Celebrity Mound

Jerry Lewis made an anti-gay slur on Australian television similar to one he apologized for using on his annual telethon a year ago.

Following a news conference in Sydney Friday, Lewis, 82, was asked by a Network Ten national TV reporter for his opinion on the Australian nation sport of cricket.

“Oh, cricket? It’s a f– game. What are you, nuts?” Lewis replied.

The network broadcast the comment in full on its Friday evening news bulletin along with footage of Lewis handling an imaginary cricket bat with an effeminate gesture.

Lewis apologized in September last year for using a similar anti-gay slur in Las Vegas during his annual Labor Day telethon that raises money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Lewis was still in Australia on Saturday and has performances booked there through Nov. 1. His Australian spokeswoman Julie Cavanagh said he did not intend to comment.

The comedian held Friday’s news conference to promote his latest stage show that is touring Australia. It is a retrospective of his career that includes show tunes with a 24-piece band, excerpts from his scores of movies and television shows, and his trademark slapstick comedy.

U.S.-based Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation spokesman Damon Romine said his organization would examine Lewis’ words before commenting.

Jerry Lewis said a gun found in his carry-on and confiscated by Las Vegas police at the airport last month was a gift from an engraver following Lewis’ annual telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association – despite an earlier claim by his manager that the weapon was a prop.

“Oh, I had a gun in my carrying case, which was given to me by a marvelous, marvelous engraver,” Lewis told “Entertainment Tonight.” “Last year, at the telethon of ‘07, he presented me with this gorgeous gift. He presented it to me in the telethon office in ‘07. I put it in that traveling case, and I hadn’t traveled since that telethon ’til that day.”

Lewis said in a video posted Thursday on the entertainment news show’s Web site that the gun had been sitting in his office for a year in an unused traveling case. Lewis said “a whole year flashed in front of me” when his road manager, Jeff Low, asked if he had a gun in his baggage at the Las Vegas airport before his flight to Detroit.

“The case was sitting dormant in my office,” Lewis said.

Following the incident last month, Lewis’ manager, Claudia Marghilano, told The Associated Press that the handgun was a hollowed-out prop gun that Lewis sometimes twirls during his show. She said the gun couldn’t fire and that Lewis didn’t know the gun was in the bag along with other props.

When reached for comment by telephone Thursday, Marghilano said there was a prop gun in Lewis’ baggage besides the handgun that was given to Lewis as a gift. Marghilano said she did not previously know about the gift and did not know which gun -the gift or the prop – police confiscated.

Las Vegas policeman Bill Cassell said on July 30 if the gun were merely a prop “it wouldn’t be a weapon and we couldn’t cite him for carrying a weapon.” Cassell said Lewis was cited July 25 for carrying the unloaded concealed weapon at the Las Vegas airport.

Police say they have confiscated a gun belonging to Jerry Lewis that was found in the 82-year-old entertainer’s carryon bag as he prepared to fly to Detroit from Las Vegas.

Las Vegas policeman Bill Cassell said Tuesday that the actor was cited Friday for carrying an unloaded concealed weapon at the Las Vegas airport.

Lewis’ manager, Claudia Marghilano, says the handgun is a hollowed-out prop gun that Lewis sometimes twirls during his show. She tells The Associated Press that the gun couldn’t fire.

Marghilano says Lewis didn’t know the gun was in the bag along with other props.

Cassell says if the gun were merely a prop “it wouldn’t be a weapon and we couldn’t cite him for carrying a weapon.”

While Jerry Lewis raised millions of dollars during his annual Labor Day telethon, he also caused a bit of controversy.

During the 18th hour of the telethon to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the 81-year-old actor, riffing in front of the camera very late in the broadcast, introduced an unseen person with a description that sounded like “the illiterate faggot.”

In a video clip of the incident posted on the Internet, Lewis swaggers across the stage, appearing to dodge a cameraman before making the slightly muddled statement. He then seemingly catches himself and says, “No.”

In an e-mail statement released by the Muscular Dystrophy Association Tuesday, Lewis apologized for the remark, saying it was a “joking comment” intended for a member of his production team.

“I apologize to anyone who was offended,” Lewis said. “I obviously made a bad choice of words. Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard. In the family atmosphere of the telethon, I forget that not everyone knows me that well.”

“That something like this would distract from the true purpose of the telethon pains me deeply,” he continued. “The success of the show and all the good that will come from it shouldn’t be lost because of one unfortunate word. I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses. I am sorry.”

The president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) issued a statement Tuesday criticizing Lewis’ perceived use of the slur and calling on him to apologize.

“Jerry Lewis’ on-air use of this kind of anti-gay slur is simply unacceptable,” Neil G. Giuliano said. “Our nation’s media have done an admirable job this year holding public figures accountable for their use of anti-gay slurs, and I hope they continue to do so with Mr. Lewis.”

Lewis’ televised slur comes after actor Isaiah Washington reportedly called his “Grey’s Anatomy” co-star T.R. Knight a “faggot” earlier this year, causing a controversy that led to his removal from the ABC series.

This isn’t the first time Lewis has said something controversial on-air. Asked about those who consider him “patronizing” in a 2001 CBS News interview, Lewis responded, “You don’t want to be pitied for being a cripple in a wheelchair? Stay in your house.”

Lewis raised nearly $64 million Monday, topping last year’s event by $3 million, according to The Associated Press. Funds raised at the live Las Vegas telethon go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s research and health services for those affected by more than 40 neuromuscular diseases.

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