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April 27, 2006
Jay Leno Challenged For Gay Jokes
Posted at April 27, 2006 09:54 AM in Gay & Lesbian Issues , Television .
A friend of mine forwarded this open letter to me via email. The open letter to Jay Leno was written by a friend of a friend of my friend -- you with me -- and is on point. Accepting any kind of bad humor, whether it's racial, sexist, or tongue-in-cheek is intolerable and I'm glad someone dared to question or challenge Jay Leno's overt remarks. Additionally, Vanessa Edwards Foster of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition has also challenged Jay Leno on his remarks (or supposed jokes) about transgenders with what she termed the "prime time dehumanizing of transsexuals."
The open letter, written by Playwright Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q), is his holding Mr. Leno's feet to the fire for Leno's "glib gay joke fodder." In the circle of friends who have viewed this letter, other conversations have emerged, i.e., how some Black gays have overheard racist jokes within White gay bars and environs. Among some of my sister friends, one immediately responded with "we now need to heed this and stop with the jokes within our own ranks." A lot of conversations and/or discussions have come from this one letter which I think is ideal. The letter in its entirety follows:
Dear Mr. Leno,
My name is Jeff Whitty. I live in New York City. I'm a playwright and the author of Avenue Q, which is a musical currently running on Broadway. I've been watching your show a bit, and I'd like to make an
observation:
When you think of gay people, it's funny. They're funny folks. They wear leather. They like Judy Garland. They like disco music. They're sort of like Stepin Fetchit as channeled by Richard Simmons. Gay people, to you, are great material.
Mr. Leno, let me share with you my view of gay people:
When I think of gay people, I think of the gay news anchor who took a tire iron to the head several times when he was vacationing in St. Martin. I think of my friend who was visiting Hamburger Mary's, a gay restaurant in Las Vegas, when a bigot threw a smoke bomb filled with toxic chemicals into the restaurant, leaving the staff and gay clientele coughing, puking, and running in terror. I think of visiting my gay friends at their house in the country, sitting outside for dinner, and hearing, within hundreds of feet of where we sat, taunting voices yelling "Faggots!" I think of hugging my boyfriend goodbye for the day on 8th Avenue in Manhattan and being mocked and taunted by passing high school students.
When I think of gay people, I think of suicide. I think of a countless list of people who took their own lives because the world was so toxically hostile to them. Because of the deathly climate of the closet, we will never be able to count them. You think gay people are great material. I think of a silent holocaust that continues to this day. I think of a silent holocaust that is perpetuated by people like you, who seek to minimize us and make fun of us and who I suspect really, fundamentally wish we would just go away.
When I think of gay people, I think of a brave group that has made tremendous contributions to society, in arts, letters, science, philosophy, and politics. I think of some of the most hilarious people I know. I think of a group that has served as a cultural guardian for an ungrateful and ignorant America.
I think of a group of people who have undergone a brave act of inventing themselves. Every single out-of-the-closet gay person has had to say, "I am not part of mainstream society." Mr. Leno, that takes bigger balls than stepping out in front of TV-watching America every night. I daresay I suspect it takes bigger balls to come out of the closet than anything you have ever done in your life.
I know you know gay people, Mr. Leno. Are they just jokes to you, to be snickered at behind their backs? Despite the angry tenor of my letter, I suspect you're a better man than that. I don't bother writing letters to the "God Hates Fags" people, or Donald Wildmon, or the pope. But I think you can do better. I know it's The Tonight Show, not a White House press conference, but you reach a lot of people.
I caught your show when you had a tired mockery of Brokeback Mountain, involving something about a horse done up in what you consider a "gay" way. Man, that's dated. I turned the television off and felt pretty fucking depressed. And now I understand your gay-baiting jokes have continued.
Mr. Leno, I have a sense of humor. It's my livelihood. And being gay has many hilarious aspects to it-none of which, I suspect, you understand. I'm tired of people like you. When I think of gay people, I think of centuries of suffering. I think of really, really good people who've been gravely mistreated for a long time now.
You've got to cut it out, Jay.
Sincerely,
Jeff Whitty
New York, N.Y.
Links:
Advocate: Avenue Q creator has had enough of Leno's gay jokes
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Comments
Do you remember many, many years ago, when Johnny Carson was making jokes at Wayne Newton's expense, casting aspersions about his masculinity. Newton had to visit the studio, barge into Carson's office and put the fear of God into him to get him to stop.
Maybe there's something about being Tonight Show host?
Posted by Bernie at April 27, 2006 05:30 PM