GLAAD Is Mad — At Everyone
Is “American Idol” homophobic?
With this leading question, the AP reports: “The Fox talent show elicited a response from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLADD) after judges Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson made what the gay rights group deemed questionable comments on last week’s premiere episode.”
FOX. Of course.
On Tuesday’s show, seen by a Nielsen-chart topping 35.5 million viewers, Cowell told one male contestant to “wear a dress” and Jackson asked another, “are you a girl?”“The real offense here was in the producer’s decision to add insult to injury by turning a contestant’s gender expression into the butt of a joke,” said Damon Ramine, a spokesman for GLAAD, in a statement posted on the group’s Web site.
Ramine updated the situation Monday with another statement: “We’ve spoken with Fox and have entered into what we hope will be a productive, ongoing conversation about the show’s representation and discussion of sexual orientation and gender expression.”
And we thought the show was all about singing and vocal talent.
“Sexual orientation”? “Gender expression?” “Butt of a joke?”
For anyone who didn’t watch the show, it may sound like a politically-incorrect offense has been committed. On major network television. A primetime scandal. Impossible. And so it is.
For the real story, we turn to those who actually watched the show. In describing the failed contestant and gender bender, the american idol season 5 blog concludes:
Poor Zachary.He would be great in a drag show.
I have to say, I felt bad when he started crying. But he wonders why people can’t figure out whether or not he’s a guy or a girl — here’s a tip — don’t dress like a woman!
Hey, GLAAD, listen up. Good advice for your next press release. [See video here]
And in related news, Daily Dish reports: “Bosses at cable channel E! are standing by controversial fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi after he was publicly criticized for risque acts and comments at the Golden Globe Awards last week.”
Guess who’s criticizing?
Although none of the stars have complained about Mizrahi’s conduct, officials at Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation have complained about comments Mizrahi made to Charlize Theron about her Oscar-winning performance in “Monster”, during which he called her character “a scary dyke with bad teeth.”
Does that mean he’s not gay? Does Richard Simmons know?
Darn. It’s all so confusing.
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October 5th, 2006 at 7:49 am
[...] And, evidently, it’s okay to do so. There’s no uproar from the usually outraged homosexual activists in Hollywood or elsewhere. There’s no indignant posturing from Jesse and his Rainbow Coalition. The ACLU isn’t clamoring, despite it’s NAMBLA clientele. San Francisco’s very own Feinstein, Boxer and Pelosi aren’t worried about the gay bash. Why’s that? Because Foley is a Republican, and it’s time to play politics. As Richard Simmons would say, “Get with the program, people.” [...]