Author Topic: Interesting article about celebrity gay gossip. Discusses Jake Gyllenhaal.  (Read 24914 times)

Offline silkncense

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Katherine & Amanda - you both have very good points. 

I think it was important for Heath & Jake to express, as Heath specifically did, that they were just kissing another human being.  It was especially welcome in that instance since it was in a wide audience publication such as Rolling Stone.  My problem with the media arose in that the question had been asked & answered quite enough. 

Good interviewers could easily have acknowledged that the issue had been addressed & asked a more relevant question, something more to the heart of the issues in the film.  Instead we have interviewers that show they had no real interest in this film (and/or assumed their audiences are all of the lowest common denominator as you suggest - just another example of dumbing down). 

It was the same to me as watching Leno & Letterman et al continue (& continue & continue) to have the same asinine jokes & sketches.  I personally was very bothered that this film was relegated to joke material & I believe it reinforced the belief in many that it was not a film to see. 

"……when I think of him, I just can't keep from crying…because he was a friend of mine…"

Offline silkncense

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Barb -

I need details.  What exactly does "met" encompass??   :o  Feel free to embellish for the audience's pleasure!
"……when I think of him, I just can't keep from crying…because he was a friend of mine…"

Offline serious crayons

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It was the same to me as watching Leno & Letterman et al continue (& continue & continue) to have the same asinine jokes & sketches.  I personally was very bothered that this film was relegated to joke material

That's for sure. I very rarely watch either Leno or Letterman. But I happened to see Leno in late April -- so four months after BBM came out -- and heard four BBM jokes. I immediately lost whatever minute shred of respect I had left for Jay Leno (I saw him onstage in the mid-'90s and thought he was hilarious, but my opinion of him has been plummeting for the past 10 years or so; IMO he's now a cliched, sellout, predictable hack).

So if that's the tone of the interviews you're talking about in which the kissing question came up, then I'm in total agreement that they're ridiculous and stupid. I was thinking of more serious profiles like the Rolling Stone and GQ ones. There, I think they pretty much had to ask about it, even if they knew the question had already been answered elsewhere.



Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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From:The New York Times

By MIREYA NAVARRO
Published: August 6, 2006
LOS ANGELES

If You Must Know, I’m Straight


Facing down rumors were, SpongeBob SquarePants, top, and Jake Gyllenhaal


Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King in 2003

TO issue “the denial” in 2006, do the following:

Step 1: State emphatically what it is you are not.

Step 2: Scoff at the rumor with good humor.

Step 3: Note, for the record, your true feelings about the rumor: not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Or, skip steps 1 through 3 and opt for evasion with the nondenial denial: “I don’t want to talk about my private life.”

We are talking, of course, about denying the Gay Rumor, that surreptitious creature that attacks scores of entertainment, political and athletic personalities and that most recently has prompted disclaimers from Oprah Winfrey, the “Superman Returns” star Brandon Routh and Michael Strahan, the New York Giants defensive end.

Ms. Winfrey, who has denied in the past that she is a lesbian, said in the August “friendship’’ issue of her magazine, O, that her close bond with her best friend of 30 years, Gayle King, defies definition, but added: “People think I’d be so ashamed of being gay that I wouldn’t admit it? Oh, please.”

In the case of Mr. Routh, the denial came during a July 2 interview on “Larry King Live,” when Mr. King asked whether Superman’s appeal among gays, the subject of an earlier article in the gay publication “The Advocate,” could lead people to assume the actor was gay.

“I’m very confident in who I am and my relationship with my lovely girlfriend,” Mr. Routh responded.

The list of suspected lesbians and gay men is ever growing: In addition to the perennial suspect Tom Cruise, actors like Jake Gyllenhaal and Marcia Cross of “Desperate Housewives” have had to assert their heterosexuality. Mr. Strahan’s run-in with it was brief, prompted by a comment his wife made during their tumultuous divorce proceeding but that she later retracted.

