Dumping on Clay Aiken

November 20, 2003 4:05 PM

A great PETA ad...for me to poop on! Amusing recent campaign featuring Triumph the Insult Dog to promote spaying/neutering that is catching heat for a subtle Clay Aiken jab.
posted by mathowie (37 comments total)

PETA claims they chose Clay Aiken as the target because of anti-cat statements he made in Rolling Stone, but his recent McDonald's appearance didn't help either.

As a result, Clay Aiken fans are pissed and they've organized letter-writing campaigns against PETA sponsors. (They're also mad at Conan O'Brien for mocking Clay.)
posted by waxpancake at 4:16 PM on November 20, 2003

in other news, Clay Aiken fans have no sense of humor

(if you have some time, check out the Fresh Air interview with Conan, Triumph, and Robert Smigel -- it's the best thing ever)
posted by mathowie at 4:19 PM on November 20, 2003

Clay Aiken has fans?
posted by cortex at 4:20 PM on November 20, 2003

WTF, Matt?
I was debating over posting this story myself all day, and was seconds away from hitting "POST" on this:
Celebrity Smackdown MDCLXVI
The battle is on between the anti-muppet Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Almost-American-Idol Clay Aiken, and it's all being artificial-egged on by MetaFilter's favorite wacko extremist organization, PETA. Yummy PR goodness for everybody! And, yeah, I know I'm contributing to it, but it's got to be the funniest CelebrityNewsFilter story in a long time, and 100% Michael Jackson-free!
...when I took one last look at the front page.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going off to sulk.
posted by wendell at 4:20 PM on November 20, 2003

Aw, poop on MetaFilter.
posted by wendell at 4:32 PM on November 20, 2003

I would think most Clay fans would be shocked to hear he killed a cat and hates cats (because honestly folks, if you're a fan of Clay Aiken, you're probably not the type to have a few Rottweillers as pets), than some comedian making a joke about him.
posted by mathowie at 4:32 PM on November 20, 2003

I dunno about "best thing ever," but it was inexplicably funny to hear Terry Gross fully snorting in laughter for 5 minutes straight.
posted by scarabic at 4:38 PM on November 20, 2003

You know, Triumph should have stopped a second and thought of how painful it must be for Mr. Aikens to have no testicles. Indeed, it is my understanding that hundreds of Clay Aikens fans also have no testicles. Maybe if this dog had just thought of their pain, he wouldn't have made such a hateful comment.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:39 PM on November 20, 2003

who the hell is Clay Aiken?
posted by badstone at 4:41 PM on November 20, 2003

oh, forget it, I clicked a link and found out. so, it's two manufactured celebs duking it out. thank god someone cares. just imagaine if they didn't.
posted by badstone at 4:45 PM on November 20, 2003

So what you're trying to say, badstone, is; "Is this Insult Comic Dog something I would need a TV to know about?"
posted by keswick at 4:53 PM on November 20, 2003

In January, I was in a hospital bed with limited TV choices* and watched some of the "Idol" preliminaries. I saw the Evil Simon Cowell twice saying to a singer words to the effect of: "You don't look like an 'Idol', but you sang real good... go on to the next round...", and guess which two singers he said it to. Once they got far enough up the competition's ladder, the fan base just started assuming "They ARE Idols". A fascinating phenomenom. It does allow us to hold out hope that next season's new Idol will look more like Suzanne Vega or Alison Moyet (even if it's a guy).

*that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.
posted by wendell at 5:06 PM on November 20, 2003

so Clay Aiken ran over a cat when he was younger, watched it die, is now freaked out by cats, and this makes him anti-feline?

PETA pisses into wind.

Film at 11.
posted by scarabic at 5:47 PM on November 20, 2003

Clay Aiken Fans

haha, best joke all day.
posted by xmutex at 5:50 PM on November 20, 2003

I would think most Clay fans would be shocked to hear he killed a cat and hates cats

Trust me. The ClayNation knew all about that months ago.

As to Clay having fans, go over to Television Without Pity in the American Idol section. These people are rabid. My mother bought both his single and cd, with a copy for me as well. She also bought her first Rolling Stone because he was on the cover. My youngest daughter is almost as bad.

You don't want to get on the wrong side of these people.
posted by konolia at 6:08 PM on November 20, 2003

I thought PeTA was for animals not to be harmed?

I don't get it.

You can't milk a cow because that's bad, but slicing up a dogs' privates, hey, NO BIG DEAL AT ALL.

Fuck them and their hypocrisy. You either want animals unmutilated and unharmed, or you don't. You can't want both. Nobody will take you seriously.
posted by shepd at 6:16 PM on November 20, 2003

Prediction: Clay Aiken will hire the pets.com sock puppet to star in rebuttal ad.
posted by gluechunk at 6:23 PM on November 20, 2003

Not that I really care passionately about Triumph, PETA, or Clay Aiken, but something that's not really being reported is that Triumph, in a humorous post on his all-Flash web site, says PETA "twisted his [Clay's] quotes" and says that "all I [Triumph] wanted was to whore myself." PETA definitely selectively edited Clay's quote from Rolling Stone, in which he says he was "haunted" by the kitten-killing incident. (If you care, I summarized this stuff here.)
posted by realityblurred at 6:32 PM on November 20, 2003

My, that Triumph is a crass fellow.
posted by xmutex at 6:51 PM on November 20, 2003

That radio interview is really funny. For instance:

Triumph: I can't believe the government is paying for this interview. That's what I can't believe. My money that could be going to Pekinese hookers is instead going to this public radio that is obviously more slanted than my co*k after I f*ck a st. bernard.

