John Gibson apologized for the wrong offense

We can’t fault John Gibson too much for his silly comments about the death of Heath Ledger. Gibson’s just a journeyman show biz reporter who struck gold when he was recruited by Fox News and found out he’d get ratings if he began to spout the conservative party line-- the more outrageous the better. He doesn’t believe what he says. He’s like Dennis Miller, Sean Hannity or Jerry Springer— he’s pandering for a paycheck. Just look at his poufy hair. That’s no anti-gay conservative. It’s a twenty five dollar haircut on a twenty five cent head. Give the guy a break.

And remember that when a Fox News-paid talking head like Gibson gets news that a star of Brokeback Mountain is dead, he’s duty-bound to make a Brokeback Mountain joke. And he’s bound to be callous because the rulebook says he’s got to mock Hollywood celebrities, especially a celeb that's become an icon for the gay rights crowd. His comments weren’t too offensive. And despite his awkward attempts at Sternian adlibs, his brief statements about Ledger’s seeming obsession with death at his young age and with a daughter, was food for thought. Gibson was onto something there. But he’s not a wit or a wag. He's a newsreader dogpaddling in the Roger Ailes trout pond.

Where Gibson really went wrong and offended all, was when he read out an inaccurate report on Ledger’s death from corporate porn-pushing gossip site TMZ.com, then stated that “TMZ is right about everything, about 90 percent of the time.”

That’s offensive! And that’s something Gibson, and all mainstream news organizations who cite TMZ as a source, should really apologize for.