The opening scene of the trailer, establishing the tone of the Universal's upcoming "comedy" The Dilemma directed by Ron Howard, builds up to the joke of Vince Vaughn saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, electric cars are gay." Initial displeasure from the gays yielded nothing -- (big dispute whether GLAAD approved or ineffectively called for its removal; either way the line stayed) -- but this week closeted Anderson Cooper complained about it on out Ellen DeGeneres's show, and finally today Universal removed the line from a hastily revised trailer.
No one is more surprised by the outcry than Universal who had already checked with their marketing dept gays. (Cut to: After it's finished, demanding, "You don't mind, do you?")
What's more instructive is the uproar on straight websites comment boards where this incident has struck a nerve. Gathering five times more comments than any other story today on Deadline and over 2,340 comments on Huffington Post, the majority of people are outraged by the deletion. Most comments angrily cite over-sensitivity, PC police, and free speech.
"...closeted Anderson Cooper..."? Hasn't he officially been out for some time?
Posted by: Martin | October 13, 2010 at 07:18 AM