Or, could he have been making fun of neither? I watch Spike TV a lot when I've nothing else to do because they play a lot of CSI (which I never seem to be able to watch on regular TV). Being pro-male (and even going to a Guy's Choice Awards) doesn't mean that one cannot be pro-woman, right? It is possible that one could wear the NOW shirt to a Guy's Choice Awards show to let the world know it's cool to be a guy and a feminist? Of course, given that Andy Samberg is a comedian and makes his living making fun of people and things, he was probably making fun of one or both, but I figured I'd play devil's advocate since I've had a bit of a celebrity crush on Samberg ever since "Lazy Sunday."

Meanwhile, just to be catty, what's up with his hair?

I would vote for a sort of non-directional cheap attempt at irony, bland and inoffensive and mildly clever. Meta hipster implies a more deliberate conspiracy theory.

I'm hoping for "pro-feminist." Otherwise I'll have to abandon yet another girlie crush. :(

I have no idea who this guy is, but he looks eerily like John Travolta.

I will say that if he *is* trying for a joke, it's not terribly bright of him to mock women. Assuming he's not gay, that is.

I say good for him. I'm not familiar with the guy but even if it was a hipster attempt at irony, it still inadvertently normalizes that behavior. Imagine if woman's rights shirts because all the rage for Spike TV. It might cause someone to think liking stereotypical guy stuff AND supporting equality for women aren't mutually exclusive concepts.

*Imagine if woman's rights shirts BECAME all the rage for Spike TV.

I'm guessing that he's one of those guys who say they're pro-feminist and think that stripper poles are feminist too.

I have no evidence other than my gut. And she's a big gut!

But who cares about the tee, where's his member card!?

Nobody's going with the parenthetical option?

OK, I'll play Mr. Blackwell: The Emo Rodeo's in town!

If anyone has a paid IMDB account, you can get to the page that lists his reps.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1676221/
Because I'm becoming more curious by the minute!

A closer look at "Dick In a Box"

I don't know what option to choose, but I will say that Andy Samberg's going down the wrong road with a crappy-sounding movie (called "Hot Rod" about an Evel Knievel-wannabe...or something like that) and an even crappier sounding movie to follow that (Space Chimps. Yeeeeah). Don't go into the light, Samberg!

Also--that "Dick in a Box" social commentary was, uh, a bit of a stretch? I thought that video was funny because they looked like Color Me Badd, and that reminded me of my bad (or should I say, badd?) taste in music when all I had as influences were my older sister and Beverly Hills, 90210. It wasn't even so much the whole "Dick in a Box" thing.

Is it wierd that I'm kindof turned on by him wearing that t-shirt? :-)

I have to say that Dick in a Box is my guilty pleasure. I was just thinking about that this morning, strangely, and here it is on feministing.com! I thought about the possible negatives it was promoting, but particularly with the girls' response video of "Box in a Box" i just think either way, if it's a girl or guy's genitals in a box, it's funny!! I think they are both hilarious. Maybe wrong, but so so funny.

Well, maybe this is just me, but I thought "Dick In A Box" actually had some feminist undertones. Yeah, yeah, I know--but think about it. On one level, it's a song about dicks in a box, but they're also mocking the stupidity and sexism of those kinds of songs.

I don't know, though. My gut instinct was that he wasn't joking, but wasn't trying to make a really big statement either, just stand out a little bit from all the dudery.

I would guess making fun of Spike TV. The T-shirt is NOW from Berkeley, where he's from, so it's authentic, not some thrift store buy.

I didn't see anything at all anti-feminist in Dick in a Box. I thought that it was hilarious, and mocking chauvinistic behavior.

This is really tough! When hipsters wear t-shirts ironically, they're usually too small, too tight, and faded (i.e., taken from a thrift store). Andy's shirt here looks brand new, like he placed an online order to NOW!

Andy's so young and usually totally funny on SNL. I hope that he'd be open to feminism and more open-minded in general. I tend to believe (with no basis whatsoever, though!) that he's not the new John Belushi. Let's hope he's not!

"John (Belushi) absolutely didn't like being in sketches with women," Jane Curtin said in the book. "He told me women weren't funny. Actually, Chevy (Chase) said it to me as well."

Well he IS from Berkeley, and it's a Berkeley chapter shirt, making it less likely that he just found it in a thrift store or something.

My initial reaction is to take it as making fun of Spike TV, but I could be wrong.

Channel for men! lol, as opposed to every other channel, I suppose.

Who cares?

I think for every picture of some random guy with unidentified motives, you should feature at least two confirmed female feminists.

Feminist blogs have a BIG problem of supporting the things they're against by bring more publicity and attention to them. Let's fix it.

thank you, blucas, for bringing up the 'tv for men' comment. i mean, come on, they get like 397 channels, and we get all of about 2. as for andy, i have no clue. but the hair is certainly um, something.

I watched a little bit of that. Stephen Colbert won their "Ballsiest Move" (or whatever it was called) award for speaking at GWB's state dinner. He accepted the award in-character, and poked a bit of fun at Spike: "What was there for guys before Spike TV? Books. Nothing but books."

I confess I squealed when Masi Oka won their "Best Geek" award.

I think you can support NOW and think that it's hilarious in an ironic hipster kind of way to wear their T-shirt to the Spike TV event. But that's partly because I think he's hilarious and weirdly attractive.

The unspoken word in the Spike motto is "manly." As in, tv for manly men.

Not surprisingly, I friggin love SpikeTV. Come on- CSI, MXC, Star Trek, things with explosions... how can you go wrong? But then, I've always been a little manly myself.

(Side note: I just tried to go to the Spike website to check on their current listings, since I no longer get cable, but I was greated with an error message in the form of a topless woman. Classy!)

