Last Thursday, I blogged about what I called The Gaffe Machine - that process that seems to have developed in our culture whereby televised events go generally unwatched until something controversial happens, and then the controversial "gaffe" becomes a self-sustaining media event, generating large ratings and various other forms of public attention.

Well, it's been four days and already I have another example to share with you:

Comedian Jerry Lewis apologized on Tuesday for his use of an anti-gay slur during the weekend broadcast of his annual Labor Day Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The controversial remark came Monday afternoon in the 18th hour of the live national telecast, when a visibly weary Lewis, 81, was joking on stage, pretending to introduce members of someone's family as he mugged for the camera.

"Oh, your family has come to see you. You remember Bart, your oldest son, Jesse, the illiterate fag ...," Lewis said, as he apparently caught himself and ceased the gag in mid-sentence, turning on his heel away from the camera.

So here we go: absolutely no one watches 21.5 hours of the telethon. Most people, if they watch at all, tune in and out throughout the day. So virtually no one heard Lewis say those words. But this morning, it's all over the Internet and every news story about the telethon is leading with it. The Gaffe Machine has begun to churn.

Enter the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD):

"Jerry Lewis' on-air use of this kind of anti-gay slur is simply unacceptable," GLAAD President Neil Giuliano said in a statement, adding that the comic's remark "feeds a climate of hatred and intolerance" that could incite anti-gay violence. GLAAD urged Lewis to apologize for the comment and asked the entertainer to meet with members of the group "to help him understand why these words are so hurtful."

I'm not defending what he said, but let's think about this seriously for a moment. Jerry Lewis, a man who has dedicated the last 30+ years of his life to helping people he doesn't even know, a man who has raised (and inspired others to raise) BILLIONS of dollars for medical research, social programs and community outreach programs, has "incited anti-gay violence" by "feed[ing] a climate of hatred and intolerance," and now needs to meet with GLAAD representatives to "understand why these words are so hurtful." Let's also not forget that he's 81 years old, and had been working for eighteen hours straight at the time.

I don't know what Jerry Lewis truly thinks about gay people. None of us will ever know for sure. But I think the man's life's work puts him on the right end of the helpful/hurtful continuum, no?

On the upside, it seems as though The Gaffe Machine was unable to chew him up and spit him out, in the way it did for Don Imus, Michael Richards, Mel Gibson, Caitlin Upton, and so many others. Lewis issued this statement today:

"I obviously made a bad choice of words. Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard," he said. "The success of the (telethon) and all the good that will come from it shouldn't be lost because of one unfortunate word. I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses. I am sorry."

And a spokesperson for GLAAD subsequently said this:

"GLAAD thanks Jerry Lewis for his swift and direct apology for this incident. We join millions of Americans in applauding the important work of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and wish MDA and Mr. Lewis much continued success in their efforts."

I think even GLAAD realized what they were up against this time. So hopefully, this one just goes away. We'll have to wait and see. Even if it does, though, I'll bet you a dollar that the day before Labor Day, 2008, every news story about the upcoming telethon will include a reference to this "incident."