Talk:Morton Downey Jr.

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Fantastic photo[edit]

I just want to say that that photo of him is fantastic and it should never be changed. This is how we should remember him. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:3BD8:4D90:ED84:70E:ECC3:C49C (talk) 08:09, 20 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Ron Paul[edit]

I noticed that near the end someone has wrote "congressman Ron Paul (also a physician) had advised him, in 1988, while on his show, that smoking was highly unhealthy and responsible for a huge number of deaths every year". While this is true, it seems a little irrelevant, as if a Ron Paul admirer just put it here for the sake of it. 90.219.40.12 (talk) 10:05, 23 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Évocateur[edit]

Starting with Rwalker's revision on May 24, 2011, user Pablumpuke seems to be deleting all mention of the upcoming documentary (Évocateur) being made about Morton Downey, Jr. I've attempted to contact Pablumpuke to find out their reasons for the multiple deletions, but they have yet to respond. Instead of descending into an edit war, I wanted to reach out to all the other contributors of this page to ask for their feedback on the best way to resolve these unexplained revisions. Lemminginstinct (talk) 03:35, 13 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Gay Brother[edit]

Downey had a gay brother who was infected with the AIDS virus. When Morton interviewed him publicly, it was considered daring, and possibly compassionate at the time. [1] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chumley41 (talk • contribs) 15:14, 14 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Racial Incident[edit]

The article currently claims that the incident he was fired for happened happened in two different years. It has 1983 in one section and 1984 in another. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.32.89.32 (talk) 15:15, 12 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

NPOV[edit]

I think there's an NPOV problem with some of the television personalities compared to Downey. While people such as Hannity and Limbaugh are parallel to Downey in their ideals, their shows are based more on politcs than shock value. Perhaps the closest parallels of the group are O'Reilly and Coulter. I don't think Hume can be compared to Downey at all. It seems the only things this list of pundits has in common is that they all appear on Fox News. Somebody needs to convince me they should be in this article, or else I'm going to remove the. I suppose Limbaugh should be on any list of people influenced by Downey, since he directly proceeded him. At the very least I'm going to take Hume's name off the list. --djrobgordon 17:58, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Britt doesn't belong there but the others certainly do. All conservative talk show hosts have been influenced by Downey, either directly or indirectly, because all conservative talk show hosts have been influenced by Limbaugh and Limbaugh is just following in Downey's footsteps.
There are three things wrong with this artice: 1) the NPOV problem because of the labeling. Many talk show hosts of all political leanings have been influenced by Downey, including Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, and Geraldo Rivera. Almost anyone who has dabbled in "trash TV" can trace their origins to Downey, Jr. In addition, Morton Downey, Jr.'s show was NOT a political show. He wasn't championing any point of view like the other hosts listed in this article. His show was more along the lines of the daytime talk shows that would discuss political issues, once in a while, and where something outrageous would almost certainly happen.
Two, if you are going to say someone famously made up statistics to back their point of view, I think you should at least give one example to inform the readers who may be too young to remember Mort. I will see if I can find some kind of archive to back up this claim in the article.
Three, how can you do a Morton Downey, Jr. article and not reference his fisticuffs with Stuttering John or Roy Innes attacking Al Sharpton? Come on people. (All right, the last one is a joke but the article does need some tweaking). Ramsquire 20:04, 5 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

So, if Downey is the grandfather of conservative talk show host types, who do you propose the Liberals have to thank? What about Keith Olbermann? Randi Rhodes? Are they not included simply because of their political stance? I don't agree with this description at all.

Limbaugh would be the only in-your-face, say-whatever-sounds-good-at-the-time garbage whereas O'Reilly does his homework and never intentionally misleads, only jumping in when lies or dodges are attempted and Hannity doesn't do his homework thoroughly but, maintains his one or two talking points wherein if they fail, he changes the topic if he can. These are not the same tactics of Downey's method of operation at all. Please reconsider this. Thank you.


First of all, you should sign your posts. I'm surprised the Wikis didn't display your IP address as a result. Secondly, the article does NOT say Downey is the grandfather of conservative talk shows, but the trash-talk show subgenre. Read the article. Third, Keith Olbermann's show is in the style of a modern Edward R. Murrow and is most decidedly NOT "trash-talk" at all. Randi Rhodes does radio, not TV. Either example is laughably irrelevant. Fourth, and even more laughably, "Bill O'Reilly does his homework and never intentionally misleads"...??? He is about nothing else BUT lies and inflammatory invective! If you don't believe it, go to Media Matters For America's website and read the proof for yourself. BobCubTAC (talk) 10:45, 4 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Koopa Kid[edit]

Took out the "named after koopa kid" thing. It was even taken out on the koopa kid page because it's just fan speculation, and not fact, which is what it's often passed off as in wikipedia.


