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ETC. News: Jericho takes great offense to comment made on radio show today, leads to security precaution Nov 2, 2007 - 3:57:42 PM
PWTorch.com reader Alfonso Castillo sent the following report on Chris Jericho's in-studio interview on Opie & Anthony this morning...
Chris Jericho was in studio for the Opie and Anthony show this morning for about three hours. During most of the interview Jericho covered the usual ground in promoting his book and sharing some memories of his career. It was pretty much a love fest with all the guys laughing and having fun. Then it got weird.
Chris Jericho [artist Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]
The subject of Jericho's dad having played hockey with the New York Rangers came up, and Jericho talked about how he also played a little hockey, and took part in the Christopher Reeve celebrity hockey benefit for four years at Madison Square Garden. Reeve has been a frequent target of jokes by the O&A gang for years, so comedian Jim Norton, who is the third host on the show, immediately jumped in with a joke - calling the contest "the third annual blink-off."
Jericho didn't appreciate the joke and immediately told Norton that he went too far, and that it was not funny. He explained that Reeve was his friend, and that he's got to stick up for his friends. Norton said he didn't realize that Reeve was his friend, but also defended himself - saying it was just a joke and that everything should be fair game in comedy. It got pretty tense between the two, but then Jericho loosened up and said he was mostly kidding, that he was okay with what Norton said, and to just move on. But Norton wouldn't let it go, saying that he could tell that Jericho was very upset about it. It got even more heated, when Jericho told Norton that it appeared that his (Norton's) feelings were hurt by some of Jericho's retorts. (He said his biggest problem with Norton's comment was that it wasn't a funny joke.) Opie then offered some context into why Jericho might be sensitive to Norton's joke - Jericho's mother was a quadriplegic.
The show pretty much grinded to a halt. It got so tense between Jericho and Norton that XM Radio's security guy came into the studio to make sure nothing happened (Jericho was offended by that, saying he was a professional and would never resort to violence.) This went on for at least a half hour.
They eventually got a topless girl into the studio, and things calmed down a bit, but there was an underlying tension for the remainder of the show.
For the record, I'm a big O&A fan and I enjoy Norton's humor, even if it is often tasteless. That said, Jericho was absolutely right in how he handled himself - sticking up for his friend, without coming off as self-righteous. He said what needed to be said, then moved on and seemed perfectly willing to have some more laughs. But Norton would not let it go, seemed overly defensive for being called out, and definitely came off bad.
Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
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