Back in May Jerry Lewis said that this year would be his last year doing the annual Labor Day MDA Telethon, but today the MDA announced he will not be part of this year’s show too. They said, “Jerry Lewis is a world-class humanitarian and we’re forever grateful to him for his more than half century of generous service to MDA. We will not be replacing him as MDA national chairman, and he will not be appearing on the Telethon.” They did not say who would replace him as the host of the 24 hour event, but if I were one of the stations slated to air it I would run a Twilight Zone marathon instead. How can you have the Telethon without him. He is the face of MDA, and no one ever can replace him.
The MDA’s decision might be partly because of comments he made this weekend at the TCAs. When asked what his role would be with the telethon, he said “I didn’t mean to sound rude. But you have to assume the question you asked was motivated by something, and it had to be a little emotion. And I have to tell you the truth. September the 5th, the day after that program, I will have an international press conference with press from Reuters and London and China and Taiwan and all over the world, and I will have plenty to say about what I think is important. And that’s the future, not the past. Okay.” Sounds like we will find out what really happened the day after the Telethon that no one will be watching.
