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Timed to National Coming Out Day, GLAAD is calling on Universal Pictures to remove that “gay” insult scene from the Ron Howard-Vince Vaughn movie The Dilemma. The studio already redid its trailer because of pressure from the lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, and transgender community as well as from CNN host Anderson Cooper. But GLAAD is now complaining that Universal will “neither confirm or deny that the joke will be in the final film, in spite of the rise in attention to anti-gay violence and teen suicides that have occurred as a result of anti-gay bullying.” So GLAAD has just released a Call to Action via an online petition urging Universal to pull the joke from the film. ”When ‘gay’ is used as a pejorative in such a public way for millions to see and laugh with, it legitimizes and propels the many taunts that gay people endure,” said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios. “Amidst a rash of bullying related suicides and anti-gay hate crimes, we need to tell Universal and America that our community is tired of being used as a punch line.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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seriously these twats from GLADD are full of it.. hope Universal doesn’t give in. leave the movie as it is …..
I’m fine with them removing the joke from a trailer that was intended for “all audiences” as something inappropriately offensive… There are a lot of things that they don’t allow in trailers because they would offend people who are in the theater to see something else entirely. But demanding it be cut from the film is a whole other issue.
Vince Vaughn apparently plays a character that wouldn’t think twice about using that phrase… Saying that such a character should not be allowed in a film is pretty major censorship. Protest the movie all you like and use it as an opportunity to educate the public as to why that phrase is offensive, but don’t try to force it’s removal from the film.
Perfect! Just what we need. Another studio executive (this one named GLAAD) giving notes to Oscar-winning filmmakers about what is funny and what is too offensive.
This is the smartest post on this page. You are absolutely correct on every point. No one should tell anyone what to include or cut out of their film. Commercials are a different animal, on public airwaves. But forcing a filmmaker to censor their movie??? No bueno…
The trailer was one thing. But now GLAAD is taking it too far. If Universal obliges GLAAD’s request, then the studio should also remove anything offensive to any other group, whether it regards lifestyle, race, religion, etc.
It’s amazing how the Gay Mafia wants to capitalize on horrific crimes for their own perverse agenda.
“When ‘gay’ is used as a pejorative in such a public way for millions to see and laugh with, it legitimizes and propels the many taunts that gay people endure,” said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios.
Funny. I get the best gay jokes from my gay friends.
I am,
The Hollywood Republican
Once again, the real bad guys (Westboro Baptist Church) gets away…
I’m gay and I’m pretty sure that 99% of the gay men I know would not be offended by that throwaway line.
GLAAD is setting the gay civil rights movement BACK, if anything.
Hear, hear, Auntie Tom!
Also, thank you, straight commenters, for letting us gays know what we’re allowed to find offensive.
First of all, I’m not a woman, or a sellout, so no need for the “auntie tom” comment.
I just think that we as gay men can be too haughty and self righteous. And it’s annoying. Pull the stick out of your ass (pun intended) and realize that 87% to 90% of the population is STRAIGHT, and to get ahead you have to play their game.
And besides, some of my best friends are straight, they are really cool peeps
From a straight guy: I totally agree. No one got upset in “Get Him to the Greek” when P. Diddy goes on a rant about being treated like a “house n*****” and I think that (could be) wildly more offensive than saying something is “gay.” I thought the way it was written, that Vaughn’s character goes out of his way to say “not homosexual, but this type” made it work. Sure it shouldn’t be in the trailer, but don’t cut it from the movie. What’s a better word to fit the scene? Hybrids are lame? cutesy? To me, it works, and they made sure to specify it wasn’t homophobic. If African-Americans still threw a fit every time the n-word was used in modern society, or every time a black person was portrayed poorly, can you imagine what we’d have left?
It’s the 21st century, people get made fun of. And this isn’t even a real anti-gay slant.
Let these grown straight men have all their silly gay jokes. It’s clearly critical for their low self-esteem to have full freedom to make fun of the gays, so they can feel superior.
Though I in no way agree with the use of the term gay as a way to put a group of people down or a laugh at their expense, freedom of speech means taking the bad with the good. We shouldn’t be pressured into restricting our language or our thoughts because of outside pressure from people or groups that don’t agree. It is their right to picket the film if they’d like and verbally bash it if they please. (The movie looks terrible anyway.)
