Joan Rivers Kicked Out of Costco, Compares Store to Nazi Germany

Can we talk?

Although it clearly was a publicity stunt, comedienne Joan Rivers on Tuesday was thrown out of a Costco in Burbank, California, in the midst of a protest against the store which she compared to Nazi Germany for refusing to sell her new book "I Hate Everything… Starting With Me" (videos follow with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Our story begins Tuesday afternoon when Rivers showed up at the store with a bullhorn, handcuffed herself to a shopping cart, and started making comments about the organization's policies.

KTLA.com reported:

The 79-year-old acid-tongued celebrity erupted inside the store. Witnesses told KTLA that Rivers handcuffed herself to a shopping cart before she used a bullhorn to continue her tirade. [...]

"It's about First Amendment rights," she said. "Costco banned my book because of one word on the back cover. I feel like this is a country where the people should have the right to have the literature they want.

"This is the beginning of Nazi Germany," Rivers remarked.

So what is the "one word" Costco finds offensive? ABC7.com offered a clue:

"Costco, who sells condoms by the pallet, who sells Paula Deen books and - which is not good for their customers' health - they decided to ban my book," the 79-year-old Rivers said. "This is a First Amendment violation. You're banning a book because it says a funny quote by Marie Antoinette? Where is this going to lead us to?

"This is a store that sells 300 rolls of toilet paper at the same time, and I say any customer that buys 300 rolls of toilet paper deserves a funny book to sit on the toilet and read."

What's her "funny quote by Marie Antoinette?" UK's Chortle has the answer:

The chain of 429 US stores is said to have banned the title because of fictional quotes on the back cover, including Marie Antoinette saying: ‘I don’t like her. Let her eat s--t’ and late basketball player Wilt Chamberlain – who claimed to have slept with 20,000 women – saying: ‘Even if I were alive I wouldn’t f--k her.”

As for Rivers, what's really getting her goat?

"The worst thing about Costco was they kicked me out without giving me any free samples."

Just like Nazi Germany, I guess.