It would be interesting to look at which has portrayed the lgbt community better–primetime soaps or daytime soaps. If Young and the Restless is any indication, I’m going with the former.

Mr. Foxx recently paid a visit to Conan to promote his latest film Law Abiding Citizen (which actually did quite well at the box office this weekend) and during the interview O’Brien brought up that infamous bathroom picture of Jamie naked that surfaced on the internet not too long ago.

Jamie finally confirmed that the picture is indeed him and explained the story behind it. Which then prompted him to talk about how vocal his gay fanbase in Atlanta is.

John “Jake” Raynard suffered 15 fractures to his cheekbone, a broken eye socket, a broken jaw and a broken upper palate when six to eight men surrounded him near a North Cumberland Street business. Raynard, 30, and two friends were smoking outside of a bar after last call when a man approached them for a cigarette. The three friends walked away from the man after he became aggressive. Raynard said as they walked toward the Water Street Bus Terminal a group of males followed them shouting derogatory comments about their sexual orientation.

“It was like they were waiting in the woodwork,” said Raynard, who is gay, from his hospital bed. “The crowd just seemed to get bigger.” One of the men grabbed Raynard’s friend and started choking him. Raynard said he struck the man that was assaulting his friend and then began yelling at the group to try and scare them away. “I managed to fend off six to eight people by yelling long enough to get them (Raynard’s two friends) into a cab,” said Raynard. Once his friends were in the cab, Raynard said the group surrounded the taxi, preventing him from getting in.

He decided to run through a nearby alley towards a local restaurant instead, grabbing a brick for self-defense as the men chased him. “I was screaming loud enough to wake up six blocks,” said Raynard. “How did nobody hear me?”

No arrests have been made.  When will this ever stop?

I’m falling madly in love with this segment. The commentary on gay representation in the media is always on point and hilarious.

I too, am sick of seeing gay characters (specifically gay men) fluttering about trying to solve straight people’s problems. We have plenty of our own.

I see the gays are embracing Miss Whitney’s new song, just wait ’til those remixes hit the clubs.

You can watch the full special in 13 parts on YouTube.

Showtime has been one o fmy favorite destinations for top-notch programming for quite some time now, going all the way back to Queer As Folk, and American Candidate (which introduced me to one of my idols, Keith Boykin), and as recent as shows like Weeds and United States of Tara (which both have excellently complex female leads and lovable supporting gay characters) and of course, Dexter.

It seems like this new vehicle Nurse Jackie may be another hit for Showtime, as it stars the fabulous Emmy-winning Edie Falco as a deeply flawed nurse desperately trying to help as many people as she can, while trying to deal with both the perilous NYC health care system and a bunch of semi-clueless doctors who won’t listen to her.  She also has a stunningly gorgeous Lebanese gay best friend MoMo, who  does seem reminiscent of the par for the course witty gay accessory, if you get through the whole episode he does seem to have more layers and complexity to him than gay male characters normally have in these types of roles.  His character seems promising.

To check out the pilot episode, click the link below and then type in “SHIFT HAPPENS” when prompted.

http://www.sho.com/site/vip/home.do?source=m_nj1_vipemail_may09_vipsite

“You can be bi but not gay. Well, you can be gay and funny, like Ellen [DeGeneres] and Rosie [O'Donnell]. It’s really hard to be straight-up gay and serious. We’re still not over that.”

(via Jezebel)

It’s an interesting point, actually, and when I thought about it, it’s something that can be applied to all minorities who were often cast out from the mainstream media. Going as far back as blackface, when actual black performers would take part in the minstrel shows–of course not looking like themselves but dressed up as an exaggerated version of “blackness”. Then look at our most successful black actors. Will Smith, Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, they’re actors that white people feel comfortable enough going to see because they make them laugh. But it’s usually a brand of humor that white audiences would expect of black performers based on common stereotypes.

I’m also reminded of Knocked Up, where, while the female characters are funny, they’re funny because we’re laughing at them, not with them. We’re laughing at them being overly emotional, irrational, killjoy harpies. Whereas when Seth Rogen or Paul Rudd make a joke, we’re laughing with them–we’re rooting for them, we identify with them (or so the filmmakers seem to think).

Gay people are no exception. Pop in Revenge of the Nerds, or My Best Friend’s Wedding, Too Wong Foo and more recently I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, or turn on the TV and see Will & Grace, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Sex and the City, and Desperate Housewives. All shows where they gay men are meant to be light, funny, and of course, fabulous. Oh wait, but there is that guy Andrew on Desperate Housewives that had some dramatic storylines earlier on in the show. Of course, he was a raging sociopath.

In general, it seems if you’re funny, straight people can accept your gayness because it amuses them. But they become very uncomfortable when the gayness is serious. I remember going to see The Talented Mr. Ripley with my mother and people actually walking out during the homoerotic bathtub scene between Matt Damon and Jude Law (and nothing even actually happened!), and yet in films like Scary Movie, Shawn Wayans can get stabbed in the ear with a penis while trying to suck it through a glory hole in the men’s restroom, and everyone’s hooting and hollering. Hahaha, that silly fag!

Brokeback Mountain was a very serious film that garnered a lot of critical acclaim, but even the supposedly liberal Academy couldn’t given the film the Oscar and many members have since come forward and said they couldn’t vote for it because of the subject matter. To put it simply, straight people can’t deal with gay people that are complex, 3-dimensional, romantic, and human.  They’d much rather just crack the whip and yell “dance, queer! dance!”

