Are Gay Jok Ever Acceptable?

Contents:

• ‘GAY’ JOKE ‘THE DILEMMA’ MOVIE TRAILER: HUMORO OR HARMFUL?
• RON HOWARD ON ‘THE DILEMMA’S’ GAY JOKE: IT STAYS THE MOVIE
• VCE VGHN ‘GLAD’ GAY JOKE TO STAY ‘THE DILEMMA’
• WATCH OUT! ‘THE DILEMMA’S’ ‘GAY JOKE’ TRAILER IS STILL PLAYG THEATERS
• ARE GAY JOK EVER ACCEPTABLE?
• ‘THE DILEMMA’ AND THE SUDN DILEMMA OVER GAY JOK HOLLYWOOD
• DIRECTOR RON HOWARDS ADDRS THE GAY JOKE CONTROVERSY “THE DILEMMA”
• VCE VGHN “GLAD” ABOUT DECISN TO KEEP “GAY” JOKE “THE DILEMMA”

‘GAY’ JOKE ‘THE DILEMMA’ MOVIE TRAILER: HUMORO OR HARMFUL?

A trailer for the movie "The Dilemma" has sparked ntroversy for a joke that hg on the e of the word "gay.

" Wh hate crim agast homosexuals the news, some viewers aren't lghg. The latt film to fd self on the wrong si of the funny flt le is “The Dilemma, ” the upg Ron Howard movie that took a big PR h late last week after CNN anchor Anrson Cooper plaed about s trailer’s e of the word “gay” a joke.

RON HOWARD ON ‘THE DILEMMA’S’ GAY JOKE: IT STAYS THE MOVIE

The trailer, which Universal pulled om theaters on Friday, opened wh Vce Vghn makg a prentatn about electric rs which he says: “Electric rs are gay. I mean, not homosexual, but my-parents-are-chaperong-the-dance gay.

VCE VGHN ‘GLAD’ GAY JOKE TO STAY ‘THE DILEMMA’

Cooper, who had been hostg a weeklong CNN seri about bullyg agast gays and a seri of suicis by gay teens, appeared on “The Ellen DeGener Show, ” where he said that he was “shocked” to see the trailer a movie theater. “The Dilemma’s” gay gag hardly broke new ground.

Gay jok are lobbed back and forth all the time on TV and edy clubs. As a straight whe guy, ’s easy for me to watch Vce Vghn say “It’s gay” and shg off other people’s sensivi by sayg, sentially, hey, ’s jt a joke. My sister, who is gay and has an entirely different life experience, felt the joke was an sult.

WATCH OUT! ‘THE DILEMMA’S’ ‘GAY JOKE’ TRAILER IS STILL PLAYG THEATERS

Marketg sirs at Universal say that they not only tted the trailer wh rank-and-file moviegoers but also submted to a number of gay rights watchdog groups. (GLAAD, the Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn, disput this, sayg had asked the stud to remove the joke.

In recent weeks, the media has been full of horrifyg stori about vlence and bullyg agast gay teens, some of which has rulted suicis. No one’s sayg “The Dilemma’s” gay electric r joke is the stuff of legend. Comics have been makg gay jok for years, but perhaps none of them has ed as much of a stir as the quip uttered by Vce Vghn when he ma fun of an electric r by sayg, ‘It’s gay, ’ the trailer for the upg Ron Howard edy, ‘The Dilemma.

’ Comg jt as the media was full of stori about tnts and attacks on gay teens that drove some to suici, the joke h a raw nerve. Universal Pictur pulled the trailer, substutg a new one scbbed of any gay humor. ’ In other words, I’m not sure that I’m all that fortable wh most of the gay jok I’ve heard, but once you start tryg to make value judgments about one joke over another, you’re on a slippery slope to the arid wasteland of polil rrectns.

ARE GAY JOK EVER ACCEPTABLE?

), and the very day that a US district judge issued a worldwi junctn orrg the Department of Defense to stop enforcement of s absurd, 17-year-old "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for kickg gays out of the ary (bt of all, the se was brought by the Log Cab Republins!

‘THE DILEMMA’ AND THE SUDN DILEMMA OVER GAY JOK HOLLYWOOD

), I have found myself readg about a stupid gay joke that's been removed om trailers for the upg Ron Howard edy "The Dilemma, " starrg Vce Vghn and Kev Jam. ) and says: "Electric rs are gay.

" The rash of recent suicis by teenagers who've been harassed for beg gay has ma the e of "gay" as an sult pecially gallg, even among those who might otherwise thk 's "all good fun" or somethg like that. And then there's New York Republin gubernatorial ndidate Carl Palado announcg, "I don't want [children] brawashed to thkg that homosexualy is an equally valid and succsful optn.

I thought that "gay" as a kd of half-mock slur, wh no direct reference to sexualy, ran s urse the 1990s. There was a time when uld be ed wh a sense of postmorn irony as a non sequur or outrageoly mixed metaphor, as when a iend of me, stuck gridlock, exclaimed: "Traffic is so gay! " The obv appropriatens unrmed the notn that "gay" uld be ed as a legimate sult.

DIRECTOR RON HOWARDS ADDRS THE GAY JOKE CONTROVERSY “THE DILEMMA”

(Not unlike gay activists' reclaimg of the word "queer" earlier s. Kids have ed "gay" jokgly, to mean chey or unmanly or unol or even to potedly signify "actually not at all homosexual" for a long. Likewise those who equate to sayg "that's so gay" about a Judy Garland album or a Madonna vio.

No, the "joke" (quotatn marks to imply "such as is") may have meang, sissified overton ("'Dancg wh the Stars' is so gay"), but if the reference n be said to be at all humoro tent, there should be eher no overt rrelatn between the object of parison and gay culture, or should be ridiculoly overstated. ¹ To say, on the other hand, that Kathy Griff's dience is "so gay" is not a joke, 's jt a statement. No one's sayg "The Dilemma's" gay electric r joke is the stuff of legend.

)This is gog to e down to a bs cisn: Is "The Dilemma" a more salable movie wh or whout the gay joke?

VCE VGHN “GLAD” ABOUT DECISN TO KEEP “GAY” JOKE “THE DILEMMA”

- - - -¹ This famo scene, between Seth Rogen and Pl Rudd over a game of Mortal Kombat, is hilar for a lot of reasons, mostly havg to do wh the characters' mockg their own sexual securi, and their petive attempts to outdo each other's jok while playg the game:Cal: You're gay, now?

David: No, I'm not gay. I mean, that sounds gay. I jt want you to know this is, like, the first nversatn of, like, three nversatns that leads to you beg gay.

I'm a gay guy now. "David: You're gay for sayg I'm gay for sayg that? David: You know how I know you're gay?