Andrew Dice Clay, The First Casualty of the PC War!?
In Andrew Dice Clay’s new book “The Filthy Truth” Clay reveals many things. An affair with Teri Hatcher, the origins of many components of the Diceman character, and behind the scenes looks at his many setbacks and achievements. He also talks about the outrageousness of his material, and how pushing boundaries both helped and hurt his career. The upsides were ongoing. Killing at clubs, his runaway breakout HBO Special, selling out Madison Square Garden for not one but two nights. Even the infamous appearance that got Dice banned from MTV seemed to only help his career.
But the negative repercussions were harsh and far reaching, and Andrew Dice Clay’s act was polarizing to say the least. Many women were unhappy with the act and the gay community was angry with the things Dice would say. And they certainly had reason to feel that way. After all, Dice’s act had pushed boundaries in a way nobody had before him. Both groups had been fighting for decades to change the way they were seen and treated, and many felt that Dice’s character took both those movements back into the dark ages. Although the Diceman was created to be a character, not everyone in his audience saw him that way, and that was troubling to a lot of people.
It was in this climate that Dice was invited to host Saturday Night Live, and it was in this climate that castmember Nora Dunn, and musical guest Sinead O’Connor made the decision to boycott the show. To outsiders it seemed like such a move couldn’t possibly harm Dice’s rise, which had been unstoppable. In fact, it actually boosted the rating of that episode of SNL.
But, Dice says in his book, “the sharks were in the water and the sharks were smelling blood. My fucking blood.” Media attacks started to get vicious, Dice’s reps were taking serious heat and not long after, the bomb was dropped. Dice’s movie, “The Adventures of Ford Fairlane” which was preparing for a big release with a giant premiere, would be quietly released. Premiere, cancelled. Press, cancelled. His other films left on his contract with 20th Century Fox would be bought out. “The critics did everything but put a gun to my head. I don’t mind their criticizing the film,” Dice said, “that’s fair game, but they went after me personally. A publicist that I hired at the time said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like it, Dice. It’s an orchestrated campaign to knock you off.”
Dice says he later learned that Nora Dunn’s boycott was less motivated by her problems with his material, and more related to her own career. He says in the book that Dunn was being dropped from SNL and needed some positive press, but regardless of the reason the damage was done. Damage that would reach even beyond Dice’s career and ushering in a new wave of political correctness, censorship, and using boycotts to pressure corporate America whenever someone’s art or expression gets too controversial or pushes too many boundaries. Were the attacks on Dice Clay’s career helpful to the rights of women and the gay community? It’s not clear.
Its very likely that the night that Nora Dunn (and Sinead O’Connor) boycotted Saturday Night Live because Dice was set to appear would play a role in a PC climate that continues to exist even today. But if you are going to blame the protesters you’d also have to ask whether the Dice character himself was a contributing factor, and whether the act of being outrageous and polarizing can be the very act that sets the pendulum in motion in the first place. But regardless of what happened then, there is no question that Andrew Dice Clay is back, with a new book, and in many ways, a new career.
Andrew Dice Clay’s book The Filthy Truth is out today.
You can order The Filthy Truth
