These boots are made for racism/And that's just what they'll do/One of these days these boots are going to stomp all over Groupon.

Somehow this appeared on the Groupon website:



According to the linked TMZ article, that was not the only place on the Groupon site where the color-name "[n-word] brown" appeared. Of course, once an outcry arose, Groupon took the down the offensive material, attributed it to a "third-party seller," and asserted that the language was "completely unacceptable" and a violation of company policy and company "values." Of course companies have "values." Even if the only value was to maintain good relations with the public, the phrase "[n-word] brown" violates company values.

What crazy commercial enterprise would have values that approve of that? Claiming to have "values" about this is just plain meaningless. Perhaps a showing by Groupon that it is an excellent workplace for African-American employees would help with the PR in this situation. Because how does something like this happen?

A translation from French? Consider this passage from David Sedaris's "Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002)":

March 13, 2002 
Paris 
Hugh and Manuela are wood-graining the study of a well-known actor. Yesterday they asked him what color carpet he’d chosen, and he answered, “Tête-de-nègre.” This translates to “nigger’s head,” and he repeated it several times. There was a black man installing baseboards in the next room, and when Hugh suggested he maybe keep it down, the actor said, “It’s not racist— it’s a color. Ask anyone.”

"I call on you to honor my three Osushi Groupon vouchers."

"I will argue that the City of Boston ought not renew such license to a restaurant that does not honor its contractual commitments."

That Harvard business professor, Ben Edelman, had another email exchange, one that hangs on the question whether a prix fixe constitutes an "offer" within the meaning of a Groupon deal that can't be used with other offers.

Maybe Edelman is in the middle of an elaborate project and in the end there will be a book in the tradition of "The Lazlo Letters."

"We thought we were poking fun at ourselves, but clearly the execution was off and the joke didn’t come through."

"I personally take responsibility; although we worked with a professional ad agency, in the end, it was my decision to run the ads."

Groupon founder Andrew Mason takes responsibility for America's lack of a sense of humor and Christopher Guest can go search for a better place to ply his comic genius.

The Chicago Tribune, Groupon's hometown paper, quoted a New Yorker who said he felt like he'd been "punched in the face" when he saw the Tibet ad.

Ah! The power of comedy! How horrible to actually feel punched by a punchline.

AND: Here's the Tibet ad. Watch it before it disappears:



AND: I know I'm being played. Mason's statement is a well-done strategy to make the video viral in a new way. Notice that he doesn't really apologize. There's a sop to the people who were offended, but a cue to people who want to think we have a sense of humor to give it a cult following. We're the special people who get it and who respect Christopher Guest and laugh at the oversensitive twits, etc. etc. I know!

ALSO: At the Althouse Super Bowl party, we got the joke in real time.