Inspiration[edit]

I'll have to tell Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Rielly, et al that their inspiration was Mort Downey Jr. I'm sure that will come as a surprise to them. You may be able to argue that Downey inspired Jerry Springer or even Oprah, but Limbaugh ? O'Rielly ? I don't see the connection.

the connection is the overwhelming political content of downey's show vs. the overwhelming lack of it in springer and oprah.

Drugs[edit]

Why no mention of drug or jail problems?


Wipe out[edit]

This article (and his website) state he wrote Wipe Out but the article on Wipe Out says it's a misconception. Does anyone know how to straighten this out?--Twintone 21:56, 24 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I found an article published in the Orange County Register in 2002 that says this is a myth. I added it to that article and now I'll add it to this one.---Gloriamarie 21:47, 24 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A 'trash talk' predecessor[edit]

A mention of, or a link to, Joe Pyne as another "pioneer" of this format would be useful here. Bill O'Reilly is the most accomplished, and most dangerous, of the right wing pseudo populists. Their target audience is mostly blue collar, politically naive, not well educated, frustrated, angry, and feeling politically and socially impotent. They (the target audience) constitute a significant swing vote, composing political foder for the Repubilcans, who need those votes crucially in as much as their party represents only a small minority, viz. the wealthy. Psuedo populists effectively swing many working people to the right (counter, of course, to their interests) with emotional force and unscrupulous psychology on sucker issues so that they will vote for their enemies against their own best interests. The pseudo populists deliver votes and support to the Republicans directly or otherwise. Their skill and success in doing this makes them very valuable to the powers that be and gives them a lifetime career as well paid spin doctors. Students of O'Reilly's techniques and success are advised to study the careers of cruder predecessors like Downey and Pyne. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.178.15.190 (talk) 01:29, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

67 or 68[edit]

This article states that he was born on the 9th of December, 1933, and died on the 12th of March, 2001. This would make him 67 when he died, turning 68 later that year had he survived. Further down in the article, under the section "Death from lung cancer", it states that he died "from lung cancer in 2001 at age 67". However, at the top of the page, next to the date of his death, it reads: "aged 68". Also, in a television interview made shortly after his death, after being asked how old he was when he died, his wife says "Well, 68, even though everyone gave him the year younger". Indeed, if you search on the internet, you find that about half of the websites say he died when he was 67, and the other half say 68.

Surely his wife would know how old he is, so either his date of birth or date of death must be incorrect. It is much more probable that it is the latter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.184.32.232 (talk) 07:27, 30 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ratings?[edit]

The first three paragraphs (all under "Career") don't make any sense to me. Maybe it's just a chronological thing. The second graf says he moved to Secaucus NJ where he got another show, which was canceled after two years due to low ratings. It then inexplicably mentions Rush Limbaugh again (the first paragraph already made this clear). So is this referring to the radio show? In the same paragraph, celebrities are quoted remarking on the success of his TV show. Shouldn't there be some transition there? And wasn't the TV show highly-rated, at least at some point?

I don't know enough about Morton Downey to fix the article, but it's really confusing as it is. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sxp151 (talk • contribs) 18:38, 1 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Actor Robert Downey[edit]

Is Morton Downey, Jr. related to the actor Robert Downey? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.82.218.97 (talk) 00:01, 22 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

NO. Sorry for the belated reply. Rms125a@hotmail.com (talk) 22:14, 12 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Racial epithet controversy[edit]

As set forth in the Sacramento News and Review at http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=914298 , Downey intially refused to apologize for using the racial epithet "Chinaman," but later apologized at a press conference before resigning from his radio gig in Sacramento. The Wikipedia article fails to mention the "day late and dollar short" apology, only mentioning Downey's inital refusal to apologize on the air. // Internet Esquire (talk) 20:58, 30 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

African-American?!?[edit]

For some reason, Downey's article is tagged "African-American", as if he was an American of African descent. This sounds insane and neither of the wiki articles for either of his parents, (as luck would have it, they both have articles), mention any African heritage. So I'm thinking this is just some smart-@ssed vandalism. Thus I will remove it.

Downey has a small amount of African ancestry through his great-grandfather Lewis Morrison, who was a Jamaica-born actor of mixed ancestry. (He has his own entry.) 69.126.21.67 (talk) 08:15, 7 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

he's dead jim[edit]

the guy who was against drugs but smoked and died of lung cancer — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.126.207.236 (talk) 05:36, 8 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified (February 2018)[edit]

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Ancestry[edit]

Is it true that Adrienne and Lewis Morrison (his grandparents) had African, Jewish, and Spanish ancestry?2600:6C50:700C:200:B052:A56C:6712:CC97 (talk) 01:57, 5 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Cigarettes[edit]

What brand of cigarettes did he smoke? 97.88.25.211 (talk) 02:40, 13 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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