Debbie Schlussel: "Aristocrats' " Penn Jillette vs. ME in Las Vegas Weekly

In this week's Las Vegas Weekly, Penn Jillette tries to respond to my column about his movie, "The Aristocrats," and his strange way of embracing the First Amendment.

The reporter claims I got "nasty and personal" in discussing Jillette's daughter's name and his bizarre interior decor. But that's hardly "personal," when a) he showed his weird house to every entertainment TV program possible; and b) his publicist press-released the daughter's "innovative" name. (The reporter declines to mention my criticism of Jillette's flag-burning on "The West Wing" and the metal "Bill of Rights" cards he wears at airports to set off metal detectors.)

Here's the exchange:

"Not everyone, of course, is a fan. Las Vegas Weekly began our interview backstage last week at Penn & Teller's showroom at the Rio by asking Penn to comment on conservative Fox babe Debbie Schlussel's blog that offers an attack on The Aristocrats (which she concedes is 'very funny') that gets nasty and personal:

'To further show us how much he 'values' free speech--or wants to push its limits beyond acceptability and normalcy, Jillette recently named his new daughter Moxie CrimeFighter. She will be tortured all her life with this absurd name. No problem since her father's house resembles a bizarre sado-masochism den mixed with macabre death penalty implements.'

PENN: The actual sex dungeon is now a nursery. It's something you couldn't use in a novel or movie because it is too dead-on, but in real life you can. It's perfectly funny. The leather walls have been draped with nice baby colors and that's where Moxie is."

Posted by Debbie on September 1, 2005 09:53 AM to Debbie Schlussel