“For every one coming out, we have five denials,” said Michelangelo Signorile, the gay author and Sirius Satellite Radio talk show host famous for pioneering the outing of prominent people as homosexuals in the late 1980’s. As for how gay rumors begin in the first place, they can be triggered by just about anything — a certain look, too many gay friends, being older and still romantically unattached. And more public figures are being put on the spot about their sexual orientation, something that was once considered in bad taste.

“The media is more willing to ask the question, because being gay has become a more publicly acknowledged fact of life,” said Larry Gross, director of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and author of “Up From Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men and the Media in America” (2001, Columbia University Press).

But while that may speak well of the achievements of the gay rights movement, some sociologists and gay advocates say that all the fuss over the Denial is one more indication of the stigma still attached to being gay.

“At least there’s no longer the presumption that everyone is straight,” said Laura Grindstaff, an associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Davis, who teaches on gender and sexuality. “But this intense interest in knowing, and the need to deny, are problematic. Why does the difference matter? Because there are all these consequences.”

With blogs and celebrity magazines always at the ready to dissect every rumor and its corresponding response, how to handle the denial is tricky terrain for those who feel one is in order. Protest too much and it may seem too defensive, and therefore suspect. Ignore it and the rumors can take on a life of their own.

Gay media watchers regard Mr. Gyllenhaal, who fielded questions about his sexual orientation after his starring role as a gay cowboy in “Brokeback Mountain,” as a model for the right approach.

“I can honestly say I’ve never been attracted to a man sexually,” he said, “but I don’t think I’d be afraid of it if it happened.”


Contrast that balanced response to sharp-tongued quotes attributed to Mel Gibson. After his drunken-driving arrest and anti-Semitic outburst in Malibu last week, entertainment journalists dredged up other controversial remarks of his, including the following quote from a 1992 interview with the Spanish newspaper “El Pais.”

“Do I sound like a homosexual? Do I talk like them? Do I move like them? I think not.”

Wrong approach, said Neil G. Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or Glaad. “Building ourselves up by putting another class of people down is never a good thing.”

Mr. Gross, of the Annenberg School, said that filing a lawsuit or taking full-page ads to disavow gayness was not uncommon in Hollywood at one time, but today that would smack of overkill and send the wrong message.

“A lawsuit says, ‘This is a terrible thing you’re saying,’ ” he said. “Now it becomes a balancing act for people.”

The New York publicist Ken Sunshine said that among his celebrity clients, being an attractive 20-something man is almost a guarantee that gaydars will go off.

“It comes up all the time,” Mr. Sunshine said. “The gay rumors are based on nothing and then they have to make the decision to comment on their sexuality.”

Mr. Sunshine said his media strategy varies depending on the circumstances and the wishes of his clients, most of whom he said choose not to comment.

“Sometimes I yell and scream, sometimes we threaten to sue, sometimes we try to charm,” Mr. Sunshine said of how he deals with prodding from the news media. “It’s very difficult to combat with the celebrity obsession that we’re going through.”

Even a cartoon sea sponge became a target last year when a conservative Christian leader deemed a children’s video starring SpongeBob SquarePants pro-homosexual. Dan Martinsen, a spokesman for Nickelodeon, said the characterization was so absurd the company did not have a media strategy other than to state the obvious.

“He’s a sponge, for crying out loud,” Mr. Martinsen said.

But dispelling gay rumors is harder for humans, as Dr. Daniel Mongiardo found out. Barely two weeks before the 2004 election, Dr. Mongiardo, 46, a Kentucky Democratic state senator who was running for a seat in the United States Senate, said the Republican camp went after him by insinuating that he might be gay.

“They said things like ‘he’s limp-wristed’ and there’s no ‘man’ in ‘gentleman’ when it comes to him,” said Dr. Mongiardo, a co-sponsor of Kentucky’s amendment banning gay marriage who is single. Dr. Mongiardo, an ear, nose and throat specialist who said he has been in a fairly serious relationship with a woman for over a year, uttered the ubiquitous “I’m not gay” denial but he said there was no way to deflect the damage. He narrowly lost to the incumbent, Senator Jim Bunning, and blames the gay label. “It cost me and my party a seat in the Senate, ” Dr. Mongiardo said. But if rumors are used as a weapon, they can also be the product of wishful thinking.

