As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the school of media ecology focused on forwarding the concept of game show host as iconoclast has been sort of lazy lately. We’ve been buying vowels and answering in the form of a question for nigh on thirty years, but where’s the edge? To whom can we look for the “I love my cigar, but at least I take it out of my mouth every once in a while” of our generation? If our smartly-suited professional index card readers can’t give the culture a good old Richard Dawson goose every now and then, who will?
Thankfully, our fortunate son Pat Sajak isn’t about to let America go on thinking that he’s just some wheel-spinning dunderhead. Courtesy of the badger-faced Wheel of Fortune host’s official Twitter (@patsajak) comes my current pick for tweet of the month:
I now believe global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists knowingly misleading for their own ends. Good night.
— Pat Sajak (@patsajak) May 20, 2014
BOOM. DROP THE MIC, PAT.
There are at least forty reasons why this tweet is hilarious, not least among them the fact that it was tweeted by Pat Sajak. Pat Sajak, the man whose heretofore dogged pursuit of inoffensiveness was the most offensive thing about him. While his nightly backhanded sarcasm occasionally tends toward straight doucheism, audiences understand his loose interpretation of game show formality as little more than a desire to expand the conversation beyond the stifled niceties that define the format. His constant digs at contestants are so covert that we all just assume that he can’t possibly realize what an asshole he is. He’s out-of-touch and maybe a little thick, but by no means is he an honest-to-shit rabble rouser.
Or so we all thought until this shit hit the share button. Now we know the answer: Sajak’s Chevy Chase-like fake smile bespoke a similarly Chase-like self-hatred so deep that even after boldly fusing a concern for one’s environment with racism and anti-Americanism he stamped his tweet with a cowardly “Good night,” aka I AM SO DEFINITELY RIGHT ABOUT THIS THAT I WILL HEAR NO ARGUMENTS TO THE CONTRARY LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU LA LA LA.
In fact, this is far from the first batshit tweet Sajak has shared. His account is such a free-flowing stream of right-wing fuck-youisms, it may as well be called Sarcastic Ayn Rand (is anyone using the handle @atlasshat?). Among the targets of Sajak’s snide conservatism have been homosexuals:
Damn the career consequences! I’m hereby proclaiming my heterosexuality!
— Pat Sajak (@patsajak) April 18, 2014
And environmentalists:
My interest in Al Gore’s pronouncements could fit into a gnat’s navel & still leave room for a Liberal’s sense of humor.
— Pat Sajak (@patsajak) May 7, 2014
And good taste in general:
Once remains of flight 370 are found, CNN planning 24/7 coverage of Amelia Earhart.
— Pat Sajak (@patsajak) April 23, 2014
He’s also a Gene Simmons-level flaunter of wealth:
You think the celebrity life is easy? My night shift sommelier just gave his notice.
— Pat Sajak (@patsajak) May 1, 2014
And he occasionally breaks the fourth wall to let us know that, no really, he’s a complete asshole:
https://twitter.com/patsajak/status/468828847337512960
There’s a new King of Hate-Follows in town. I’d like to buy a vowel. An ‘A.’
–MF
thenitpic.com 