In Defense of 'Will and Grace'

Will and Grace is back ya'll! In case you haven't heard. It's back and funnier than ever. Or at least that's what I thought. Whenever it's on or when I admittedly re-watch the episodes on iTunes I laugh the entire time. It was like my Christmas, Birthday, and Wedding day were all wrapped into one big, hilarious package. Then I found out that I shouldn't be laughing at some of the jokes because they are misogynistic.

The joke that is a prime example of this was the "platinum gay" joke. The set-up is relatively easy; Jack informs Grace that he has never slept with a woman and his mother had a C-section, so he has never touched a vagina. Sean Hayes perfectly delivered the lines, and I laughed a little too hard. When I say a bit too hard, I mean my Coca-cola went through my nose. Even now I still think the joke is funny.

Alas, my status as a social justice warrior is seriously in question. Apparently, it was an insult to men who had no choice on how they were birthed, and it insulted women. Maybe I chose not to see it that way because WaG (as fans call it) has always been so progressive and groundbreaking that I can't see how people want to find issues with it. Or maybe the "casual misogyny" was always there, and I just didn't think too hard about it. Both are possibilities and both results in me being a bad social justice warrior.

Even last week's dead cooch zinger from Karen is creating controversy among some people. Why? I don't get it at all. One argument that I read is that maybe Grace isn't interested in sex and identifies as Asexual now. Here's the thing about that case, it's hooey. Nobody pressured Grace into being horny, that has been written into her character's DNA right from the start of the series back in 1998. It would be blasphemous to the fans now to change her character.

It would also be an injustice to the character of Karen to suddenly pretend like she isn't racist and above everyone else. That is why she has become a legendary sitcom character over the years. Part of the appeal of the character is that they made it so she could be as outrageous as the audience wanted her to be. To now say she needs to tone it down because Trump fans will use her as an example as liberal hypocrisy is as ludicrous as Trump's presidency.

Let me set this right here: Karen Walker is a fictional character played by the phenomenal Megan Mullaly. Nobody should take what these characters say seriously. Maybe we do need to keep some things in mind, like if they are suddenly killing all of the female characters and calling it funny, then yes we need to put them in check. However, these throwaway jokes are not hurting anybody. In these times, we need all the laughs that we can get, that don't come from the so-called leaders in Washington. If we analyze every single joke to death, then we might as well allow the misery to take over now.

If that's what you want, more power to you. As for me, every Thursday night at 9, I will be watching my favorite show in all of it's cynical, hysterical, and politically incorrect glory. If that makes me a bad social justice warrior or if my card is going to be revoked because I think it's funny, that's ok. I'd rather laugh than be part of a humorless group. In the words of Jack McFarland: "Got it?"