Sarah Silverman's Nasty Paris Hilton Penis Joke on MTV Awards

At the 2007 MTV Awards, Paris Hilton put on a brave face about her upcoming jail sentence. She spoke with reporters, confessing that she was "scared" but ready to do the time. "I am trying to be strong right now," Paris said, adding that she had received thousands of letters of support from around the world that had been a real help to her. She then joined the audience, only to become the target of a very sexually explicit joke by this year's host, 36-year-old comedienne, Sarah Silverman.

Silverman, who has a reputation for being "irreverent," announced that Paris would be going to jail. The crowd gave its hearty approval. When the applause died down, Sarah joked that the judge said it was going to be a "no-frills thing." Sarah said she'd heard that to make Paris more comfortable in prison, the guards were going to "paint the bars to look like penises." This brought some laughter, after which Silverman said "I think it's wrong too ... I just worry that she's going to break her teeth on those things."

If you missed the show or this particular segment, the video is all over the web. It's on TMZ, of course, entitled Silverman Stresses Miss Hilton. At the time I'm looking at the comments, they seem to be equally split between thoughts that this was in poor taste, and those that think it was funny. Some are saying, "Paris deserved it." Others are saying "there is a limit' and it was "totally uncalled for."

I'm almost totally at a loss as to why anyone would think this kind of sleazy humor is funny on an awards show airing at 8 pm Eastern/7 pm Central. However, I can't say I would have found this anything other than a cheap shot for a laugh even if it were being shown at 2 in the morning on Comedy Central. In my view, it was beyond tasteless with Paris Hilton sitting right there in the audience. It was downright insulting.

The camera panned to Paris looking decidedly unhappy and I really can't see why anyone would blame her. I wouldn't have blamed her if she got up, marched onstage and slapped Silverman in the face.

Hell, she was already going to jail anyway.