We here at The Club were just giddy when Thomas Dekker’s character, Zach, the adorable outcast on NBC’s “Heroes,” outed himself in an episode that aired about a month ago. It was only a matter of time; they had been hinting at his sexuality all season, and the show’s writers had confirmed his sexuality in various interviews.
But now it’s being reported that Zach’s expressed sexuality will be reneged when the show comes back in January. Perhaps he had a latent heterosexualizing power that he inadvertently turned on himself during an exercise in self-exploration. Or that the writers just didn’t find the power to bedazzle an old Ramones t-shirt in mere seconds compelling enough to pull the character through the rest of the season.
It’s unclear whether it’s NBC or Dekker’s representation is responsible for luring the lad back into the closet, but one thing’s for certain: everyone feels that having a gay character on a TV drama about embracing individuality and uniqueness is just redundant. Fuckers.
Somewhere, Dominic Monaghan and Kyle KY feel slightly more normal.
Dreamgirls doesn’t even come out till next Friday, and yet it’s already been a rollercoaster month for Jennifer Hudson. The all-but-anointed Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for her role as Effie is assuring The Gays of her love and support, despite previous comments to the contrary (possibly planted in the Dallas Voice by Beyonce, who has to be cursing J. Hud’s accolades).
To be fair, the Voice has a tendency to overreach in painting celebrity’s comments as homophobic (remember last month’s Carol Channing debacle?) - it occasionally reads like that old David Sedaris short story about “Glenn’s Homophobia Newsletter.” We’re pretty sure Jen was just trying to say that even though she was raised to believe homosexuality is a sin, she reconciles her faith with basic human respect for others. And, of course, most of her best friends (and her sister) are gay.
Frankly, if I had to spend two months facing roomfuls of bitchy entertainment journalist queens asking, “Do you feel like you have to be a role model for all the large, African-American girls out there?” I might get a little bigoted too.
‘Dreamgirl’ says, Gay is a sin [Dallas Voice] 12/7/06 Blog [Jennifer Hudson Online]
This has to be the most bizarre 3-way daytime television feud since… well, only since Baba Jones’donnell-gate a few months ago. But here’s happened: Clay Aiken was filling in for Regis on “Live” on Friday (Kelly, if you can’t get Mario Lopez, wait!). At one point in the show, Clay got a little squirrelly, pulled his hand out of the ass of the bound leather daddy he takes with him everywhere, and covered Kelly’s cold, thin-lipped mouth. And boy, did Kelly scold him – one of those extremely awkward TV moments when the performers don’t even try to play it off as a joke. But then, she attempted to lighten the moment with the oh-so clever “I don’t know where that hand has been, honey.”
This is where it gets bizarre. On “The View” on Monday, Rosie called Kelly’s comment homophobic, suggesting that Kelly wouldn’t have scolded Clay if he were hetero or (this was funny) “a cute man.” But then Ripa calls in – because apparently the matrons of daytime TV spend all their off-time watching one another’s shows – claiming that she felt violated by Clay’s rude behavior blah blah blah, and that Rosie knows better than to call her homophobic.
You could probably go through the years of footage of Ripa on “Live” and find dozens of clips of her covering someone’s mouth or having her own mouth covered in comedic moments. I don’t think it’s quite the heinous affront she makes it out to be. [Update: In fact, Gawker has already posted a montage of hot Ripa hand-on-mouth money shots.
That said, I can definitely imagine Kelly delivering the same “don’t know where that hand has been” line to others, but I don’t think it has to do with sexuality. Imagine it being Andy Roddick or Colin Farrell. The line would have been just as relevant. They’re young, a little rough around the edges, and probably don’t have clean hands. Now, imagine it being Clooney: Ripa would swoon. Okay, maybe Clooney wasn’t a good example. The fact is, I think Kelly doesn’t like Clay, but I don’t think is has to do with his sexuality. I think she took advantage of his youth and inexperience by embarrassing him, which wasn’t the right thing to do.
Rosie is making a wide leap by suggesting that Ripa thinks Clay’s hands are dirty because he’s clearly off having gay sex all the time. Because all vaginas (I’ve only seen approximations) are sparkling clean. You could eat off ‘em. No straight woman would mind of the hand of a heterosexual male which, for the sake of argument, may have just been clam digging, covering her mouth. Right?
But aren’t we missing the huge, pink elephant in the middle of the room? Isn’t it putting the ass before the carriage to assume that Kelly is being homophobic when, as far as we’re all concerned, Clay’s not even gay?! I mean, unless I missed something big, Clay is still dodging the question, and Rosie will have effectively outed him on national television. And there’s a difference between a comedian joking about Clay’s sexuality, and a daytime TV host using it as a way to make him a martyr.
So Rosie, shut up. Kelly, lighten up. And Clay, wash up. And Kathy Griffin? Where the fuck are you when we need you?
We here at The Club were just giddy when Thomas Dekker’s character, Zach, the adorable outcast on NBC’s “Heroes,” outed himself in an episode that aired about a month ago. It was only a matter of time; they had been hinting at his sexuality all season, and the show’s writers had confirmed his sexuality in various interviews.
