In the wake of Vince Vaughn’s first public statement about the controversial “gay” joke featured in the trailer for his upcoming film The Dilemma, Jarrett Barrios, the president of GLAAD (The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) released the following response late Thursday evening to EW: “When ‘gay’ is used as a pejorative, it frequently sends a message — particularly to youth and their bullies — that being gay is wrong and something to laugh at. We invite Vince Vaughn to work with us and help ensure that gay youth and those perceived to be gay aren’t put in harm’s way by such jokes.”
More from EW:
Vince Vaughn: A new ‘Dilemma’?
The Dilemma controversy: Yes, it matters
i didn’t get the memo when GLAAD became the authority for what is acceptable or unacceptable for a work of film OR for public advertising of such a work. Did you guys like, elect them, or something, cuz I didnt…
I understand where GLAAD is coming from.
is it the closet?
No, it’s the nurse’s office, after getting another black eye. So maybe it’s worth listening instead of continuing the pattern of bullying.
I’m pretty sure it’s the closet.
And I’m pretty sure you’re an idiot bob.
you all take yourselves so seriously, it becomes too easy to troll. It took me five minutes and three comments to get under your skin.
no out of your ass bob
I strongly recommend ______ Se ekInterracial * C0 m ______ to you where I just found my i-nterr-acial bo-yf-riend! You know it is a gr-eat pla-ce to meet rich nice men and beautiful women. What’s kind of re-lationbship do you want?
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thtyht
Bob – have you asked yourself WHY is it so important to you to have the right to hurt and insult others? Why is that an issue that would cause you to spar with others on this site about your “right” to discriminate as you see fit? Does hearing on the news about a gay teen killing himself because of this kind of abuse not mean anything to you? Can you put yourself in his or her parent’s shoes? WHY do you feel you’re being deprived of something valuable if you can no longer call something “gay” as a sign or disapproval or disgust? WHY is that important to you? Can you honestly answer that? And by honestly, I don’t mean with a few more posts of attempted humour. I’d really like to know why anyone would fight for the right to discriminate, hurt, insult, etc. Enlighten me – I can’t imagine any reasonable reason for someone to feel they have the right to do this.
It’s funny, that the ones preaching tolerance because of Bob’s comments are now calling him names. That makes you better? Hypocrites
Rusty, only an idiot doesn’t see the problem with that arguement. If one can’t argue for tolerance, the everyone will be intolerant. Believing that kind of stupidity logically results in conservativism. Oh, yeah. Stupidity.
Do you even know what you’re talking about. Do you know what GlAAd is all about. Do you not understand what the hatred and stupidity is doing to the Gay youth, not to mention the gay community as a whole. Its people like you that perhaps should be in the closet!
Hey GLAAD-Leave Vince alone!!! I’m a big fan of his and you guys are annoying the heck out of me. If GLAAD would pick up a newspaper about the world more often then maybe they would not be such drama queens about a movie scene. Oh whats wrong GLAAD? NOT MAKING ENOUGH MONEY???!!
Thankfully thanks to trash like you for a fan I can not skip all his movies. You are a typical American cultist. If peope need a word to mean stupd and silly try female. That’s so female means that’s so dumb. His movie no longer make money and he started a fight over something that was over. I get you are to stupid to think for yourself but try it
E…really? Do you even know what you wrote? I’m sure glad you made such a strong point. It’s great that you are going to “not” skip all of his movies. I especially love how you are trying to preach tolerance while putting down woman. You’re mom must be so proud of you!
The proper term for stupid would be Blond, not Female…where have you been for the last 20 years!
Vince’s statement was extremely rude. Team GLAAD for the win!
All you homophobes who posted above me: STFU!!
Flip – Gay!
So what?
You call us homophobes? Well………at the moment these glaad crazies are scaring me! What’s gonna happen next? They want to put TV and Movies in a box. So lame!
They embraced it and use it themselves. See I can answer without name calling.
Just because you disagree with GLAAD doesn’t make you a homophobe. I’m gay and I find this whole trailer controversy is ridiculous. It’s a joke. Lighten up. It matters more about the context of how it’s being said, and as Vince Vaughan clearly is not coming from a negative place GLAAD should just shut up about it. It just makes the gay community look like a bunch of babies that are way too sensitive.
I agree that knowing the context is important, but I think the timing was just unfortunate. Given all the discussion about gay kids committing suicide, I can see where it seemed like a good time to try to nip the misuse of “gay” in the bud. Especially considering that was a joke used in a trailer that’s supposed to make people laugh and draw them to the theater to see the movie. Whether you’re supposed to laugh at it during the actual movie as a simple joke or cringe because it’s meant to be a misstep for the character to learn from…the way it was used in the trailer just seemed wrong. So I think it’s worth talking about, but not worth getting totally fired up about yet without having seen the rest of the movie.
the ones missing using the word gay are homosexuals.
Funny, Rustly, as I told you earlier in the week, STRAIGHT PEOPLE (in fact, religious straight people around 1650) created the label. Idiot.
