Denis Leary: Autistic Kids Are 'Just Stupid'

Comedian's caustic book says disorder is all in parents' heads
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 15, 2008 11:15 AM CDT
Denis Leary: Autistic Kids Are 'Just Stupid'
Denis Leary arrives at the fourth annual Fashion Rocks concert at Radio City Music Hall, presented by Conde Nast Media Group, New York, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007.   (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)

Denis Leary is not a sensitive man. His new book, Why We Suck, seems bound to offend people, the New York Post reports, particularly autistic people. Leary asserts that autism is booming because parents “want an explanation for why their dumb-ass kids can’t compete academically,” so they run to psychologists. “I don’t give a [bleep] what these crackerjack whack jobs tell you,” Leary writes, “yer kid is NOT autistic. He’s just stupid.”

The Autism Society of America said Leary’s remarks were “ridiculous” and “reflect the same misconceptions of autism… held 50 years ago.” Of course, Leary’s book is no gentler with any other targets. Of Heather Mills he speculates Paul McCartney "figured the fake leg would come in handy for smuggling marijuana," while Dr. Phil's oft-cited "personal Ground Zero" drew the comic's hopes that "two large speeding planes will crash into the side of your insipid hairless head." (More Denis Leary stories.)

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