Jerry Lewis revives his sexist attitudes

Jerry Lewis says he hates to watch women doing comedy because it ‘diminishes’ them.

The 87-year-old has long admitted to having problems with female comedians, and when asked at the Cannes film festival if he had changed his mind in the wake of acts such as Melissa McCarthy and Sarah Silverman, he stuck to his guns.

He told reporters that when it came to broad comedy: ‘I can’t see women doing that. It bothers me.

‘I cannot sit and watch a lady diminish her qualities to the lowest common denominator. I just can’t do that.’

Lewis first admitted that he had trouble with the notion of would-be mothers as comedians in 1998, and in in 2000, told an audience: ‘I don’t like any female comedians.’ When Martin Short, who was also on stage, said that he surely must have liked Lucille Ball, Lewis flatly replied: ‘No.’

Published: 23 May 2013