ABC also re-aired and applauded – Hasselbeck applauded – Silverman’s Catholic-bashing video urging the Pope to sell the Vatican to feed the hungry. But they omitted the part where Silverman said this sale would get the Pope lots of sex.
Co-host Sherri Shepherd asked her about getting married, and after joking about how she was "hot property," Silverman grew very serious, even sanctimonious:
SARAH SILVERMAN: I cannot imagine wanting to get married right now, at this time in America, and I can’t get my head around anyone [doing so] – You were talking about this earlier. If you’re for equal rights, why would you get married right now? It’s like going to a country club that doesn’t allow blacks or Jews. There’s no difference. Why would I want to join that club? It’s gross...
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: So until equal marriage, no marriage.
SILVERMAN: No way.
JOY BEHAR: That’s a good excuse for some people.
This ended the secular sermon and restored the giggly mood. Then, ABC recycled Silverman’s anti-Catholic video that aired in October on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, presenting it like it was fresh YouTube material:
SHEPHERD: You recently made a YouTube video where you figured out how to solve the hunger problems and all the world problems.
SILVERMAN video clip: Think about it, we need a hero, and who is more primed to be our hero than the Pope? He's literally a caped crusader. What is the Vatican worth, like 500 billion dollars? This is great, sell the Vatican, take a big chunk of that money, build a gorgeous condominium for you and all your friends to live in, all the amenities, swimming pool, tennis court, waterslide, and with the money left over, feed the whole f**king world.
ABC bleeped the F-bomb, but also left out the ending part, where Silverman said the Pope could have as many sexual partners as he wanted if he sold the Vatican [complete with the phallic imagery seen above]:
SILVERMAN: The bottom line is this: If you sell the Vatican, and you take that money, and you use it to feed every single human being on the planet, you will get crazy p***y. All the p***y. I don't mean that literally. That might not be your cup of tea. I don't know what your version of all the p***y is. But you'll get all the p***y. Amen.
Instead, they joked that the Pope should be on the phone with Silverman, like she was the Secretary General of the Comedic Nations, or something:
BEHAR: Has the Pope called you back, to say he was thinking of the offer?
SILVERMAN: Haven’t heard from the Pope.
BEHAR: Haven’t heard from Benedict.
SILVERMAN: People complain, like people who are against it, which – How can you be against it? If you have so much money? Sell a piece of art, feed a country, you know? It’s unbelievable. Certainly, Jesus, uh, if he came back, would look at that and be disgusted.
HASSELBECK: Yeah. He wouldn’t have been living large like that.
BEHAR: It’s been like that for centuries.
SILVERMAN: He got pissed when they were selling knick-knacks in that temple. So this is nonsensical to me. It has nothing to do with me being Jewish. You know, a lot of mail was like, ‘Oh, what if it was Jewish?’ Yeah, if the Jews owned something like that, I would be [opposed] – I have no religion. I’m not talking as a Jew. I can’t help that I’m a Jew. It comes out of my pores.
At no point in her interview, was there anyone daring to ask a conservative question.
So you’re saying that all of your married fans are "gross" and no different than racists and anti-Semites?
So, if the Vatican should empty out its museums for the poor, should we also sell off the federal share of the Smithsonian museums and feed the hungry?
If the show really wanted to have a debate instead of a supportive chorus, they would get a stronger conservative than Hasselbeck on these social issues.
All Silverman received in reply were laughs, applause, and praise. "We love you, girl," oozed Shepherd, as she told the crowd everyone was received the Season Two DVD of the Sarah Silverman show.
