CALL TO ACTION: Fox Entertainment and So You Think You Can Dance Judge Need to Apologize for Homophobic Remarks
May 22, 2009 by glaadBLOG
GLAAD just issued a call to action, asking supporters to contact Fox Entertainment and call on So You Think You Can Dance judge Nigel Lythgoe to apologize for his snide, homophobic remarks during last night’s program.
From our call to action:
During the telecast, Lythgoe said: “I think you probably alienate a lot of our audience. I mean, we’ve always had the guys dance together on the show, but I’ve — they’ve never really done it in each other’s arms before.” Shortly thereafter, he added, “Do you know what? I’d like to see you both dancing with a girl.”
Lythgoe later wrote on Twitter: “The same sex ballroom guys did remind me of ‘Blades of Glory.’ However, I’m not a fan of ‘Brokeback’ Ballroom.”
You can watch for yourself below:
Judge Nigel Lythgoe
Neil G. Giuliano, President of GLAAD had this to say about Lythgoe’s remarks:
It’s unacceptable for this kind of blatant homophobia to occur. Fox Entertainment and Nigel Lythgoe owe Misha, Mitchel and the whole LGBT community an apology.
After contacting Fox, a representative at So You Think You Can Dance told GLAAD they are passing along our concerns and will get back with us.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!
Contact Fox Entertainment. Call on them to listen to and discuss our community’s concerns — and call on Nigel Lythgoe to apologize for his snide, homophobic remarks.
Jason Clark
Vice President, Fox Publicity
Jason.clark@fox.com
GLAAD supporters can write all the emails in the world, but the Fascist Fox network will never be “gay supportive” — remember Fox is the station behind the Bush unconstitutional occupation of the White House, and let’s not forget who else they employ — like O’Reilly. GLAAD needs to focus on real news, like why President Obama allows the military to discharge brave gay and lesbian service members as he drags his political feet on changing the Don’t Ask just discharge policy. Let’s get real here GLAAD. How about writing about how that policy violates gay and lesbian Americans right to join a well organized militia, the real second amendment.
This organization needs to get off Nigel Lythgoe’s back about a comment that was not particularly homophobic. No individual who so thoroughly supports the art of Dance could possibly be a homophobic person. Consider the number of gays who perform in the world of Dance.
What this organization should be up in arms about are the zillions of individuals who posted comments all over the internet since January in reply to blogs, media articles, etc. about their opinions of Adam Lambert and his sexual preferences and actions, including their horribly ugly statements about gays in general. His failure to win American Idol was due to direct bias and prejudice against members of the gay community and they were simply horrible statements. Your time would be better spent fighting the public in general, it is a much larger target certainly, and it is a more guilty target if you ask me.
[...] Well, people are mad and rightly so. And GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is sending out a call to action. [...]
[...] Well, people are mad and rightly so. And GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is sending out a call to action. [...]
[...] Well, people are mad and rightly so. And GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is sending out a call to action. [...]
[...] Well, people are mad and rightly so. And GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is sending out a call to action. [...]
[...] Well, people are mad and rightly so. And GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is sending out a call to action. [...]
[...] Well, people are mad and rightly so. And GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is sending out a call to action. [...]
[...] Well, people are mad and rightly so. And GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is sending out a call to action. [...]
Last year, my sister got married – to a woman. Her wife changed her last name, so now they’re ‘Mrs and Mrs Smith’. I found this odd – not because I’m homophobic (I was the first person my sister came out to, I was the matron of honour at her wedding), but because I had never encountered a ‘Mrs and Mrs Same Last Name’ before.
Which brings us to Nigel and co.’s comments.
Latin partner dancing has ALWAYS been about telling a male/female ’story’. All of these judges expressed how odd they felt seeing this very traditional dance style (and we know, from previous seasons of SYTYCD, that these dances have very strict ‘rules’ about how they’re done) performed in a new way. That doesn’t make them homophobic.
In fact, given that the one guy said up-front that he WASN’T gay – and yet was happy dancing with a gay partner – this could have been spun as a very very positive story about acceptance.
Here’s the thing: a lot of this stuff is new to people. IT’S OKAY if they find it odd at first. When my father-in-law had a sex change 3 years ago, we still loved and supported him and everything, but when my husband went to a GLBTQ support meeting and expressed how weird it was that his ‘father’ was now ‘Mary’, he got accused of being homophobic. He wasn’t homophobic – he was just acknowledging that when your father is your father for 30 years, and then suddenly isn’t a man any more, it’s disconcerting at first.
