The "gay" Dilemma: If 's a joke, what do mean? | Snners | Roger Ebert

the dilemma gay joke

Sce last week, when Universal bowed to prsure om Anrson Cooper and cut a gay joke om s trailer for The Dilemma, there's been a lot of talk about where the le is when to gay jok edy. As far as The Dilemma go, s [...]

Contents:

‘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,... * the dilemma gay joke *

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 dilemma gay joke *

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.

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.

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

The ntroversial joke g the term “gay,” which was cut om the trailer, will still be the movie, reports The Los Angel Tim. * the dilemma gay joke *

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. 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.

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

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.

), 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! ), 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.

ARE GAY JOK EVER ACCEPTABLE?

) and says: "Electric rs are gay.

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

" 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.

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

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.

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

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. (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.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* THE DILEMMA GAY JOKE

Watch out! 'The Dilemma's' 'gay joke' trailer is still playg theaters - Los Angel Tim .

TOP