RIP Joanie Rivers

RIP Joanie Rivers.

I have loved Joan Rivers for a while - although she could be crass and dark with her humour (which isn't usually quite my style) she did so with such an obvious depth of humanity and understanding about the need for and role of humour in life. Just watch the routine she did about the death of her husband: it was one of the most wonderful and most shocking performances I ever saw. That was the thing about Joan Rivers - she had many a flaw but they were always right there on the surface (which is amazing when you think of how completely she sought to cosmetically hide her physical 'flaws') and that's as refreshing now as it was years ago. I remember driving to work everyday for a month and listening to a CD of one of her shows back to back every single journey. She was hilarious. She was mad as a hatter. She was hard working. She hung on to her career through thick and thin. As a woman she was a pretty solid role model: gutsy, strong, ballsy, doing what she loved and giving everyone around her a run for their money. Saying all this though I was still pretty disappointed to watch the videos of her words about the Palestinians. It's sadly the first thing that I thought about when I heard she was ill. There's a lot to take into account about that situation (which I'm not really doing here) and the suggestion that it was taken out of context (although I'm not really sure how) and I struggle a little to stop it seriously affecting my view of her. However there is so much happening in the world right now, situations so complicated and so much hatred flying around that I'm cautious to dismiss everything else I know about her, her history, her personality, her views, her work, in light of one incident. So although this particular example of her 'honesty' has certainly cast a cloud over my view of Joan Rivers, in light of everything else I know about her I feel secure in determining that I don't think I will allow it to discount how I feel about her many qualities as a person, as a performer and as a bloody funny woman. I'm sad I'll never get to meet her.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29072417