Fox Drops 'Homophobic' Show

[Lee]

(Los Angeles, California) Fox Television has dropped plans to air a controversial two-hour reality show where two straight men were to be shown competing for a $50,000 prize by trying to fool people -- including their close friends -- into thinking they're gay.

Fox President Gail Berman decided to pull "Seriously, Dude, I'm Gay" from the network's schedule following concerns raised by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

The furor over the program arose as soon as the first press statement from the network was released.

"It’s a heterosexual male’s worst nightmare: turning gay overnight," said the p.r. statement. (story)

GLAAD asked for a copy of the tape of the show and Fox issued an apology for the press release.

After viewing the tape, Joan M. Garry, GLAAD's Executive Director called the show "an exercise in systematic humiliation"

Contestants complained in the program that they were "trapped in gay hell." One contestant had to tell his former wrestling teammate that he liked the sport because he enjoyed "close contact with sweaty boys." And later in the week he had to fork-feed dinner to a blind date, get the man to spank him and fool him into securing a second date.

Garry asked to meet with Berman to voice her concerns.

"Fox deserves a lot of credit for doing the right thing here," said Joan M. Garry, GLAAD's Executive Director.

"They offered us an advance copy of the show and were incredibly responsive to our grave concerns. They worked with us to schedule a meeting and preempted that meeting with a decision to shelve the show."

Fox has asked GLAAD to participate in a larger meeting around the network's representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

"This should serve as a model for other networks producing gay-themed programming," Garry said. "Such programming should be done well -- or it shouldn't be done at all."

http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/05/052704foxDude.htm

I guess they decided it wasnt worth the hassle they were getting about the show.

Regards,

Lee

[AusCoding Allan]

One small step for man, one giant leap for foxkind

Cheers,

Allan

[BDBionic]

What stumps me is how this project went so far as a pilot and taped episodes before someone at the network clued in to the fact that it might be considered a slight bit offensive by some.

Just confirms my assessment that those in Hollywood are hopelessly out of touch with the real world.

[Jasun]

You know, the only reason that this show got made in the first place is that Hollywood is completely out of ideas, and is just trying to hook their wagon to whatever twitty little fad they can find.

Somehow, the brainless people in development thought that combining popular shows like "Queer Eye" and "Will and Grace" with "reality shows" like "The Bachelor" and "Average Joe". This lead them to the idea that they could have a gay "Bachelor"... which lead them to the positively disgusting "Boy meets boy" (where a gay guy had to pick from a bunch of single men, only half of whom were actually gay..and he had to guess), and next to the homophobic and sophmorish "Playing it straight" (the opposite... straight girl picking between men who may or may not be gay) and finally to the How-Low-Are-You-Willing-To-Stoop-For-Money "Seriously, Dude, I'm Gay".

I knew that the idea had gone off the tracks when I saw an episode of "Playing it Straight". The straight guys were homophobic, ran around like 14 year old boys freaking out that they had to shower next to gay men, and the gay men all came across as obnoxious, self-absorbed sexual predators... trying to corner the straight guys... it was like a bad 'Animal House' sequel.

And with a show like this, we've long scraped through the bottom of the barrel and have gone into the mud below... The messages that would be sent with this show really boggle the mind... gay men are sexual predators and only compete in sport to feel guys up... that being gay will ruin your friendships and lose you your family. That hanging out with gay guys is "hell"... That being gay is gross... that gay guys on first dates will spank each other in restaurants.

Makes me wanna go break some bones.

Let's add the cancelling of tis show to the "Win" column, OK?

[Gary-Alan]

Originally posted by Jasun
You know, the only reason that this show got made in the first place is that Hollywood is completely out of ideas, and is just trying to hook their wagon to whatever twitty little fad they can find.

Somehow, the brainless people in development thought that combining popular shows like "Queer Eye" and "Will and Grace" with "reality shows" like "The Bachelor" and "Average Joe". This lead them to the idea that they could have a gay "Bachelor"... which lead them to the positively disgusting "Boy meets boy" (where a gay guy had to pick from a bunch of single men, only half of whom were actually gay..and he had to guess), and next to the homophobic and sophmorish "Playing it straight" (the opposite... straight girl picking between men who may or may not be gay) and finally to the How-Low-Are-You-Willing-To-Stoop-For-Money "Seriously, Dude, I'm Gay".

I knew that the idea had gone off the tracks when I saw an episode of "Playing it Straight". The straight guys were homophobic, ran around like 14 year old boys freaking out that they had to shower next to gay men, and the gay men all came across as obnoxious, self-absorbed sexual predators... trying to corner the straight guys... it was like a bad 'Animal House' sequel.

And with a show like this, we've long scraped through the bottom of the barrel and have gone into the mud below... The messages that would be sent with this show really boggle the mind... gay men are sexual predators and only compete in sport to feel guys up... that being gay will ruin your friendships and lose you your family. That hanging out with gay guys is "hell"... That being gay is gross... that gay guys on first dates will spank each other in restaurants.

Makes me wanna go break some bones.

Let's add the cancelling of tis show to the "Win" column, OK?

Bravo! Jasun! Bravo!

Beautifully said!

GA

[McAttack]

I'm actually surprised Fox pulled out! This is a network that has come up with the stupidest, dumbest crap on TV ever. To know that even THEY have limits in decency is a LITTLE bit encouraging.

Maybe it's time they find actual writers and make shows.

[Ounique]

The sad thing is that this show is not that much worse than the other reality shows, but the problem is when you see a bunch of low-lifes, greedy, money grubbing egoists like on "The Bachelor" or those other shows, people don't say "gee, all straight people must be like that" because they have more of a frame of reference. However, this show is going out to people who have little fram of reference for gay people, and will only go to perpetuate negative stereotypes. I mean, I can laugh at myself and I try to not get all bunched up over the occasional gay joke or femme gay character on TV, but this really went overboard.

[McAttack]

Originally posted by Ounique
The sad thing is that this show is not that much worse than the other reality shows, but the problem is when you see a bunch of low-lifes, greedy, money grubbing egoists like on "The Bachelor" or those other shows, people don't say "gee, all straight people must be like that" because they have more of a frame of reference. However, this show is going out to people who have little fram of reference for gay people, and will only go to perpetuate negative stereotypes. I mean, I can laugh at myself and I try to not get all bunched up over the occasional gay joke or femme gay character on TV, but this really went overboard.

Yup, you hit it right on there.

[Kath]

Originally posted by McAttack
I'm actually surprised Fox pulled out! This is a network that has come up with the stupidest, dumbest crap on TV ever. To know that even THEY have limits in decency is a LITTLE bit encouraging.

Maybe it's time they find actual writers and make shows.

I was thinking the same thing... I don't expect much from Fox, especially since they brought Paris Hilton back for a 2nd season. Simple Life Road Trip? Give me a break!

*sigh*

Glad they stopped this garbage though before it actually aired.