But Michelle cites examples like Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres, though I would disagree with classifying the two of them together. People loved Rosie, but her popularity was at its highest before people knew she was a lesbian. After her coming out, and the infamous “dyke-cut” that she sported simultaneously, her public image was on a down spiral, especially given it was at the same time her adversary in her lawsuit was trying to kill her “queen of nice” shtick. It only got worse once she got to The View, as it seemed every other day FOX News especially, but other channels as well, portrayed her as the fat angry lesbian beating up on pretty thin Christian Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Nearly everything out of Rosie’s mouth made news. After leaving The View, she tried doing a primetime variety show, reminiscent of her former friendly image, and it failed miserably.

Ellen on the other hand, while her sitcom was cancelled shortly after coming out, Finding Nemo and  her daytime program The Ellen DeGeneres Show seems to have basically made her the gay, white Oprah in terms of popularity and clout.  But Ellen has a squeaky clean image, is always nice and friendly to celebrities, and rarely talks about being a lesbian on her program (not that she should have to).

I think with Michelle, it also has a lot do with her tough image.  I’ve been writing my senior thesis on male aversion to chick flicks, and in my research I’ve seen articles talking about how the public is very picky about actresses it will accept as action heroines.  Angelina Jolie is one of them, maybe Jodie Foster (though The Brave One didn’t do so well), but overall when a female action flick does well it’s usually considered a fluke.  So maybe that incidicates some sort of uncomfortableness with strong women in film.  And though straight men seem to love lesbians when they’re making out for male pleasure, they don’t seem to like it very much when you’re a lesbian that they think can kick their ass if they try asking for a threesome.

If you’ve seen Girlfight then you know Michelle is actually quite a good actress.   But for some reason Hollywood has embraced other latina actresses like Jessica Alba and Eva Mendes who can barely act their way out of a box.  Is it because of Michelle’s sexuality? Possibly.  I don’t know that her sexuality has even gotten enough coverage for people to really know about it.  Is it because she isn’t prissy enough to fit into tired old romantic cliches so prevalent in film that keep women as helpless damsels in distress desperate for a male hero?  I don’t know.  But I certainly will agree with Michelle that Hollywood like gay people a lot better when we make them laugh.

Amy Poehler was interviewed by the Advocate for their A-list feature, which used to be called “Big Gay Following” but for some reason they decided to rename it.  Anyway, Amy’s promoting her new comedy on NBC called Parks and Recreation, and had some interesting things to say.

Who’s the most important gay person in your life now?
Shane from The L Word. She just can’t get her shit together. She’s a broken bird, and she needs someone to fix her. Just when you think she’s ready for love, she sabotages it. And the woman gives a rock ’n’ roll haircut. [Laughs] There are a lot of amazing, really talented gay writers at SNL who I’m proud to call my friends, and our times together have meant a lot to me. There are tons of gay people who work in all departments of that show.

Then why haven’t there been more openly gay SNL cast members?
That’s a really good question, but I don’t know. Someone should pick that up as a thesis at Hampshire College.

Of course, no one knows if any of the current or past SNL cast members are gay or not for sure, but none of them have come out of the closet.  Which is funny considering, especially as of late, the show loves using homosexuality as a punch line.  Like in the Kissing Family skit or the recent Fast and the Bicurious.

Say something nice about your gay fan base.
That’s the ultimate stamp of approval. It’s a very loyal, discerning audience, and one that cares very much about its comedy. There are a lot of times in comedy when you have to be OK with looking the fool, and the gay audience rewards you for taking big swings. Not only do they appreciate the vulnerability of broken-down characters, they also enjoy the wigs.

Spring Breakdown sounds pretty gay-friendly.
Please, that movie is made for the gays! If we can’t get the gays to go see that movie, then I don’t know what they want. It’s this fun, silly romp about three ladies in their 30s who do spring break one last time, and it stars Parker Posey, Rachel Dratch, and me. Our very gay director, Ryan Shiraki, calls it a “gay acid trip.” I’m lucky enough to work with and be surrounded by gay men who love women.

In the film Rachel’s character is engaged to a guy played by Seth Meyers who’s obviously gay. Have you ever unwittingly fallen for a gay man?
Not yet. In fact, I’ve always been confused by women who don’t see that. But as I get older, I get a lot less judgmental about why people are together

I’ve seen the trailer for the film, and it doesn’t exactly look like my cup of tea, but then, neither are any of those dumb Owen Wilson/Will Ferrell/Ben Stiller frat humor movies.  I was really excited to see such a film was even being made to begin with, seeing as how there are so few mainstream adult comedies starring an ensemble of women.  Then I see that it’s been released straight to DVD.  Womp womp.  Gotta love misogyny in 2009!

I also think Amy makes a good point about looking the fool.  It reminds me of a Marie Claire article on female comedians, and most of them talked about how they largely survived because of their gay male fanbase.

ESSMAN: Gay guys traditionally like strong women, whether it’s Judy Garland or Barbra Streisand or Bette Midler. They like a ballsy woman. They’re not as intimidated.

GRIFFIN: Gay men look at Rosie O’Donnell, and they think funny. They don’t see overweight lesbian.

They’re a demographic that wasn’t judging them based solely on their looks and whose egos weren’t threatened by a female who could tell a good joke.  I think gay men appreciate a funny woman better than straight men.

I’m apprehensive about most comedies these days, I tend to prefer the more modern format of a mix of drama and comedy a la Desperate Housewives or Weeds, but it’s Amy Poehler so I’ll give Parks & Recreation a try.