Jerry Lewis

Joseph Levitch (born March 16, 1926), better known as Jerry Lewis, is a Jewish American comedian, actor, producer, and director, known for his slapstick humor and his charity fund-raising telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Charitable work

Lewis has organized a Labor Day telethon to help raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association since 1966. His efforts have helped raise more than 2,000,000,000 (USD). In 1977, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and in 1985, he received a US Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. In September, 2005 Lewis is slated to receive the Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, honoring his long-running telethons.

Related Topics:
Labor Day - 1966 - 1977 - Nobel Peace Prize - 1985 - Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service - September - 2005 - Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

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The telethons are typically star-studded: among Lewis's co-hosts through the years were Ed McMahon and Casey Kasem. A frequent performer in the 1970s and 1980s was the late Frank Sinatra, who reunited Lewis with Dean Martin on the telethon in 1976.

Related Topics:
Ed McMahon - Casey Kasem - 1970s - 1980s - Frank Sinatra - Dean Martin - 1976

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On his 40th Labor Day telethon in 2005, Lewis added Salvation Army fundraising (for Hurricane Katrina) to his usual MDA fundraising.

Related Topics:
Labor Day - Salvation Army - Hurricane Katrina

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Criticisms

The MDA and Jerry Lewis have been criticized by some disability rights activists for their tendency to paint disabled people as "pitiable victims who want and need nothing more than a big charity to take care of or cure them."http://thekidsareallright.org/ Critics argue that focusing the public's attention on medical cures to "normalize" disabled people fails to address issues like providing accessible buildings, transportation, employment opportunities and other civil rights for the disabled.

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Jerry Lewis has also made some remarks that have been regarded as insensitive towards the disabled:

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• In 1990, he wrote a first-person essay entitled "If I Had Muscular Dystrophy" for PARADE magazine, in which he characterized those with muscular dystrophy as "being half a person."http://www.cripcommentary.com/parade.html Many in the disabled community viewed his remarks as prejudicial, contributing to the idea that disabled people are "childlike, helpless, hopeless, nonfunctioning and noncontributing members of society."http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/archive/jerry92.htm
• On May 20 2001, he responded to his critics in an interview on CBS News Sunday Morning: "If you don't want to be pitied for being a cripple in a wheelchair, don't come out of the house." Again, disability rights activists blasted him for characterizing disabled people as helpless and homebound.