WOW
Whoopi would leave the stage by now! Very Lame Gay drama!
Saying something is “gay” rarely refers to something positive. Just because it was intended as a joke doesn’t make it right or funny for that matter. To make things fair, though, why don’t we all start saying something is so “straight” to refer to something tasteless, outdated and ignorant.
because that’s gay
I suggest from now on, instead of saying “that’s so gay”, we say “that’s so Bob”
Yeah like Bob-ing your head up and down. Like a chicken move
Because straight already comes with it’s own connotations of prim and prissy.
The argument that the word ‘”gay” is part of the American vocabulary and therefore we should let it slide is ludicrous. By that logic, we’d still be saying “tar baby” or “n*gg*r” on a regular basis because, after all, they were once “part of the American vocabulary.”
The bottom line is this: no matter how you slice it, if you are calling something “gay” because you think it’s stupid, lame, strange, or bad, you ARE equating being gay with being stupid, lame, strange, or bad. It would be like saying something is “black” if you thought badly about it. No one would ever argue that’s ok.
It’s Vince Vaughn’s prerogative to use the term “gay”, but he should at least man up and own that the statement links being gay with something negative. To deny that it does anything but that is an outright lie.
Wait…black people DON’T say n*gg*r on a regular basis?
These rappers are WHITE? Crazy!
I have a hard time believeing that you’re actually that clueless. Now, wait, I’ve read your other posts…
Well, you know, N****r used to be an acceptable word too..my grandma used to call Brazil nuts N****r toes. She didn’t mean anything by it…does that mean that it was ok? I don’t think so. Using the word gay to indicate something that is funny or stupid is just validating that gay is funny or stupid. Same thing, people, just a different decade.
Karen, we think alike.
Thank you Karen.
This decade is sooo gay…
Karen, my grandma used to say the same thing about Brazil nuts! I remember her saying it once in front of my younger cousin and my cousin just got this stunned look on her face.
Gay is not a race of people or ethnic background.
Since there are no races, that’s obvious. Most human subdivisions are *cultural*, and there could be made a weak arguement that there is enough cultural similarity that homosexual would qualify (though I personally would not make the arguement). Homosexual are much more akin to the ‘all blue-eyed’ subdivision of people. Not that it matters: the religious right has designated gays as their whipping boys du jour, and the blood is flowing (just like it has throughout history). So, any person with a shred of decency would do the right thing, and back off killing kids.
And yet people are still discriminated against due to their sexual orientation. What exactly is your point? Racial and ethnic bias are not the only kinds of prejudice in the world.
I’m not saying they aren’t but comparing a lifestyle to the way you were born is ridiculous. And before you say people are born gay, show me the scientific evidence that they are.
@ Rusty:
The Royal College of Psychiatrists stated in 2007:
“Despite almost a century of psychoanalytic and psychological speculation, there is no substantive evidence to support the suggestion that the nature of parenting or early childhood experiences play any role in the formation of a person’s fundamental heterosexual or homosexual orientation. It would appear that sexual orientation is biological in nature, determined by a complex interplay of genetic factors and the early uterine environment. Sexual orientation is therefore not a choice.”
The point, Larry, is that it SHOULDN’T be, and because language is something that is constantly evolving, it is well within our power to change that meaning. Easily. I grew up occasionally using the word “retarded” to describe something that I thought was stupid or ridiculous. When I fully matured, however, I realized how inappropriate that was, and with very little effort, I stopped.
This drama drama drama is soooo GEEKY!!!!!!! oooops! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to insult geeks! Please FORGIVE me!
Why is there a GLAAD group, but no geek group? Shame on that movie Napoleon Dynamite!!! LOL
Yo mamma’s so fat…oh wait…is this kind of talk banned these days too? I guess these are the days that we all have to try to be perfect. glaad, you guys are control freaks. Get over it already.
Anyone getting offended needs to calm down. It’s not that bad, so don’t waste your anger on this.
People do need to relax but its about time America realizes how much homophobia exists there – this is a first step in education.
The meaning of gay really had nothing to do with being a homosexual originally.
While I’m at it, I’m taking porch monkey back too. You’re right language is always evolving, so the word gay evolved into a new meaning, don’t like it, find something else to call yourselves.
Katja,
As you say the meaning of words EVOLVE, gay has evolved to mean stupid or funny in much the same way it evolved to mean homosexual. MANY words have multiple meanings, but because one of the meanings of gay is homosexual it’s a huge issue to use it in any other way these days. If the only other meaning of gay was happy no one would care, but because gay evolved to mean homo it’s a problem to use it to mean stupid or funny.
Language evolves and everyone gay or straight needs to realize that and get over it. This is such a stupid controversy…..
Yeah and to Jew someone means to cheat someone out of money or take advantage or hog something. So I guess that’s cool. So I guess you Larry David you are telling homosexuals not to Jew the word Gay. I am down with that if your are, but I will never go down on you, even if I prefer my meat cut.
