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American Homophobe Idol?

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is speaking out against popular television show American Idol after judges Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson made some less-than pleasant comments.

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.

That’s shitty, but should we really expect any better from a show that keeps contestants that beat up their girlfriends but expels those who pose for topless photos?

Posted by Jessica - January 25, 2006, at 11:38AM | in News , Queer Issues , Sexism , Television

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3 Comments

Perhaps Randy shouldn't have asked but that one contestant, Zarchary, did look like a girl and he sounded like one too. There's no way he doesn't face that quite a bit. He was also dressed like a girl in what looked like girl's jeans and belt. I wasn't sure myself.

However, Simon was downright cruel to the rather soft voiced guy whom he told to shave his beard and put on a dress. That guy may have some gender issues but I am not quite sure he is ready to tackle them and Simon humiliated that poor child.

[0+|0-]  Semicolon said:

I also read that they played theme music from "The Crying Game" (a film about the murder of a transwoman) as the contestant exited. Hilarious.

[0+|0-]  JesusJonesSuperstar said:

This is entertainment for vast swaths of middle america, if you did not realize it making fun of gay people or making them out to be nuts is all in good fun...

What about the portrayal of the "gay brother" in wedding crashers? i for one found that to be in poor taste and offensive, but i never heard a peep about that. yea it was a dumb comedy designed to be in poor taste, but you knwo we have moved away from thinking making fun of some things in that way is really acceptable, have we nOT??

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