(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