrity like Sarah is doing this as some sort of publicity stunt to boost her career is inane. If anything, she’s risking losing more fans than gaining. Whenever someone cares about anything that truly matters, there will be monkeys who love to fling shit.

Gay marriage is only a matter of time. As MLK said, “The arc of a moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” How long it will take is up to all of us. The Civil Rights Movement depended on white ALLIES working in partnership with blacks to put enough pressure on govt to finally enact the legislation. Similarly, the LGBTQ community needs ALL THE SUPPORT IT CAN MUSTER from its STRAIGHT ALLIES, in order for gay marriage to happen sooner, and let everyone move on to other more pressing issues like poverty, global warming, corporate power in politics, etc.

Just as whites can’t always “see” their white privilege, straight people can’t always “see” their straight privilege, until another straight person points it out to them. The fact that Sarah is taking this public stand against marriage will hopefully make some people take a look at the INSTITUTION a bit more closely, learn that there are about 1200 LEGAL RIGHTS enjoyed by married couples, that many “straight” marriages are shams, that many LGBTQ partnerships are lifelong and loving, and that who you want to cuddle up with at the end of the day shouldn’t be weighed in upon by a bunch of tea-bagging Right wingnuts with a crazy agenda. So THANK YOU and GOD BLESS YOU, Sarah Silverman!
http://www.myqkaplan.com Myq Kaplan

Dan Savage, a reasonable, hilarious, and outspoken gay sex columnist, has always told straight people who support gay marriage rights to go ahead and get married if they want, and just to support the cause by donating to groups that are (a la the Beastie Boys later in life and more gay) fighting for the right to MAAAAARRY.

PS The Beastie Boys part was added by me, not Dan Savage. (Not bragging, just making sure no one blames the wrong person.)

PPS I like Sarah Silverman. She is also reasonable, and saying the things she saying are in the spirit of justice and getting people to think about things the right way, I’d say.
http://www.infauxtainment.com Pete Grossman

Can you imagine the guy married to Sarah Silverman? She’s got a talented tongue, but it’ll leave ya bleedin’! What guy wants that? Uh, strike that, there are a lot of sadists out there.
http://www.twitter.com/thewhiteybrown Whitey Brown

Some people join country clubs to get away from blacks and jews while some people get married to prove theyre not gay… but for the most part people just do what makes THEM happy, life’s too short to live for people that wouldn’t give a damn about anything you done anyhow. As far as gay marriage views search Doug Stanhope, much more thought provoking. Suck my white privilege
Daniel Kelly

Oh Lord. Although I get a kick out of S.S.’s humor, it looks like she’s jumped on the anti-marriage bandwagon. Saying that the institution that supports the bond of a man and woman to foster the ideal environment to raise children not being radically altered to allow two women or two men to imitate it is in any way similar to being in a club that denies membership based on ethnicity is way out in left field. There’s no comparison at all.