“Gay people propagate these rumors, too, because they’re looking for affirmation in the public arena by identifying positive cultural icons as part of their own community,” said Verta Taylor, the chairwoman of the sociology department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who is a lesbian and writes about gender and sexuality.

Outside the entertainment industry, lawsuits by heterosexual plaintiffs alleging discriminatory treatment or sexual harassment because they were mistakenly perceived to be gay are becoming increasingly common, and in some cases victorious, lawyers say. In some cases those affirming their heterosexuality are being represented by gay organizations like Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.

“It’s just as bad either way,” Jon Davidson, Lambda’s legal director, said of the discriminatory treatment of people assumed to be gay, whether gay or straight.

Not everyone reaches for the Denial. In some cases, there’s the Declaration. Lance Bass, a member of the 1990’s boy band ’N Sync, came out publicly in an article in the Aug. 7 issue of People magazine, which splashed his picture on the cover with the headline, “I’m Gay.” Mr. Bass, 27, said that while the people closest to him knew he was gay, he had kept his sexual orientation out of the public domain because, “I knew I was in this popular band and I had four other guys’ careers in my hand.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/fashion/06gay.html?ref=fashion&pagewanted=all
« Last Edit: August 06, 2006, 09:41:25 pm by jmmgallagher »
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline silkncense

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Quote
Even a cartoon sea sponge became a target last year when a conservative Christian leader deemed a children’s video starring SpongeBob SquarePants pro-homosexual

Dear God in heaven - What the hell???

Quote
“He’s a sponge, for crying out loud,” Mr. Martinsen said.


And once again Jake shines.  What a beautiful 'human being' (as Heath so pointedly stated).


"……when I think of him, I just can't keep from crying…because he was a friend of mine…"

Offline delalluvia

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“He’s a sponge, for crying out loud,” Mr. Martinsen said.


 :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:


Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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Ah me. The New York Times is not was it once was, at all, at all. Sigh. (SpongeBob SquarePants indeed.)

But then, we come to--uh--Mel:

Contrast that balanced response (from Jake Gyllenhaal) to sharp-tongued quotes attributed to Mel Gibson. After his drunken-driving arrest and anti-Semitic outburst in Malibu last week, entertainment journalists dredged up other controversial remarks of his, including the following quote from a 1992 interview with the Spanish newspaper “El Pais.”

“Do I sound like a homosexual? Do I talk like them? Do I move like them? I think not.”

We'll let that by, shall we?
« Last Edit: August 06, 2006, 11:38:56 pm by jmmgallagher »
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline twistedude

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Since Gibson's ascting is only one rung above Kenasu Reeves, I'd think the gay guys would be HAPPY to let it....slide...
"We're each of us alone, to be sure. What can you do but hold your hand out in the dark?" --"Nine Lives," by Ursula K. Le Guin, from The Wind's Twelve Quarters

Offline ednbarby

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Barb -

I need details.  What exactly does "met" encompass??   :o  Feel free to embellish for the audience's pleasure!

What?  Me?  Embellish?  Never.

Ralph was in "Coriolanus" and "Richard II" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in 2000.  I flew up there with my friend Jacki and saw him in both - we went to the matinee of "Coriolanus" on Saturday and the matinee of "Richard II" on Sunday.  I didn't go with the intention of trying to meet him at the stage door afterwards - in fact, I had no intention of it at all.  But Jacki not so gently persuaded me.  And so against my better judgment (thank goodness I didn't listen to it), right after the play on Saturday (which was *amazing*, needless to say - directed by Jonathan Kent who had also directed his "Hamlet") we both walked outside to the stage door and found a small gaggle of pretty much all women waiting with Sharpies and books/DVDs in hand.  After a few minutes, a very large bodyguard type came out and said "Mr. Fiennes will be meeting with fans in the lobby - there's too much of a commotion with loading the set for tonight (which was true) back here."  So Jacki and I hightailed it to the lobby without a second thought.  I didn't realize until we got there that pretty much none of the other women had followed us - apparently they thought the bodyguard was just saying that so Ralph could escape free and clear.  I remember one even saying as we turned to walk back "Is he really, or are you just saying that so he can make a clean getaway?" and the guard saying, "No.  Of course not.  Mr. Fiennes is very good to his fans."  I *love* that - "Mr. Fiennes."

