"I'm the Rosa Parks of white people." That statement was comedian Joan Rivers' best idea for how to dramatize her dispute with Costco over whether the retailer would sell her book, and her decision to chain herself to a shopping cart, Ebony reports:
… Rivers blurred the line between the LOLs and SMHs when she boycotted the supermarket chain for refusing to sell her new book. Costco chose not to sell Rivers' book, I Hate Everyone … Starting With Me, because of a swear word printed on the outside jacket. After locking herself to a shopping cart, the E! Network talk show host took to the airwaves (and her own film crew) to let the people know that she will be heard.
Armed with a megaphone, the controversial comedianne decide to sell her books the old fashioned way, through outlandish remarks. "I am the Rosa Parks of White people," Rivers shouted out through her microphone in between comparing the superstore to Nazi Germany. In addition to that, she also claimed to be the Anne Frank of Beverly Hills.
Clearly, Rivers was kidding. And just as clearly, nothing is funnier to her than a good comedic historical reference whose punch line hinges on someone else's race (remember when she got a good chuckle out of calling Michelle Obama "Blackie O"?). We'd never heard about her book until these most recent comments, so it seems to be working. But unlike Parks' civil disobedience, Rivers' intentionally outrageous and attention-seeking outburst definitely won't earn her a place in the history books — for activism or for humor.
Read more at Ebony.com.