Why is our society so offended at the hint or spark of offensiveness at homosexuals. Geeks are made fun of, and geeks have killed themselves and others for being bullied. Nobody makes an uproar. Christians are ridiculed mercilessly and painted as plain evil in Hollywood. When Focus on the Family raises fuss, we just roll our eyes and say silly Christians. Why is GLAAD Big Brother and we have to live in fear of them? It’s so bad that GLAAD will call out networks for not showing enough POSITIVE gay influences on their shows. Does anybody see this as ridiculous and out of hand?
You’re rolling your eyes at GLAAD exactly as you say people do it to Focus on the Family. Focus on the Family has tried to be Big Brother too. To say it’s one sided is ridiculous.
Oh, I roll my eyes at Focus on the Family. They have traded the bloody cross of Christ for us against them, graceless religion. I didn’t call FOTF out because I was actually pointing out how one sided the argument is. So you and I, my friend, are in agreement.
Yeah and to Jew someone means to cheat someone out of money or take advantage or hog something. So I guess that’s cool. So I guess you Larry David you are telling homosexuals not to Jew the word Gay. I am down with that if your are, but I will never go down on you, even if I prefer my meat cut. fudaj!
There is a lot being made about one comment in a movie that, quite frankly, does not look good at all. That line, which I do not think was intended as a slur, was supposed to elicit laughs, but all it got was a few tired groans in my theatre. While it’s true that “gay” should not be thrown around so casually and insensitively, people are giving this movie far more publicity than it otherwise would have gotten. I look at that trailer and say, “That’s the best Vince Vaughn and Ron Howard can do?” If not for drawing attention to a movie that does not seem like it’s worth anyone’s time, it would come out and die within two or three weeks with modest earnings at best. Now this potential stinker is going to make lots of bank.
In light of horrible recent events, I do understand the sensitivity of this issue, but THIS MOVIE IS NOT WORTH IT AND THIS GINNED-UP CONTROVERSY IS GIVING IT PUBLICITY IT WOULD NOT OTHERWISE HAVE. Look away.
“That line, which I do not think was intended as a slur…”
I think this attitude is the problem. I don’t think Vince Vaughn or most of the people who find this to be a silly controversy are homophobic. But when someone tells you that they are offended by something you’re doing, why would you want to keep doing that thing? No matter your intent? Maybe instead of getting defensive, we can all chill and try to think about the language we use. Especially the language we use that we have been told is offensive to a group of people that don’t really need any more persecution (INTENDED or otherwise).
“when someone tells you that they are offended by something you’re doing, why would you want to keep doing that thing?”
The reason is because being hurt or offended by this is ridiculous. If you are hurt or offended by this it is because you are CHOOSING to be hurt or offended. For example, I’m fat. I know I’m fat. Anyone who has ever seen me knows I’m fat. I’ve been bullied and picked on for it my whole life. When Zack Galifanikis(sp?), who actually has a very AVERAGE build, gets maded fun of for being “fat” in the Hangover do I curl up in my bedroom and cry? Do I start picketing movie theaters? No I laughed. Why because I know how to take a joke. I’m pretty sure Eleanor Roosevelt said this – “Noone can hurt your feelings without your permission.” or something to that effect.
danno – Nonsense. Casual hate creates a toxic envoronment, one which WE KNOW exists because gays teens are killing themselves at horrific levels. Bullying on any level (or for any reason) is NOT acceptible. Accepting causal hatespeech is quite literally dipping your hands in blood.
I think you mean figuratively and are being quite dramatic. The bottom line is that when a vast majority of people who use the term and say something is “gay” they are not in any way at all thinking of homosexuals. My point is that GLADD and others who are offended are CHOOSING to be offended. I hate to break it to you, even if everyone on the planet stops using the word “gay” there are still going to be ignorant bullies out there that are going to intentionally hurt others because of things that are completely out of their control.
Michael Scott just gay bashed electric cars on the office tonight…haha
Good times!!!!!
its funny how they have the right to say what they want to say and picket. and a film cat say what it wants to say. comedy or not, it should have the right to make fun of whatever and whoever it wants.
You are so right Jose, so I will continue to make fun of those stupid ass illegal aliens! Stupid wet backs!
hahah thats totally fine with me. i dont give a shi t.
Way to prove your point and take the high road.
Of course you don’t Jose. Lazy wetback!
yeah im kinda lazy but im half asian as well though so what other things can you add up on that
Most wetbacks are actually quite hard-working.
And yet you can’t have a movie make fun of women? you can’t have a comic say a joke about females. You can’t have a white comic say that’s so black to mean crime. Or that’s so dumb to mean female even if most American women are dumb as hell. And I am female. It is only funny when applied to everyone. If not it is not funny but yes being a bigot.
Yeah who cares? So all you s p ics, n i ggers, ch inks, sp ooks,
hon keys, c unts, re tards, and especially illegal aliens, just shut the F up! Quit being so sensitive!
Correct. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.
The trouble is, there is irrefutable proof that they do – in both the literal and metaphorical senses.
You are the reason why I think abortions are right to be legal. People like you are a disgrace to the entire human race. Pig!