When non-GLBTQ people are not allowed to have or express any feelings of awkwardness along the path to true equality, everyone loses.
I should state offhand that I’m straight, but I do strongly support gay rights, oppose anti-gay discrimination, etc. I also should state that I do not watch this Dance show, so I have no idea who this judge is, or what the show is normally like.
Now, moving past the disclaimers –
I fail to see what about his remarks was homoPHOBIC, exactly. His comments were not belligerent, and, from my point of view, were actually quite restrained. Basically, he objects to the idea of two men dancing competitively together. At best (worst?), his statement may be prejudicial, but there’s nothing in it that made me believe he felt fear, hatred, or resentment (since the definition of “…phobic” seems to have widened quite a bit from its literal meaning) towards the one homosexual male of the pair, or the homosexual community at large. Listen to how deliberate his speech is, and how carefully he chooses his words. He admits to not knowing what to say, compliments their dancing style, states an unfavorable opinion, and then thanks them for being the first same-sex couple on the show.
I also know absolutely nothing about dance, or about judging dance specifically. But (going out on a limb) it seems to me that a large part of what makes a good dancing couple probably has something to do with how they look visually, and how believable they are as a couple. If the judge thinks that the pairing of two people doesn’t look right because they’re both men, then is that judge not allowed to diplomatically voice that opinion? Should he ignore it completely? I’m not sure that’s a fair solution either.
It’s an interesting topic, to be sure. I’ll be interested to follow this one.
[...] A word (many, actually) about the Nigel Lythgoe fuss Jump to Comments If you’re all up in the blogosphere – esp. the queersphere – you’ve likely come across some angry post-SYTYCD… um, posts today. The GLAAD blog has a good, non-ranty one here. [...]
I don’t think the judges (not just Lythgoe)critiques were so much homophobic as they were HETEROCENTRIC. They like watching that to which they personally relate. As the other judge said, “this confuses me.” I as a gay man, enjoyed very much seeing two guys dancing together, but I’m open to watching opposite sex dance partners occasionally, and wouldn’t stop watching the show just because “some of the dance couples are opposite sex.”
[...] try dancing with girls instead, which has caused an outcry in the online SYTYCD world. Fans and GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, are calling Nigel’s remarks homophobic [...]
I don’t find Nigel’s remarks particularly offensive. He’s there to give his opinion, and that’s what he did. They were lucky to be given a second chance after falling on the floor. The only thing Nigel did that I thought was inappropriate was to laugh at them after the fall.
If anything, the show is extremely gay friendly. Several competitors including the season 3 runner-up have been openly gay, and Nigel didn’t seem to have any problems with them. His opinion that the viewers wouldn’t enjoy watching 2 men ballroom dancing together is a valid one. I thought it was nothing but a silly gimmick.
I have set up a petition calling for Nigel and Fox to apologize:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/SYTYCDantigay/
Please sign it and forward to your friends!
[...] Source: GLAAD blog entry with video [...]
[...] May 22, GLAAD released a Call to Action in response to remarks made the night before by judge Nigel Lythgoe on the popular reality [...]
Having discussed this with a few of my GLBTQ and GLBTQ-friendly friends and family, we’re all agreed: the issue here was NOTHING to do with ’sexuality’ and ENTIRELY to do with the long history of male/female roles in Latin and other ballroom dancing.
The judges’ problem with these guys had NOTHING to do with them being same-sex, and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that they switched roles every 3 seconds: instead of one dancer leading and one dancer following (as is normal in ballroom dancing), these guys kept alternating – which totally ruined the traditional ’story’ of the dance.
If it had been a hetero couple doing this role-switching – and then falling on their asses because switching roles leads to difficulties with the dance – the judges’ comments would have been exactly the same.
It’s really a shame: Perez Hilton and GLAAD have the ability to change the world here, but by picking stupid battles they waste their political capital.
[...] “This is a man’s world, but it would be nothing without a woman or a girl.” GLAAD issued a call to action after the episode aired and Lythgoe subsequently issued an apology. Jacob Jason (l.) and Willem De [...]
[...] caught the attention of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) who issued a call to action, demanding an apology for Nigel’s “snide, homophobic remarks” on May 22, 2009. Nigel [...]
[...] To check out their commentary on WHY this is so defamatory and upsetting, and to also TAKE ACTION to tell Fox we won’t stand for this, click HERE . [...]