Thursday, April 05, 2018

Blind Item #8 - Faux Pas - A Reader Blind

A recent blind reminded me of this celebrity encounter I had when I was young. My family had the opportunity to attend a huge international sporting event in Kentucky. This was the inaugural competition there so this would have been 4 decades ago. To make an even bigger splash for both the present and international viewing audience, this foreign-born A+ married celebrity opened and attended each day of competition.

We had the opportunity to greet and visit with the celebrity which was a big deal. We also got a chance to witness two behaviors for which he is famous. At a reception, our celebrity compared a young lady's incredibly long hair that was woven into a heavy braid to a horse's tail, and not favorably. I cannot remember exactly how he said it, but I know he told her to cut her hair.  When he said it, there were gasps of embarrassment in the crowd, which were quickly suppressed. The celebrity didn't seem to notice. I remember that the girl, probably 17 or 18 turned bright red. I felt terrible for her to be insulted so personally and publicly.

On this trip, the celebrity was accompanied everywhere by an assistant, never farther away than a few feet, who was a younger, smartly dressed and attractive woman. I myself was too young to notice anything, but my mother, God bless her, remarked to us afterward that she had sharpened butcher knife if our dad ever tried flying around the world with his coochie-coo. I remember this because she cracked herself up. She witnessed the glances, hand brushes and lingering arms around the waist.

On this trip, the celebrity made a much bigger faux pas that caused the print media in his home country and ours to go into overdrive criticizing him, but as we all know, the wife doesn't seem to mind. 

47 comments:

  1. Event being the Kentucky Derby?

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    1. Breeders cup started in the early 80s around 4 decades ago

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  2. Sorry 40 years ago so perhaps Prince Charles Dad.

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  3. Kentucky derby has been around since the 1880s.

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  4. Prince Phillip probably

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  6. Kentucky 3 day event, started in 1981

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  7. Philip is a dog. That man is hilarious and ridiculous.

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  8. The queen and the royals do spend a fair amount of time in kentucky for the horse racing.

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  9. Do you think the Queen cared? Honest question. I think she knew and was ok with it. They have obviously always been in love. I hope she got some hot side action too!

    Long live the Queen.

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    1. In the 50s they unofficially separated for a bit due to his womanizing ways. All of a sudden, she gives him the title of prince consort and he starts acting better. Sounds to me she cared a lot, more than he did, and she bought him a title to start acting better (at least around others).

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  10. Am I the only one that finds these "Reader Blinds" boring?

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  11. Actually, revise my own. Kentucky 3 day event started in 1978 and Prince Philip was there. He was likened in a newspaper as being ghostlike- like "Bowie Kuhn hunchoing a sporting event" what ever that means. Philip was president of an equine federation

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  12. In 1981, Philip took heat for this quote (for the gaffe that made headlines):
    "Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed" (during the 1981 recession).

    I'm not sure what the context of this was and I'm too lazy to research it.

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  13. Would Prince Philip say something blunt and possibly vulgar?

    You be the judge. Here are some of his moments of candor:

    "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?" (to a driving instructor in Oban, Scotland, during a 1995 walkabout).

    "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed." (to British students in China, during the 1986 state visit).

    "Do you still throw spears at each other?" (In Australia in 2002 talking to a successful aborigine entrepreneur).

    I'd say this young woman with the braided hair got off lightly.

    Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/04/48-prince-philips-greatest-gaffes-funny-moments/

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  14. Summary:

    British royal attends Kentucky Derby with side piece, insults teen's hair style just to be a dick.

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  15. Well, then if it's 1978, never mind about '81.

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  16. Good old Phil has come out with a lot worse than 'your hair sucks' in the last decade. Dude is a grade A troll. I remember an African leader (I forgot which country and am too sleepy to google) visited England and Phil complimented the guy's 'pyjamas.' Proper fucking lad, our Phil.

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    1. Anonymous9:43 AM

      This is what we used to call badass old guy. BOG.

      I work with an old white guy who thinks it’s hilarious to ask black people if they know how to swim.

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  17. This one was pretty good,and not the pages long.

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  18. Ten pages long,auto correct.

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  19. Phil is a legend. He's like Larry David, amazing.

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  20. I wonder if I'm still gonna be into gossip when i'm 40+
    Sounds ageist, isn't meant to be

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  21. @ drkdragon777

    "Am I the only one that finds these "Reader Blinds" boring?"

    Yes

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  22. Typical British humour.

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  23. @normal in my youth I was a lifeguard on a beach in Norfolk Virginia. Unfortunately, the stereotype is true. Black people (at least in Va) cannot swim. Like, honestly, maybe 1%. It was the strangest thing. I realize it is socioeconomic and based on centuries of segregation etc but I naively thought that it was an overexaggerated racist thing that people said.

    Good lord I would never say that outloud to someone though!

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    1. I always thought it was a stereotype, too, until my son started watching old seasons of "The Amazing Race". Swimming or water challenges are often the downfall of black competitors.

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  24. Reader blind, did not read.

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  25. Anonymous10:15 AM

    If Philip commented on her hair, I'd consider that tame by his standards!

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  26. Has to be Philip since he's the one who likes them young, I mean really young, whereas Charles seems to prefer just one old hag

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  27. I love the reader blinds. The longer the better!

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  28. You think old Prince Chuck is not stepping out on Camilla, please. Though his rumoured mistresses are probably older than Phil.

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  29. You think old Prince Chuck is not stepping out on Camilla, please. Though his rumoured mistresses are probably older than Phil's mistresses I can see them competing. I mean you know when you are rich and bored you got time for this.

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  30. I always thought it was an overexaggerated racist thing that people said too until I moved to NYC and realized none of the black people I know can swim and they're all pretty upfront about it.

    Even in Jamaica where it is an ISLAND full of black people, apparently I'm told (by my Jamaican friend) they don't really swim either? That part confused me but here I am.

    I agree it's a cultural thing and not an ability thing but it is pervasive for sure.

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  31. The BC has been in existence for about 40 years, and was one of the top events in the equine world at the time--and the Queen has a top notch stable of racehorses, so that works.

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    1. It's the Kentucky 3 Day Event.

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  32. I read a story about Prince William having an American mistress. The mistress rides horses. The article claimed Prince William met the woman when he was not dating Dutchess Katherine. Article had the woman's name & photo. The sources claim they still meet.

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  35. The trick with Phil is to give as good back and he backs down and suddenly becomes very civil.....one memorable comeback was from a lady in Wales her name was Fitzgerald (Fitz in a surname historically means illegitimate offspring- usually of a King) Phil said "Born on the wrong side of the blanket then"......she instantly replied "I'm sure your family would know more about that than mine..... Andrew not with you today then" He went as white as a sheet and left the event immediately. It has long been rumoured that Andrew is not Philips child.

    The Queen as pretty much stated she doesn't care about Phil's side activities .... saying very pointedly to a friend "He needs a lot of entertaining" what she does mind about is the dalliances becoming public gossip.

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  36. I don't know about the men, but a sista ain't gettin' her hair wet under any circumstances, so no, most don't know how to swim.

    Most upper class Euros, let alone Royals and the aristocracy, have quite different morals with regards to affairs. The only rule is no public embarrassment; discretion is the key.

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  37. Random and having nothing to do with the blind key takeaway - if you are being chased down by a group of black people for whatever reason, head for the nearest body of water and swim beyond waist depth. Got it.

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