Russell Brand Rips Into Hugo Boss at GQ Men of the Year Awards

This is WHY Russell Brand deserves a Man of the Year Award, I'm just suspecting that GQ is not feeling so good about choosing him as one of their Men of the Year. I love when intelligence and wit combine to point out horrible things we'd rather not discuss and deal with, like Hugo Boss's history with the Nazis.

But they did give him the "Oracle" award - a word that comes from the latin verb ōrāre "to speak," and generally referred to the priest or priestess uttering the prediction(s) of the future. According to Wikipedia:

Oracles were thought to be portals through which the gods spoke directly to people. In this sense they were different from seers (manteis, μάντεις) who interpreted signs sent by the gods through bird signs, animal entrails, and other various methods.[1]

I suspect the people at GQ were not fully versed on the role of the Oracle as a vehicle for the gods to speak directly to humans. In his own way, Brand was pointing out an ugly truth that no one in that room, and especially the organizers at GQ, wanted to hear.

Anyway, this was posted on their "Winner and Losers Live Blog":

He must have seen this coming... Oracle of the Year goes to Russell Brand, handed over by John Bishop. This will only fuel his Messiah Complex. He accepts graciously: "Thank you for the Oracle Award... which honestly sounds made up."

But the links are dead-ends - seems they took down whatever information they had on their site about the award or this year's winner.

Apparently, Brand was kicked out of the After Party for his comments.

Watch The Moment Russell Brand Rips Into A Big, Famous Brand With A Terrible Past

By Rossalyn Warren (More from Rossaly)

When comedians put people on the spot, it's always a tad awkward. But when one of the most recognizable comedians in the world rips into the history of one of the most famous brands in the world on stage at an expensive event that said expensive brand is sponsoring ... just see for yourself.

Lots of companies have this same black mark in their history books, but it's hard to forgive some things. And it's kinda neat to see this company not being let off the hook.

His comments: "Any of you who know a little bit about history and fashion will know that Hugo Boss made the uniforms for the Nazis. The Nazis did have flaws, but, you know, they did look fucking fantastic, let's face it, while they were killing people on the basis of their religion and sexuality." 

After this, Russell Brand tweeted: 

Russell Brand        ✔ @rustyrockets

GQ editor: "What you did was very offensive to Hugo Boss." 

Me:" What Hugo Boss did was very offensive to the Jews." #GQAwards #nazitailor

8:05 AM - 4 Sep 2013

Bradley Manning Is The Guardian's 'Person of the Year 2012'

 

 Is Bradley Manning a Hero?

PFC Bradley Manning, who is accused of espionage, aiding the enemy, and many, many other offenses, all of which stem from his decision to copy and share tens of thousands of files with Wikileaks, including the now infamous Collateral Murder video (which showed a United States Apache helicopter firing on civilians in New Baghdad in 2007), has been named The Guardian's "Person of the Year" for 2012, with 70% of the vote by readers of The Guardian.

WikiLeaks releases attributed to Bradley Manning have provided unparalleled access to important facts.

Revealing covert crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and corporations' pervasive influence in governance, this window into the realities of modern international relations has changed the world for the better. While some of these documents may demonstrate how much work lies ahead in terms of securing international peace and justice, they also highlight the potential of the internet as a forum for citizens to participate more directly in civic discussion and creative government accountability projects.

Last week, PFC Bradley Manning offered to accept responsibility for releasing classified documents as an act of conscience – not as charged by the US military (espionage, aiding the enemy, etc.).

I think he is a good choice, not that there aren't dozens of good choices each year. It takes an incredible amount of courage to risk one's life in the interests of  disclosing military and government corruption.

In an effort to break him, he was subjected to nearly a year in solitary confinement against the recommendations of mental health professionals. The argument that he was a suicide risk was refuted in the testimony of three psychiatrists at Quantico, while his personal counselor (Gunnery Sergeant (GYSGT) Blenis) recommended that he be kept on suicide watch (POI), which requires isolation and removal of personal items (at the same time his counselor told Manning that his behavior was exemplary).

While the government has argued this week that PFC Manning’s harsh holding conditions met brig regulations, the defense continued arguing the unnecessarily severe nature of PFC Manning’s Quantico treatment with testimony from the garrison commander at PFC Manning’s current prison in Ft. Leavenworth, KS, Lt. Col. Dawn Hilton.  At Ft. Leavenworth, Lt. Col. Hilton testified, Bradley Manning was found through psychological interviews and observation to be a medium security prisoner, meaning he was allowed much greater freedom of movement, interaction with other prisoners, as well as an array of personal items.  She continued that at Ft. Leavenworth, Suicide Watch was the status most comparable to POI, and her goal was always to downgrade prisoners from this status as soon as possible, by working with psychological staff.  She testified that if a detainee’s condition was so severe that prison staff was unable to successfully downgrade their status within a few days, she would next work to have them transferred to a psychiatric ward, rather than remain in prison.  Additionally, she testified that all prisoners were allowed at least 1 hour of outside recreation per day, in accordance with American Corrections Association (ACA) standards; for the first 6 months of PFC Manning’s imprisonment at Quantico, he was allowed a mere 20 minutes of sunlight per day.  Unlike the Quantico military brig, the Ft. Leavenworth garrison is accredited as meeting 100 percent of ACA standards.

If you are interested in what was actually released in the Wikileaks documents, there is a document that outlines that major items that the government claims are national security issues, but seem actually to be crimes that they do not want exposed. For example:

• There is an official policy to ignore torture in Iraq.
• U.S. officials were told to cover up evidence of child abuse by contractors in Afghanistan.
• Guantanamo prison has held mostly innocent people and low-level operatives.
• There is an official tally of civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• U.S. Military officials withheld information about the indiscriminate killing of Reuters journalists and innocent Iraqi civilians.
• The State Department backed corporate opposition to a Haitian minimum wage law.
• The U.S. Government had long been faking its public support for Tunisian President Ben Ali.
• Known Egyptian torturers received training from the FBI in Quantico, Virginia.
• The Obama Administration allowed Yemen’s President to cover up a secret U.S. drone bombing campaign.

If you would like to contribute to his defense fund, you can do so here.