Maybe it’s time to do what South Park suggested and change the meaning of the word “gay.” It use to mean happy, then homosexual. I think it’s time to move on and have it mean something else now. From this day forward, homosexuals are no longer referred to as gay. Gay does not mean homosexual.
There! Problem solved. Thank you.
Just because someone on an internet site (or South Park for that matter) decides “gay” shouldn’t mean homosexual anymore doesn’t mean society at large will follow suit. Words matter, and frankly beyond being offensive, the joke is tired and not funny.
Sarcasm. Look it up.
This is exactly what religious pressure groups do/have done over films they believed contained slurs, and they always look like bigger idiots for it.
And yet another nail in the coffin of free speech.
I might not like the gay joke, but that isn’t really my call.
I’m always surprised when one of these gay slurs is thrown into a movie for no apparent reason. What most people don’t want to acknowledge is that it hurts everyone when ‘gay’ is used negatively.
As for free speech, let’s bring back the ‘n’ word see what kind of reaction free (hate) speech gets.
True, we should be able to say whatever we want, but does it hurt us all in the process?
This is absolutely ridiculous. Gay people can’t be poked fun at now? Since when do they sit higher than anyone else? EVERYONE is made fun of in comedy. EVERYONE. It’s a comedy film, people. Get over yourselves.
This is why Uni should not have changed the trailer. It empowers these idiots to make a power grab.
I can understand losing it in the trailer.
But taking it out of the movie? That makes no sense. People can choose to view this movie or not.
No one complained about The Hangover’s “paging Dr. Faggot”
I really wish they HAD bitched up a storm about that line in The Hangover, because it really pissed me off when I saw it in the theater. It’s clear they had countless choices to make for that line (since you just dub it in post-production) and most of them would actually be funny while still managing to convey what a jagoff Bradley Cooper’s character while harassing Ed Helms in that manner. I don’t know why someone at the studio couldn’t have told them to pick a quip that was funny-dirty rather than just plain mean-spirited and off-putting. Todd Phillips should certainly know better than that.
Uh, wrong. That was one of the funniest lines in a hilarious movie. The theater laughed its collective ass off at that line.
Sorry you’re feelings were hurt, Johnathan. Maybe you should stick with PG movies from now on.
I guess the theater you saw it at was full of dimwits of “you’re” ilk, then. The showing I attended was packed and only the fourteen year olds (who had no business seeing that film sans parents) seemed to find it funny. And by the way, if you can’t come up with at least a dozen “fill in the blank” lines for that quip that were far funnier than what was used, then there’s simply no accounting for “you’re” taste.
How many could possibly in the “transgender” community?
Did they boycott The Hangover last year?
Hear, hear, Auntie Tom!
Also, thank you, straight commenters, for setting us gays straight on what we should find offensive.
Unfortunately, that’s the way it’s always been: straight men set the agenda, everyone else responds. They want their gay jokes and don’t you dare ask them to rethink it.
All the previous comments about “Free Speech” have already made the point eloquently. So where does the line get drawn?
Go back and remove all the, “You know I know YOU’RE gay…” scenes from THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN?
Sure, the film hasn’t been released yet so that’s a COMPLETELY different argument to make but it feels a lot more like GLAAD just jumping on a terrible, horrific bandwagon at this point for press.
Good for them for calling attention to the cause (as they should with all senseless hate crimes against homosexuals) but again, where is the line drawn?
It’s an interesting topic here.
There’s already a way to avoid being “offended” by this “joke”. Don’t see the movie. See? It’s easy. You watch the things that appeal to you and other people watch the things that appeal to them.
Like most of these organizations that express shock and outrage over the tiniest thing, GLAAD is just doing this for the press. In the end, this will result in bigger box office for The Dilemma.
Well, I’m gay, and I’m glad Anderson made a comment about this, and got it removed from the trailer. I’m also cool with GLAAD wanting it out of the film.
I find these kinds of derogatory comments offensive, hurtful, and just not funny. It speaks to the writers’ complete lack of creativity. But more than that, with all these gay teens killing themselves, you really want more insulting gay jokes out there, adding to this culture of homophobia and hetero sexism we live in?
Sure, this is just one joke, but every little thing adds more negative images of gays into our culture. It’s got to stop.
To those who are saying we should just remove all offensive comments from movies, well, I haven’t seen any black, latino, or asian kids throwing themselves off bridges. Gay kids are inundated with these negative media images; it becomes part of their self-image.