I wonder if they actually had the puppet in the studio or if it was just the guy doing the voice.
posted by willnot at 6:58 PM on November 20, 2003

it's the best thing ever

For me to poop on!

(takes the obvious opening, shamelessly)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:59 PM on November 20, 2003

i liked wendells post more than matts. can we get them switched? hmmmm. this gives me a very evil idea...
posted by quonsar at 7:03 PM on November 20, 2003

Clay's gay, that's why he kills cats. His analyst's ecstatic. [/Sterling]
posted by WolfDaddy at 7:05 PM on November 20, 2003

Triumph is good comedy. Clay is baaaaaad pop. That is a match made in heaven.
posted by vito90 at 7:18 PM on November 20, 2003

From the Clay Aiken message board:

Quote:but i dont understand what they mean by "it didnt hurt clay aiken"

I toke as one of two ways...

1.) means that it didn't Clay himself. meaning he got it done and it didn't hurt so you go ahead and do it too. which is an insult to his manly hood personaly.

2.) meaning that they are saying to clay "hey it didn't hurt, so why do you get it done so there's none of your offspring"

Nicole here's the thing.. usually I'm always one to laugh things off and usually I'm the one that gets upset with everyone for being so overly angry at things. But for some reason this just did me in! it's just uncalled for. and it's not just a joke anymore. It's a full out add. that if we don't stop will become billboards and posters, and will just then add fuel to the fire for others. this just needs to be stopped. then the jokes can preceed. but this, no [angry little devil smiley]
posted by jpoulos at 7:40 PM on November 20, 2003

Here is why he is so funny:

Political Correctness has killed humor. Making fun of people isn't funny anymore. So we resort to little dolls and dogs to say "prostitute" and everyone can safely laugh. The world used to be a much more funny place, at least there were little people puppets instead of dogs.
posted by stbalbach at 8:12 PM on November 20, 2003

willnot : in the interview, smigel specifically said that "the puppet was in a bag somewhere", and that it was much more fun to do the interview without it because he got to be in a comfy chair, rather than on his knees with one arm in the air.
i like terry gross, but i'm not a fanboy, but yeah, hearing her bust with the full-on geeklaughsnort was pretty funny.
posted by dolface at 9:20 PM on November 20, 2003

This was one of those interviews that I had to turn on the radio to listen to the end of even after I got home and I'm not really a fan of Triumph or Fresh Air. It's wasn't really Triumph's best work or that riveting of an interview...it was just the novelty of it. Terry Gross must have repeated the name of Triumph's album "Come Poop With Me" at least eight or nine times. Some things are just begging to be sampled.
posted by euphorb at 10:00 PM on November 20, 2003

Yes, waking up to NPR this morning, with someone (Terry Gross?) telling me that "Today's interview is really great... for me to poop on" in a rather dull monotone... I was confused.
posted by whatnotever at 10:21 PM on November 20, 2003

I just enjoyed the gene simmons and bill o'reilly references -- I suppose being a writer at conan means you have to keep up on the news, but it was great to hear him riff on those two famous interviews.
posted by mathowie at 11:53 PM on November 20, 2003

The local paper ran some bits from the new Triumph album. The best one by far was this:

Hey, Pink, is that your hair or a tattoo?/
I didn't know SuperCuts had a drive-thru

The funniest Triumph moment ever was when he went to one of those dog shows and got a real dog to start humping a wind-up. It's rare that I'll cry from laughter, and I've seen that bit several times now with repeating effects.

You either want animals unmutilated and unharmed, or you don't. You can't want both. Nobody will take you seriously.

Um, really? Or was this an attempt at being funny/clever?
posted by Ufez Jones at 7:18 AM on November 21, 2003

Great. So now the bumper sticker will read:

"I'm from NC and I don't support Jesse Helms am not a Clay Aiken fan."

*sigh*
posted by yoga at 1:43 PM on November 21, 2003

"manufactured celebs"

redundant, no?
posted by Busithoth at 3:38 PM on November 21, 2003

Sorry, keeds. It looks as if PETA has snipped off these two dangly bits from their web site:

http://www.peta.org/feat/triumph/

http://www.peta.org/feat/triumph/triumphAd.pdf

You may have to Shift-Refresh to see PETA's tasteful 404 page.
posted by maudlin at 3:47 PM on November 21, 2003

So I guess the main link worked yesterday and wasn't a 404?
posted by smackfu at 3:56 PM on November 21, 2003

No mirrors?

WTF Matt?
posted by DBAPaul at 6:32 PM on November 21, 2003

Ah, the wonders of Google:

Original Page on PETA site:
http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:B6Q71sTySwIJ:www.peta.org/feat/triumph/

The Ad in JPG format:
http://www.warnerreprise.com/triumph/TRIUMPH72.jpg
posted by hawkman at 8:57 AM on November 22, 2003