So there we were back in the lobby, and there was NO ONE else with us but one other girl not with the rest of the group who trusted the nice, big man too, and she was a ways behind.  We walked in, there was no one there, and just when we were wondering where exactly we should stand and starting to feel rather awkward, from out of the shadows, he walked like a dream.  Looking very freshly-scrubbed, with hair still wet from the shower, slicked back, and in comfortable but crisp looking street clothes.  He lasered me with those eyes and I felt like I was in a tractor beam being pulled to him.  I don't know what else possessed me.  I just strode very confidently up to him like he was a long lost friend.  I had this whole mini-speech prepared, about how he had brought Shakespeare's words to life for me in a way that no one else ever had.  But when I got to him, I was suddenly starstruck and could barely utter a word.  I had the playbook and pen in hand, and all I could muster was "Thank you for bringing these plays over to us."  He all but whispered, "You're quite welcome."  I handed him my book and pen.  He was trying to will me to look at him, but I couldn't.  I'd taken one glance at those eyes, which were as clear and *green* (in that light) as peridots and was afraid I'd turn into a pillar of salt if I looked at them again.  While all this transpired, Jacki stood back and snapped a couple of photos.  I remember worrying that he'd be annoyed by that, but it didn't remotely faze him.  In fact, after I backed away so that the nimrods who had now finally figured out they should return to the lobby like the guy said could have their chance, I was amazed to see him actually posing for photos with them, shaking the hand of one who gushed, "May I hold your hand?" (I kid you not) and hugging another one who was even bolder still and asked for one of those.  He was so gracious the whole time.  And so quiet and deliberate in his movements, I'm sure conserving every ounce of energy for the second play he had to do again a few hours later ("Coriolanus" is three hours long, and he's onstage in almost every scene.)  The air around him was rarified.  I've never believed in seeing auras, but there actually was one around him.  He was almost angelic.

See for yourselves.  Wouldn't you agree?



 ;D
« Last Edit: August 07, 2006, 09:28:37 am by ednbarby »
No more beans!

Offline ednbarby

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Well, the number of time the dumb questions come up in zillions of interviews probably has something to do with the popularity of the film.  I think the magnitude of the movie's popularity in the mainstream world probably was a tiny bit unexpected... even by well-intentioned actors and others involved in making the movie. 

I grant it that there would be curiosity about the kissing from the media.  That seems fine... But, the tone of many (although certainly not all) of the questions seem to include that grain of meaning that leads to the idea that the interviewers are expecting their audience to be uncomfortable with the subject matter - or think it's way out of the realm of typical experience, etc.  In making this assumption about the general audience, I think a lot of these interviews do foster or help create the idea that this subject matter should be seen as uncomfortable.  It seems like a sad type of assumption to make about the audience in any case.  And, it's almost like they're trying to push the actors to admit to a level of uncomfortable-ness (whether they really feel it or not).  Or, in other words it's like some of the interviews seem to push the actors to re-affirm or explicitly articulate their own real-life sexuality in light of the "uncomfortable" content ot the movie.
 :-\

I agree.  Even Jake said to Oprah with more than a hint of irony when she kept pushing it, "What're ya gettin' at?"  (LOVED that, needless to say.)

In my view, a lot of these people clearly had an agenda in asking the question.  And it wasn't one of honest curiosity.  At best, if it can be called that, it was out of self-preservation - out of being uncomfortable themselves with the subject matter and wanting to let their audiences know it lest they be perceived as - gasp! - gay-friendly or "worse" - gay.  And at worst, it was to deliberately put the actors in an awkward position so as to make for "good TV."  Shame on pretty much all of them.
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