The Brady Bunch could have had no better timing, nor selected a more worthy recipient than Helen Thomas.
This bizarre "Visionary Award" acceptance speech took place May 18...all of nine days before David Nesenoff recorded Thomas's racist, delusional rant about Israel. Nesenoff posted the video on YouTube, and within 24 hours it had over a million views. Almost immediately, there was a rising chorus of demands for Thomas to be terminated by Hearst Corporation.
Early Monday morning, June 7, the board of the White House Correspondents Association released a statement condemning Thomas's remarks. The group of White House reporters called Thomas' remarks "indefensible." Shortly after, that same morning, Hearst announced that Helen Thomas had retired, "effective immediately."CNN wrote:The Anti-Defamation League said in a written statement that Thomas's apology "does not go far enough."
"Her remarks were outrageous, offensive and inappropriate," ADL national director Abraham H. Foxman said in the statement. "Her suggestion that Israelis should go back to Poland and Germany is bigoted and shows a profound ignorance of history. We believe Thomas needs to make a more forceful and sincere apology for the pain her remarks have caused."
Her apology also was not enough for [former White House Counsel Lanny] Davis, who served as special counsel to former President Bill Clinton.
"Helen Thomas, who I used to consider a close friend and who I used to respect, has showed herself to be an anti-Semitic bigot," Davis said. "This is not about her disagreement about her criticisms of Israel. She has a right to criticize Israel and that is not the same as being an anti-Semite."
Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary for former President George W. Bush, also said Thomas should be fired because of her remarks. He reiterated that demand in a statement provided to CNN Sunday.
"Helen's statement calling for the religious cleansing of Israel is reprehensible," Fleischer said. "If this isn't bigotry, what is? What she said is as bad as someone saying all blacks should leave America and go back to Africa."
Short of canonizing a serial killer, the Brady Bunch did just about all they could with this one to demonstrate to the world the solidity, sanity, and socially-grounded nature of their collective judgments.