Mike Rowe echoes his disappointment over Kimmel's ‘tone-deaf’ belittling of plumbers

If there’s anyone willing to stand up and unapologetically defend the blue-collar worker, it’s Mike Rowe.

Rowe is doubling down on his recent comments after left-wing comedian Jimmy Kimmel had some “belittling” things to say about former plumber Markwayne Mullin, who now serves as Homeland Security Secretary.

“Trump’s got a whole new generation of thinkers lined up, including his newly confirmed Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne ‘Chuck Mike Bruce Dave’ Melon — Mullin. Maybe Melon’s better. He’s the now former senator of Oklahoma. Before he was elected to the Senate, Markwayne Mullin was a low-level MMA fighter and a plumber. That’s right. We have a plumber protecting us from terrorism now. It worked for Super Mario. Why not Markwayne?” Kimmel snarked on March 24.

“But honestly — I mean, if Trump is going to keep picking these unqualified people to run the department, why not have more fun with it? I mean, next time, instead of Markwayne, how about Lil Wayne for Homeland Security? At least we can get a concert out of it, right?”

He later tried to clarify that he wasn’t mocking all plumbers, just Mullin.

“I’m not upset that the head of Homeland Security used to be a plumber. I’m upset that he isn’t still a plumber,” Kimmel said. “I wouldn’t put a plumber in charge of Homeland Security for the same reason I wouldn’t call a five-star general to pull a rat out of my toilet, OK? We all have our areas of expertise.”

Rowe was not a fan of this kind of talk and ripped into the comedian in a social media post:

“Being offended is always a choice, and I don’t choose to be offended by a joke, even one that comes at the expense of the skilled tradespeople my foundation tries to elevate. But I am a tad butt hurt by the suggestion that skilled workers should never evolve into something new, and that competence is somehow limited to one vocation. Obviously, expertise and skill are important. If I need a new kidney, I’d prefer a doctor do the surgery, not a late night talk show host. But if the doctor in question used to host a talk show, why would I hold that against him?” Rowe pointed out.

He argued that more people should be able to be multifaceted in their lives, rather than believing the stereotypes of different occupations.

“What we really need in this country, are more welders who can talk intelligently about Aristotle, and more philosophers who can run an even bead. More Generals, in other words, who can fix their own toilets, and more plumbers who can hold a powerful government job,” he said. “This is what Mullin did. He was a private citizen who mastered an essential skill, and then turned that skill into a multi-million-dollar company that employed a lot of people and served a lot of customers. That gave him the freedom to do other things with his life, including a career in public service which got him into Congress, where he’s spent the last eleven years doing whatever Congressmen do. Now, he has a very consequential position in the Cabinet of the current administration.”

His thoughtful analysis resonated with so many people that his post quickly went viral, which he made a subsequent post about on Thursday:

“I want to apologize for not responding to any of the 22 thousand comments my last post inspired. I’ve been filming all week and just noticed my observations about Jimmy Kimmel and a former plumber named Markwayne Mullin have gone viral. I’ve also noticed that many of the comments are from people who genuinely seem to believe that Jimmy wasn’t belittling plumbers at all, but was instead, simply trying to point out that Mullin is not qualified to lead the DHS,” he said, giving some examples from users who defended Kimmel in his comment section.

“Had Roger, Rebecca, Patrick and all the others who rushed to Jimmy’s Kimmel’s defense actually read what I had written, they would see that I did not suggest – even remotely – that a plumber was inherently qualified to hold a cabinet position. What I said, was that being a plumber should not disqualify a person from holding such a position. Big difference. Doctors, lawyers, veterinarians, fireman, and university professors are no more or less qualified to run the DHS than plumbers, electricians, or carpenters – but should they all be dismissed as ‘unqualified’ simply because they made a living in some other vocation?” Rowe asked.

He went on to say that while “credentials and diplomas are great ways to bolster a person’s credibility,” America is already awash in “perfectly qualified experts who don’t know what the hell they’re doing.”

“There are plenty of legitimate reasons to question Mullin’s suitability for this role. But there’s no legitimate reason to disqualify him simply because he used to be a plumber. Just as there was no legitimate reason to dismiss AOC because she used to tend bar. As for the joke itself, here’s an honest question. If Senator Mullin was a retired doctor instead of a retired plumber, do you believe he would have made the same joke?” he wondered.

Ultimately, Rowe explained that he doesn’t care about whether people think Mullin is or is not qualified for his position.

“What I do care about, is the extraordinary shortage of plumbers and electricians our country is facing, and the longstanding stigmas and stereotypes that continue to discourage people from considering a lucrative career in the skilled trades. Jimmy’s joke – and his audience’s reaction to it – is proof positive that those stigmas and stereotypes are alive and well.”

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Sierra Marlee

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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.

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