Shep Defends Trampoline Bear Video

“You know that, that bear there didn’t get hurt.” Today, on Fox Report, Shepard Smith finally seemed to get it, i.e., that his Trampoline Bear video can be seen as animal cruelty. After earlier playing the exploitative clip on his Studio B,* receiving flak from the author for doing so, and seemingly suspending his Twitter account, Shep ran the Trampoline Bear footage during the Fox Report** but with the aforementioned explanatory coda.**

During Studio B, Shep Tweeted the upcoming “Bear Alert” to his followers shortly before showing it to his audience. Then, when he aired the footage of a young black bear who had had his head removed from a jar, he gleefully ran the Trampoline Bear clip (of the black bear falling from a tree, being propelled high into the ground, and crashing head-first into the ground) as usual. After the exploitative video had run, the author Tweeted, “Shep de Sade, er, Sad strikes again with his “Studio B Trampoline” bear vid.”

Shortly thereafter (and before Shep’s Fox Report aired) Shep’s Twitter page (including his Tweet, supra), strangely disappeared (“suspended”). Nevertheless, when the Fox Report ran, Shep still replayed the “Bear Alert” with the offensive Trampoline Bear footage appended thereto. However, in a later segment at the very end of the show, Shep defended his use of the clip. To wit, after a story about Disney film Bambi, Shep deadpanned, “I wonder how Bambi would like the trampoline”: then, he added, “You know that, that bear there didn’t get hurt.”***

Shep, please quit airing this exploitative video of Trampoline Bear. As your good friend and weekend counterpart, Julie Banderas, has acknowledged, it contains an element of animal cruelty and should be barred from her weekend Fox Report. Shep, just can it for good from your weekday Fox Report and your Studio B. At the very least, cut the repulsive frames of Trampoline Bear crashing face-first into the hard ground.

And, come back to Twitter!

*Studio B with Shepard Smith – 08/12/10 (@3:59 p.m. ET)
**Fox Report with Shepard Smith – 08/12/10 (@7:54 p.m. ET)
***Fox Report with Shepard Smith – 08/12/10 (@7:59 p.m. ET)

Shep de Sade: Kubrick’s Clare Quilty?

The Marquis is back! However, Studio B‘s Shepard Smith de Sade reappeared as the spent, jaded Clare Quilty as he reran his evil tired tripe, i.e., the Trampoline Bear video today. He seemed almost desperate to find anew that thrill that now eluded him and that Viagra could not even bring back. With a stone face and a monotone delivery, he announced, “Bear Alert.”*

Before polluting Fox News’ airwaves again with his favorite animal cruelty cine, he showed an adorable black bear cub chowing down on garbage in a Georgia driveway. After doing so, he cautioned, “While cute, the local sheriff is warning residents ‘do not leave food out for the bears.'” Then, as he aired once again the Trampoline Bear clip (of a black bear falling from a tree onto a trampoline, being propelled high into the air, and then crashing headfirst into the ground), Shep cackled, “And, of course, trampolines are always–ha, ha, ha, ha, ha–trampolines are always a great deterrent.”

Poor Shepard Smith was more of a sad spectacle today than even his Trampoline Bear.

Update: Perhaps, Shep changed his prescription to Cialis or Levitra after Studio B. For his Fox Report, he tried again to find his thrill and prematurely injected his “Bear Alert” at mid-show.** However, this time he seemed to, at least, fake a bit more enthusiasm as the video climaxed, as almost verbatim he repeated, “And, of course, trampolines are always an excellent deterrent.”

*Studio B with Shepard Smith – 08/12/10 (@3:59 p.m. ET)

**Fox Report with Shepard Smith – 08/12/10 (@7:29 p.m. ET)