Wanda Sykes AFI Tribute - P 2014
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This story first appeared in the June 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
At AFI’s Life Achievement Award tribute to Jane Fonda on June 5 at the Dolby Theatre — taped to air June 14 on TNT — presenter Wanda Sykes surprised the audience by snarking on past awardee Michael Douglas, who was on hand with wife Catherine Zeta-Jones to bestow the statue to Fonda. “Michael Douglas wanted us to know that he got throat cancer, that he got it from all that cunnilingus,” said Sykes, referring to his public theorizing in 2013. “No, no, no — those days of smoking unfiltered Camels and drinking whiskey — mmm, mmm, it’s eating pussy that will kill you.”
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The crowd fell decidedly silent, but out lesbian Sykes didn’t miss a beat: “I don’t know about that, because I feel fine!” So will Sykes’ racy routine be cut, just as Don Rickles‘ line comparing President Obama to a janitor was when AFI’s Shirley MacLaine tribute aired in 2012 on TV Land? A TNT spokesperson says, “We don’t know at this time what content will be included in the final version.”
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