"B is for bullshit and you fed me some … you always play me in the cheapest key."
Kathleen Edwards
We all thought about it, but somebody finally had the guts to do it : My Gayest Look is a website that's just people giving the finger to Jay Leno. The site is brilliant in its simplicity. The fact that there's good reason behind it is more than a little bonus, as described thusly:
On Thursday, March 20, 2008, Jay Leno welcomed as his guest on The Tonight Show the actor Ryan Phillippe, who, early in his career, played a gay character on the daily soap One Life to Live. During the interview, Leno hounded Phillippe, telling him to look into the camera, pretend it was his "gay lover…Billy Bob," who "has just ridden in shirtless from Wyoming" (still milking the Brokeback jokes), and give it his "gayest look."
Watch the interview here.
The origins of this clusterfuck goes back to 2006, with Leno's jab's at "Brokeback Mountain," and the response from Jeff Whitty, playwright of the brilliant "Avenue Q."
So, here's my two-cents. The "I'm sorry" isn't for Leno. It's because I've made a lot of derisive remarks about homosexuality in 31 years. I was trying to be funny, but it doesn't seem funny anymore. I doubt if I'm cured of my ignorance. And it's depressing to think that after this frustration is forgotten, I will likely fuck-up and use the word "fag" sometime – and it won't even be that funny.
Maybe I'm hypocritical. I've never faced discrimination, not really. I don't know what it feels like to be afraid someone is going to taunt me or worse for my sexual orientation. I've never had to fight for my civil rights. Maybe I don't have the right to be indignant.
You're never as funny as you think. Sometimes you're funnier, sometimes you're stupid. And I've been both.
I don't watch Leno because, for all his polish, he's just not that funny. So now I have another reason to turn the channel. I don't think he should be censored. I don't think he should be taken off the air. I just think he should know better.
So should I.
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1 comments:
Hello - this post is likeable, and your blog IS very interesting. I will definitely add in my blogroll.
Seriously, I wouldn't beat myself up about it much. I still make some gay jokes which are regularly peppered with my very false machismo. I have had plenty of gay friends, most of whom were/are much more manly than I.
As a country we spend way too much time making a big deal out of things people say on the spot instead of realizing what they obviously meant. You can tell in that clip that Jay wasn't trying to be offensive or mean. He's not very funny, but as comedians go he's about the least offensive.
The same goes for all of the presidential candidates. I'm tired of hearing endless partisan rants and news analysis about some slight ambiguity in a candidate's speech, when they obviously meant well. I'm sure you mean well too. We all need to pull the stick out of our collective butts. (gay joke omitted)
K
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