Amber…your comment is absolutley ridiculous. ‘I havn’t seen any blacks or latinos throw themselves off bridges?’ Really? How about the 5,000,000 or so who listen to and watch entertainment that glorifies violence and mysogeny. This is a slippery slope…if we ban this comment, that obviously means we have to get rid of most video games, all torture porn horror movies, most war movies, all rap music, and Facebook since obviously that website is a vehicle for harrassment.
You are a typical liberal, as are most of the hypocrites in the gay community.
And you’re a typical conservative. It’s a pity you can’t disagree with me without insulting me. I’m not a hypocrite. For your information, I’m also African American and White, so fill in another peg on your “liberal” designation.
Slippery slope? Are you kidding me? You’re taking my argument to a ridiculous extreme. Of course I don’t want to get rid of torture porn, video games, and everything else. I’m just saying that GLAAD can actually get off its ass and stop this stupid movie from including yet another gay joke, I say let them. It’s ridiculous that that gesture would then cause all other “questionable” things in society to be censored. You obviously overestimate the power of GLAAD.
So “torture porn” is cool with you, but a line that uses the word “gay” IN A JOKE is not? You must be a hoot at dinner parties.
AMBER: “I haven’t seen any black, latino, or asian kids throwing themselves off bridge”
Amber, this is just a foolish thing to say. Your comment makes Gay people look weak and petty. Racial minorities, especially Blacks have been subject to far worse taunting and mistreatment throughout history up to the present than the Gay community. So the fact that these groups don’t commit suicide because of racial mistreatment makes it seem as if the Gay community does not have a spirit of endurance.
As I said, I’m well aware of the discrimination blacks face, since I’m black.
Has anyone noticed that these suicides are not just gay, but usually creative, insular, and loners? Talk about crushing isolation and loneliness. In the civil rights, blacks had a community, churches and the like. We’re talking about kids who feel so isolated and ostracized from society that they kill themselves. Who have no community. Maybe they were raised in religious households and they were told from day one that being gay is a sin against God.
Despite being raised in a liberal household, when I realized I was gay, my first reaction was shame. “What’s wrong with me?” I wondered. I never had that moment with my skin color. It’s a part of me. I’m not trying to make a political statement about the endurance of gays versus other minorities. You’re twisting my words.
I enjoyed reading your comment, Yawn, and I respect your opinion. I wish you respected mine.
Stefan, no. I don’t watch torture porn. I hate those films. Excuse for me trying to counter Joe’s exaggeration of my original argument.
This is a non-comparison. Gay kids usually don’t have the support of the parents in the way those other groups do.
well said, Amber.
well goodness if AMBER’S feelings are hurt, that changes everything…here I thought this was just about a bunch of snivelling crybabies…
And people wonder why studio comedies are so bland and safe. Comedy is supposed to provoke. It’s what comedy is there for. If Universal caves in it will be a bad day for freedom of speech, a bad day for the motion picture industry, and a bad day for our fans.
Exactly right!
Good thing it wasn’t a Scientology joke.
For Christ’s sake, I agreed with the idea of removing the line so that it would not appear in a general audience trailer, but asking them to take it out of the film altogether??
How ridiculous!
people shouldn’t be offended by the gay line, they should be offended by such a horrible looking film… Ron Howard, what happened? when the trailer played before social network the theater was silent throughout – bad sign for a comedy.
Scoring publicity points by connecting a raunchy comedy to young kids’ suicides? Wow…backlash on this will end up costing GLAAD big time.
I think “Jim” made the point for alot of us. Enough of GLAD trying to grab press and blowing things out of proportion….and doing it more and more lately… Campaigned for,support Gay rights but now even I am getting tired of this petty,ridiculous tirade. It’s a movie!!! Not real life.Please…, why don’t they put their energies where so many of us are really focused… on the tragic suicide of that young boy from Ruetgers??? They are starting to hurt their own cause.
This movie is doomed. An already uncomfortable premise AND now this negative controversy.
Universal is cursed.
I’m gay, and was startled that they’d have the joke kicking off the trailer (mostly because of the mouth-breathing impressionable masses out there), but in no way shape or form do I feel the need for the scene to be removed; that’s just ridiculous. GLAAD did a good thing by having them change the trailer. But in this case, that was enough. Ron, Vince, Brian Grazer, etc., are some of the most outspokenly liberal peeps in Hollyweird — to disregard that is as stupid as their mistake of cutting the trailer that way.