Saturday, April 29, 2006

IS JAY LENO IN BED WITH PAT ROBERTSON?

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My pal Danny sent me a copy of an open letter that his friend, Jeff Whitty, sent to Jay Leno. Jay Leno is no Jerry Falwell or Karl Rove. So why does he act like them?

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. Maarten's. 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 any thing
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, NY

6 Comments:

At 9:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm just wondering why anyone should NOT be a target for jokes? If anything, we should support jokes about any and all groups, if we start shushing people because we don't like their jokes, then are we any better than the Jerry Falwells or Pat Robertsons or Ayatolah Khomeni's of the world?

You or I may not like a given comic'c work, but we should not activley stand up "against" them.

Now, I do know that some people can use their platform to spread hate, but Leno? Carlos Mencia? Andrew Dice Clay?

Where do we draw the line, can only Mario Cantone and Ant make Gay Jokes? Scottish Jokes are the sole purview of Billy Connoly?

Perhaps Geek jokes should be Brian Pohsein's line.

Seriously.

Let's get over our outrage and prove that the so-called PC police are really a force of the tyrants we rail against, the Christ in Christmas types, the Hell-House at Hallowe'en types.

If people can't look at humor as just rediculous, then where does that leave us, as a free society? I know, burning comedians in effigy because they offended our sacred cows.

 
At 3:38 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I'm just wondering why anyone should NOT be a target for jokes?"

Your argument may have some traction if "everyone" fairly took their turn as targets - however this is not the reality. Gay people have had their unfair share of targeting and they are sick of it - and many non gay people no longer find targeting gay people funny. You need to look at the motivation of those that still find gay put down jokes funny.

 
At 9:13 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the distinction the letter makes is that there are gay jokes told by people who understand the contributions of gay people and the hostility they face by a large segment of the culture (such a comedian is, I think, Margaret Cho). Those jokes are funny and human.

And then there are those who don't get it at all. See Jay Leno.

 
At 3:14 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I haven't watched Jay Leno in a long time, but I don't think there's anything wrong with parodying a movie. Not that the jokes are funny (not that Jay Leno is ever particularily funny), but he certainly isn't the only one picking on gays. The letter to me just comes off as over-dramatic.

I'm very tolerant of gay people. I'm strongly in favour of gay rights and all that jazz. It just irritates me when I see this kind of thing. Jay isn't sending out a hateful message here. He's playing on a stereotype, sure, but try naming one stereotype that isn't the butt of the occasional 'late-night" joke.

The difference is that the jewish or blonde or french or "stupid white male" demographics (to name a few) aren't writing tear stained letters like this.

If you want to be treated like everyone else, realise that the jokes come with the territory.

If he was being hateful it would be a different.

 
At 8:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

And, the heterosexual jokes would be?

 
At 12:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Jeff, BRAVO & KUDOS FOR YOUR EDITORIAL!!!
Jay Leno is a total hypocrit because he is either bi or gay and in the closet, likely because of his career. I met Leno in Boston in the late 1970s when someone arranged a blind date with him. I am a guy 5 years younger than Leno and I’d just finished college back then. I went to Leno’s apartment to meet him. He had on a dirty T-shirt and lived with his dog in a grubby apartment. I remember his fingernails were filthy and he was stoned out of his head, he was smoking weed when I got there. I was so repulsed I said I was sorry I didn’t think it was going to work out and left.
Believe me, it was Jay Leno because noone would forget his face and also the friend of Jay’s who arranged the date told me his name was Jay and he was a comedian. So Leno’s homophobic jokes etc. are a cover. I’m guessing his wife is also a cover. Maybe they are both bi or gay. Who knows. I do resent the way Leno talks about gays and homosexuality. He’s a total hypocrite. He may be philanthropic but that does not dismiss his attitude and remarks regarding gays, lesbians and homosexuality. If half of the bi and gay men and women in Tinsel Town would come out, America would be shocked. I work in the biz and happen to know this to be the truth. Hypocracy rules showbiz.

 

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