Not only is Samberg from Berkeley, but he went to UC Santa Cruz. He may as well be a hippy. I'm going with making fun of Spike and not feminism.

I think I know what I'm sending Julia Meltzer for her birthday.

I don’t think that trying to be ‘ironic’ necessarily equates to being critical of something. That said, even if Samberg was trying to be critical instead of just humorous (and hello! what is funny about this?) his presence at the event legitimizes it far more than his shirt challenges it.

Hi all!

California NOW here.

Andy Samberg’s publicist contacted us directly to request a NOW shirt for him to wear at the awards show, saying Andy did not want to present if he couldn’t wear a NOW shirt. We took this as an indication of his acknowledgement that the awards—especially the one he was asked to present, “A Gift from the Gods,� for hottest female newcomer—needed an infusion of feminism. We think it was a testament to his feminism that he wanted to wear a NOW shirt while handing out that particular award, and are grateful to him for it.

The comedy bit that Andy and Will Forte did before they presented the award comically overshadowed the sexism of the award itself, which we also appreciated.

He ended up with a Berkeley NOW shirt because we were out of stock of a CA NOW shirt in his size. As luck would have it, a Berkeley NOW member is interning with us this summer, and she offered up her Berkeley NOW shirt to send to him, since that is where he is from.

Side note (from Nikki): I went to college with Andy at UC Santa Cruz. We weren’t BFFs or anything, but I did know him. He was definitely progressive back then and knowing this we were confident that his intention to counter-balance this Guy’s Choice Awards by wearing a NOW t-shirt was pure, not ironic.

-Rachel Allen and Nikki Ragsac
CA NOW

While his intentions were sincere, as proven by the above message, the fact that he wore it to the dudefest that is a Spike awards show is totally hipster irony. Regardless, it is awesome that he wearing a NOW shirt. It just solidifies that he is the best current cast member on SNL, especially since Seth Meyers can't write a good sketch.

Thanks for the info, Rachel and Nikki!

There we go. I guess that Andy's a feminist?

Thanks, Rachel and Nikki!

This makes my heart happy. I have a huge crush on Andy Samberg. And, come on, how can the genius behind "Laser Cats" NOT be completely awesome in real life? :)

I can only cross my fingers now and hope that his (and, apparently, Will Forte's, who is also pretty damn funny and seems quite liberal from the interviews I've heard) small blow for feminism at Spike will make little ripples that might eventually make this network, which has some shows that I LOVE, realize that, huh, its female audience members are whole people and everything too.

I don't see a contradiction between, on the one hand, making TV or movies that celebrate 'guyness' (and that includes the celebrated male sexual response to visual stimuli), while on the other hand recognizing that women often get a raw deal, and being open to challenging the social structures causing this.

I'm no more for or against pole dancing than I'm for or against line dancing. And I'm more delighted with Paul Potts than Spike TV's judgement of "Newest Hottie" or whatever. But I think it's a really, really positive sign that 'guys' can wear that message T-Shirt in that context.

Yeah, "Dick in a Box" was about how the lyrics in all those R&B jams "for the ladies" are often pretty off-putting, if not outright creepy (e.g., Usher: "I've got plans to put my hands in places I've never seen, girl, you know what I mean").

awesome!! it was so cool to read that info from CA NOW. yay!

has anyone else watched the video "awesometown"? it's how the now-SNL-star got his start, I believe...aaaand it's hilarious.

Carly, I LOOOOOOOOOVE Awesometown. It's rare a show makes me laugh that hard :)

I don't think he was making fun of NOW or Spike. I think he just wanted to be silly and ironic. I don't think he has any stance, pro or con, on feminism.

Whatever gets more guys to feel comfortable supporting gender equality is okay in my book.

As long as we're on the topic of NOW gear... is the logo supposed to look like a vagina? My friend pointed this out to me a few years ago, and ever since, I see that every time I look at it. :-) I guess I would like to think it was intentional. Most symbols of power are so phallic. If anyone knows the history of it, I would love to know more.

(a) I

(b) Hey guys, look! http://rrpa.wordpress.com/
We apparently pissed off a blogger who seems to have already decided he hates feminists (our "hackles are always up" - though he does provide a link for donation to Planned Parenthood - hmm). Apparently, because Jess *asked* our opinion on the matter and gave several varieties of speculation, "The assumption is that he’s an anti-feminist, 'ironic' douche."

Looks like someone is "assuming" himself! People are simply voicing their opinions in the comment, and not all of them fall on the side of suspicion.

He ends with the overwhelmingly witty, charming, and appropriate: "Sorry ladies. You’re going to have to find your daily dose of outrage somewhere else."

Aw, but look. You have zero comments on your blog. Looks like your opinion doesn't matter. Bye now.

i think it's way neat that he said he wouldn't present at the show if he wasn't wearing a NOW shirt. i go back and forth on him on SNL (chronicles of narnia, song, though? effing hysterical) but this might be the factor that pushes me all the way to pro-andy.

and, nit picky though this may be, i think that he's from berkeley makes it equally likely that it could have been a thrift store find as not. thrift stores are loaded with local spirit. and if it's where he's from, he could have found it in a thrift store back home.
but again, who cares, since we now know he got it from a NOW intern.

i'll say it again, overall: neat.

The parenthetical, definitely.

I'm glad he wasn't being a hipster douche, but a little disappointed that feministing brought up the question in the first place. Why so cynical?

Also, I gotta say I'd much, much, much rather watch 24 hours of Spike than even five minutes of Lifetime or Oxygen.

Rachel and Nikki, thanks!
I am a part of Berkeley NOW and I know that girl who gave him the shirt.

I was really ahppy to see this. Even thought he IS a comedian, I do not think he was trying to pull a joke. Comedians are artists, and artists happen to be some of the most enlightened and progressive out there!