And what I'm proposing is the harder path, which is to use our democratic processes to achieve the same goal." Audience control "And so the easy way out is to try to yell and pretend like I can do something by violating our laws. Obama said "If, in fact, I could solve all these problems without passing laws in Congress, then I would do so." "But we're also a nation of laws, that's part of our tradition," he continued. On 25 November 2013, Ju Hong, a 24-year-old South Korean immigrant without legal documentation, shouted at Obama to use his executive power to stop deportation of unauthorized noncitizens. Wilson later apologized for his outburst. On 9 September 2009, Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouted "You lie!" at President Barack Obama after President Obama stated that his health care plan would not subsidize coverage for undocumented noncitizens during a speech he was making to a joint session of Congress. And it's time to start thinking about that!" Clinton was then met with raucous applause. After becoming visibly agitated, Clinton took the microphone off the stand, pointed to the heckler and directly responded to him by saying, " I have treated you and all of the other people who have interrupted my rallies with a hell of a lot more respect than you treated me. In 1992, then-Presidential candidate Bill Clinton was interrupted by Bob Rafsky, a member of the AIDS activism group ACT UP, who accused him of "dying of ambition to be president" during a rally. Reagan tried to go on with his speech three times, but after being interrupted yet again glared at the heckler and snapped "Aw, shut up!" The audience immediately gave him a standing ovation. At that point, King stopped reading from his previously prepared speech and improvised the remainder of the speech - this improvised portion of the speech is the best-known part of the speech and frequently rated as one of the best of all time.ĭuring a campaign stop just before winning the Presidency in 1980, Ronald Reagan was heckled by an audience member who kept interrupting him during a speech. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 " I Have a Dream" speech was largely a response to supporter Mahalia Jackson interrupting his prepared speech to shout "Tell them about the dream, Martin". Wilson: "I'll come to your special interest in a minute, sir." Heckles are now particularly likely to be heard at comedy performances, to unsettle or compete with the performer. In the 1970s and 1980s, The Muppet Show, which was also built around a vaudeville theme, featured two hecklers, Statler & Waldorf (two old men named after famous hotels). Milton Berle's weekly TV variety series in the 1960s featured a heckler named Sidney Spritzer (German/ Yiddish for ' squirter') played by Borscht Belt comic Irving Benson. Sometimes it was incorporated into the play. Heckling was a major part of the vaudeville theater. In the heckling factory, one heckler would read out the day's news while the others worked, to the accompaniment of interruptions and furious debate. The additional meaning, to interrupt speakers with awkward or embarrassing questions, was first used in Scotland, and specifically in early 19th century Dundee, a town where the hecklers who combed the flax had established a reputation as the most belligerent element in the workforce. To heckle was to tease or comb out flax or hemp fibres. Hecklers are often known to shout discouraging comments at a performance or event, or to interrupt set-piece speeches, with the intent of disturbing performers and/or participants.Īlthough the word heckler, which originated from the textile trade, was first attested in the mid-15th century, its use as "person who harasses" is from 1885. leans across a police line toward a demonstration of Iranians during the Iran hostage crisis, August 1980Ī heckler is a person who harasses and tries to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes.
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