Ellen Barkin Speaks Out Against Utah NBC Affiliate’s Ban of Her Comedy About Gay Parents

I suppose I shouldn’t judge based on one picture, but what are the odds that personal assistant has any lines that aren’t “MMMMMMMMM-HMM!”

The problem is that it’s NBC. You can’t boycott the network, they won’t be able to tell the difference with their regular ratings!

Maybe it’s her death wishes on people that don’t agree with her politics. I hope this is a bomb of epic proportion.

If you disagree with censorship, hate, intolerance and discrimination please sign the petition. If KSL is willing to censor television shows, what are they willing to censor or not cover in their newscast? http://www.change.org/petitions/ksl-nbc-don-t-censor-gay-families-show-the-new-normal-on-your-channel#

I think there’s a key piece of the story missing form most sites reporting this:

Bonneville Corporation, which owns KSL (said NBC affiliate here in Salt Lake), is itself wholly owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You may remember them form the millions and millions of dollars they’ve spent trying to enact anti-marriage-equality bills around the nation.

Shameful.

I haven’t watched the show or anything, but as a gay teenager I wonder if this show is even worth defending.

I mean, f KSL completely, there’s no question about that. But I’m wondering if this show has any actual merit. I mean, the central ‘joke’ of the poster is the ‘bizarre’ juxtaposition of calling those wacky gay people normal isn’t it. The idea behind this poster is that Joe Sixpack’ll see it and think “Ha, thats funny because gay people totally aren’t normal” no? Am I right, or am I being oversensitive?

That coupled with the fact that its made by the creator of Glee, a show that damaged my image at school and gave me more self esteem issues then any bully could ever manage. I honestly think other shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer are a better portrayal of LGBT characters and issues.

Ellen is playing the ‘bigoted mother’, she’s in the blue, not the red.

Thank you for pointing that out Sara, I’ll change it above. What hasn’t been said.

Ms. Rosenberg’s take on it is interesting, though personally I doubt that KSL would have seen the pilot before it made its decision.

Personally, I’m not planning to see the show because aside from having two men in love as main characters, hopeful though that is, almost everyone except the ‘personal assistant’ is white. It was also disturbing that the actress playing the ‘mother’ of the prospective law student looks as young as her daughter. Yeah, that looks normal to me.

I’d love it if we could have a television show where being gay wasn’t a ‘thing’ that needed so much attention devoted to it. I admit I’m not much into cop shows or sitcoms, but so far I’ve only ever seen two shows that have gay characters where it is actually ‘normal’, as opposed to a BIG FREAKING DEAL, and those were Torchwood and Spartacus. Sadly not exactly on the major networks.

I think your take on the poster is a valid one, though personally I saw it as more of an ‘in your face’ thing–This is the new normal, so get used to it, much like the idea behind the title ‘Modern Family’.

I’m sad to read that Glee was hurtful to you. I’ve never watched the show but everything I’ve ever read about it was very enthusiastic about how progressive it was re: gay characters. If you wouldn’t mind explaining, I’d be very curious to know where they made bad decisions.

Well this is just me, I can’t speak for every gay teenager, but:

Well I’d say that most of my problem lies with Kurt. The shows main gay character. I’ve only seen about a dozen episodes fully, I can attest to the fact that he’s a rounded character. At a glance, I’d aplaude that. Not that many rounded LGBT characters in TV after all. But after putting some more thought into it; a rounded stereotype is still a stereotype. Kurt is into fashion, he’s flamboyant, and you tell just by hearing him talk in that overly-femenine tone that he’s gay.
Considering he’s the shows most prominent gay character, its just a bit disheartening. I’m told I should be grateful they at least portray him in a positive light, but I’m sorry.

(Spoilers on Buffy The Vampire Slayer follow)

In a world where Omar from The Wire and Willow from Buffy were written years ago, then I just can’t give Kurt a pass.
Teen Titans did the same thing recently. They debuted the first gay Titan, a flamboyant effeminate man who wears a neon pink costume! Complex and rounded or not, thats a stereotype.

Although this may just be my own past experiences coloring my opinion. I’ve sort of been pigeon- holed several times as being exactly like Kurt. On more then one occasion have people asked me to sing a showtune right in front of them. That is to say; hear my soprano because obviously I’m a soprano and I’m into showtunes I’m gay, what else could I like? Its not like I actually have a fairly lovely baritone and rather enjoy rap and country.

This is my main problem with Glee, its so colorful and glossy that some people don’t decide to put much effort into the unfortunate implications of its writing, considering it harmless.

I hate to agree with someone who has such a stupid name and avatar, but saying she hopes the RNC gets washed into the ocean is exceedingly dickish of her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2BoOoigJcg

What about gay kids who are like Kurt though? I mean, they’re out there
too. For instance that ‘overly-feminine tone’ you mention? It’s not as
if Chris Colfer affects that voice to play Kurt, that’s just his voice…

I get that. Its true that kids like Kurt do exist but I really don’t think that explanation holds water, at least not as of now. This is the way that most stereotypes are maintained alive right now.

“Well, why can’t our only latino character be a drug dealer? Those kind of people exist you know”

“Why can’t we make our Asian character a smart tech savvy geek? What, are you saying Asian’s can’t be smart?”

“Why can’t we make our lead female wear a sexy revealing outfit? Some women out there do like to flaunt what they’ve got.”

“How come we can’t make one of our black characters speak in ebonics, the world is a big place, I’m sure some still do.”

At the end of the day, thats what a stereotype is: an overused archetype. I’m not saying people like Kurt don’t exist, or that a character like Kurt should never be written ever, never, ever. Like you said, some kids are like that; hell, I know one of them.
I’m pretty sure however, that this particular type of gay character could stand to be used a lot less in fiction for the time being. Homophobia is still a very real thing, and these characters reinforce some of the aspects it uses to make fun of Gay people. Considering that, writers should retract from using characters like Kurt, at least for now. Gay people come in different shapes, sizes, and colors. Its time the media started portraying them as such.

That along with the fact that the fight for equality is still a very real thing, as such we could use more diverse and accurate portrayals of the gay community.

Considering this is a Ryan Murphy show this affiliate is probably doing the people of Utah a favor by not airing it.

If anybody’s seen Glee they’d know it’s one of the most offensive shows on television; it’s shockingly sexist, it cannot stressed enough how bad the woman on this show are written and treated, and in general its representation of queer people, racial minorities and people with disabilities ranges from problematic to outright offensive. A few weeks ago they did an episode on domestic violence, not going to go into detail about how awful every facet of that episode was, before that they had a hero white male force a Hispanic woman out of the closet…and he was the hero of the story…they try to do these ‘very special episodes’ and they just end up offending everyone.

I wouldn’t trust that particular show runner anywhere near a storyline about gay people.

That’s interesting and sad. It’s a great pity that some of your colleagues at school don’t seem to be able to understand that just because they see it on TV doesn’t mean it’s universal (or even that it exists at all). I also hate the apparently constant stereotyping, but I’m sorry that you have to live with the direct results of it.

For what it’s worth the only reason the character of Kurt was created in the first place is because Chris Colfer tried out (for the part of Artie) and they thought he was such a special talent that they wanted to create a part for him. And he is one of the show’s best actors and singers.

Also for what it’s worth, the show has 4 recurring teenage (or young adult) gay male characters – Kurt, Dave, Blaine and Sebastian. It’s not just Kurt.