I remember going to a Jay Leno performance in Morgantown, W.Va., back in 1990. I enjoyed the show immensely, and so did thousands of other fans. Somehow I doubt Leno would be welcomed back with open arms to the home of West Virginia University now after his joke last night at the expense of WVU and West Virginians.

About six minutes into his monologue, Leno took this potshot at me and my peeps:

And West Virginia beat Clemson in the Orange Bowl last night by a score of 70-33. West Virginia scored 70 points? Huh, West Virginia? They don’t score that high on their SATs. That’s unbelievable. That’s amazing; that’s amazing.

The ignorant and stereotypical wisecrack drove many West Virginians to Leno’s Facebook page and to Twitter, where they have been voicing complaints about his attack on the people of the great Mountain State. Here’s a sampling of the responses:

• “Shame on you for making such offensive remarks about WV on your show last night! I, and many others, think you owe West Virginia an apology!”
• “This person from WV thinks Leno should do better research! Public SAT Scores show that WV scored better than over 15 states on the SAT’s in 2010. Oh, and WV got higher scores than HIS good ol’ state of NY in reading, math and writing!”
• “Do you know what Booker T Washington, Mary Lou Retton, Chuck Yeagar, Jerry West, Homer Hickam, Jon McBride, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Anna Jarvis, Jennifer Garner, Daniel Boone and Brad Paisley all have in common? THEY ARE ALL WEST VIRGINIANS!”
• “I actually was watching when Jay Leno made these negative remarks about West Virginians and immediately turned the show off! We West Virginians are very proud people and are tired of all the negative and nasty comments made about our beautiful state and its wonderful people!”
• “Jay, I appreciate comedy, but don’t insult our state or people We invite you to visit Wild Wonderful WV and meet our friendly people. We love our football but Mountaineers stands for much more.”

This isn’t the first time Leno has enraged West Virginians by pedaling hillbilly humor. Here are two previous jokes:

• “The great thing about drinking Starbucks coffee in West Virginia is that you don’t have to worry about staining your tooth” (after the first Starbucks opened in the state).
• “They want to make it illegal to sell Barbie dolls in West Virginia because they say the dolls give girls unreal expectations. See, apparently in West Virginia, dolls that have all of their teeth are not considered realistic.”

Although I’m not amused by Leno’s jokes, I’m also not all that offended by them. First of all, Leno is a comedian, and comedians make a living by ridiculing people. They’re usually equal-opportunity offenders. They do have favorite targets, but two jokes about West Virginians in several years does not a bigot make.

And even if I were inclined to be offended at someone on “The Tonight Show” for the West Virginia jokes, it wouldn’t be Leno. He has writers — elitist Hollywood writers who probably believe the jokes are truth rather than hyperbole. They are the people who deserve the scorn of West Virginians and enlightened rednecks everywhere.