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Monday, March 08, 2010
It's gonna be interesting to see how this one unfolds.
Today Show host Meredith Vieira who has been a visible gay rights ally in the past is catching the ire of quite a few people in the gay community over an interview with the cast of best picture winner 'The Hurt Locker'.
Vieira had this to say to actor Anthony Mackie's in response to his overt display of affection with fellow cast members upon learning 'The Hurt Locker' had nabbed the best picture prize.
"When the nominations were announced you hugged him pretty tight I must say in the moment. There was a lot of man-loving going on last night as well. Do I have reason to be worried"?
Mackie handles the slightly homophobic question with grace and humor responding:
" At the end of the day what we went through was a grown man bond. And at the end of the day we went through that desert and made a movie that not to many people can say they made. And we transcended the idea of filmmaking...we transcended the idea of acting. And when you make art you can stand up and hug another grown man and say I love you".
Jeremy Hooper over at Good As You offers this food for thought:
Because we have so many of our supposedly liberal friends who will be so nice to our lives and our loves when confronted directly with them, yet will so often go for these cheap and, frankly, stupid jokes that traffic solely in anti-gay "worry." In doing so, they foster the idea that same-sex affections are icky, a fear fomentation that's not negated by their niceties when dealing with actual gay people.
Regardless of how much the purveyors of this mindset may disconnect these abstract denunciations from actual LGBT human beings or contribute to our cause, the reality is that they're cultivating in the minds of the American public the exact kind of casual heterosexism that keeps people voting against us and then justifying it by saying "some of my best friends are gay," keeps civil unions on the table as acceptable alternative to full marriage equality, and keeps many would-be allies apathetic to the pro-equality fight because they see gays as this odd "other."
While she probably doesn't mean to, Meredith is essentially telling young gay kids that there chances of winning an easy, benign shake at this game of life is even slimmer than their chance of winning an Oscar. That's bad. We cannot let this casual stuff pass anymore than we allow the organized anti-gays to get away with their deliberately detrimental nonsense.
Watch the interview below. Thoughts?
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9 Comments:
Merideth said "Should I be Worried?
Worried about what? Even though it was very light hearted and playful, Some people (especially some of his female fans), will take that comment literally and say he is gay and ultimately this type of thing ruin careers. I'm glad Anthony Mackie got that dumb bytch together......
March 08, 2010 4:18 PM
I'm not on fence about it, I thought in Print it was homophobic and then after viewing the clip believed it to be even more so. Especially, with the added, "You fine?" comment. Not only does it question his sexuality but them imply's that if he weren't heterosexual, that being gay is not "fine". I didn't like it at all.
March 08, 2010 4:58 PM
The comment didn't make a lot of sense to me (as someone else said, "worried about what"?) but it definitely came across as homophobic. Frankly, I'm surprised that more media sources haven't jumped on this already.
March 08, 2010 5:10 PM
Aways put on the spot. Even woman who claim to be for gays, silently hate it. LOve how Anthnoy (my husband) Mackie called Meredith girl near the end. LOL HA HA HA!
March 08, 2010 5:11 PM
I'm very glad he handled it with such grace. There's always been some artificial (even more so than a celebrity can appear) about Meredith that I couldn't stomach. Maybe this was it....
March 08, 2010 9:13 PM
Brilliant reply by Anthony. That “should I be worried” comment makes us wonder if people should be worried about Viera. I think its those kinds of remarks that perpetuate homophobic tendencies. I’m so very proud of Anthony for his comments. In essence, he cussed her out in a very nice respectful way without using hurtful words. I sure hope she felt stupid afterwards. Kudos.
March 09, 2010 8:02 AM
I beg to differ with most of the comments saying that Merideth comment was coming from a place of being homophobic. I think she and Anthony had a playfulness that has been mis-interpreted. This was a typical "masculinity" comment that is made all the time in the straight word that are taken lightly. The public only knows the stereotypical gay man, the one who wears it on his sleeves. This was another moment. On another note Anthony Mackie played a gay male in the classic Brother to Brother. From that film I assumed he was an openly gay male. Now he could be just a young straight actor that chose to play a gay male. But as far as his over enthusiatic hug and Merideth's comment I think to much is being made about nothing.
March 09, 2010 10:35 AM
Brother to Brother was a GREAT movie (from a young gay boy perspective. I'd have to go back and reevaluate it as a film.) I didn't assume too much about it because it was just about the same time I saw him in 8-mile that I saw him in the gay role.
I tend not to react too strongly to things like this so maybe I'm part of the problem. But even it was homophobic, please don't get any more upset about this than you did about actual Gay Rights being denied. Homophobia is a problem. Discrimination is a crisis.
Anthony is a handsome, charismatic and talented actor and I always enjoy him and his performances.
March 09, 2010 3:43 PM
I don't think you not reacting to this situation as your being part of the problem. Everytime something has a gay slant to it is nothing as compared to the gay stereotypes out here in the media. Questioning a man's masculinity is commomplace and doesn't weigh heavily on homophobia as it does when it prevents someone from getting a job, a home, or denide rights as an American. For me I question how far do you go with complaints, did PETA go to far when President Obama killed a fly flying around him when beginning a live television interview, yes. Anthony would probably say that too much is being made of this.
March 10, 2010 8:34 AM
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