Open Mouth. Insert Louboutin.

Kathie Lee Gifford.

Just her name can evoke strong emotion, negative emotion for many, but until recently I never really understood the negativity. In fact, I’ve been known to defend her against some of her more vocal detractors. But even I can’t defend her latest guffaw, nor would I want to.

Let me set the scene: Martin Short was recently on the fourth hour of The Today Show, an hour infamous for sloppy reporting and inebriated hosts, one of whom is Kathie Lee. She and her only slightly less worthless cohost, Hoda Kotb, began asking Short—who was promoting his latest film Madagascar 3—questions about his personal life and, specifically, his marriage. Gifford asked Short how long he’d been married, how he and his wife kept the love alive in their relationship, and the secret to an enduring marriage. All appropriate questions, except for one thing: Martin Short’s wife, Nancy, is dead.

And has been since 2010, when she fell victim to ovarian cancer.

  "Let me distract you from the stupidity coming out of my mouth by doing these cool hand gestures." 

I mean, really, there are struggling and out-of-work journalists out there and this fool gets her own show? Twice? It would almost be funny if it wasn’t so sad. For future reference, Kathie Lee, there’s a little thing called research. Maybe you should try it next time. To her credit, she did offer an on-air apology once she’d been notified of what a giant ass she’d just made of herself, but honestly, too little too late.

And proving yet again what a class act he is, Mr. Short never called her out for being an idiot; he instead tried to answer the asinine questions to the best of his ability—albeit, slightly confusedly—and has even come to her defense, saying, “people make mistakes.”

It’s true. People do make mistakes.

Especially when they can’t be bothered to do their homework.