It is a simple formula for both comedy and political commentary:

Take a public figure (Sarah Palin) who holds disagreeable views (abstinence-only education). Zero in on an aspect of her personal life counter to those views (her own teen daughter, Bristol Palin, becoming pregnant). Reveal the comedic irony and/or hypocrisy of the public/private contrast. Repeat ad nauseam on blogs, 24-hour news channels, and late night talk shows.

We should all beware this construction. Though very easy to pull off—and often journalistically and comedically sound—it is a trap. And it will render us all hypocrites. Three lessons from history, after the jump.

Read More “Sarah Palin And the “Hypocrisy” Trap” »

I have a confession to make: I love Dude Comedies. Any film where Two to Five Douchey Guys Shirk Their Societal Obligations to Embark on a Night They’ll Never Forget can probably coax ten bucks out of me. I’ll even watch the Dude Comedies where all female characters are relegated to the Fun-Hating-Wife or Slutty-Sex-Object category, as long as it allows for maximum high jinks. Superbad: Loved it! Old School: Great! 40 Year Old Virgin: Totally convinced me to overlook the whole chastity message! Talladega Nights: Watched it!

I understand these movies are literred with sexism and homophobia and penises; I am simply immune to it. My condition has become so severe that this is looking pretty good to me, honestly.

But no Dude Comedy can draw me in as douchily as the Judd Apatow Dude Comedy. I am powerless to it. I have a theory: Paul Rudd is often one of the dudes. But even a Clueless pedigree can’t justify my apparent obsession with man-children, marijuana-fueled Lord of the Rings fantasies, and underlying date-rape themes.

Help me.

In this week’s Sexist Beatdown, Sady of Tiger Beatdown tries. We laughed, we cried, we had a shmashmortion.

Read More “Sexist Beatdown: Ladies Love Dude Comedies Edition” »

Last weekend, RNC Chairman Michael Steele outlined his fiscal argument for banning gay marriage:

“Now all of a sudden I’ve got someone who wasn’t a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for,” Mr. Steele told Republicans. “So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money.”

Finally exposed: the storied oppression of small business owners by teh gays. Oh what will he think of next!

NewsChannel 8 talk show co-host Doug McKelway threatened gay blogger Michael Rogers yesterday on live television, DCist reports. McKelway was interviewing Rogers about Outrage, a new documentary on closeted gay politicians and the activists who out them. Rogers, who advocates outing gay politicians who promote homophobic legislation, appears in the film.

“I have a problem with your community,” McKelway says, before telling him (at about the 2:30 mark): “I’m going to do more than just point my finger at you. I’m gonna take you outside and give you a punch across the face.”

Watch the video on PageOneQ here.

West Point graduate Lt. Dan Choi appeared on the Rachel Maddow show in March, announced he was gay, had his audio swiftly cut off, reappeared on the show the next day, then received a letter announcing he was out for “telling.”

This is the letter the military sends you when you admit you’re gay:

This is to inform you that sufficient basis exists to initiate action for withdrawal of Federal Recognition in the Army National Guard for moral or professional dereliction. Specifically, you admitted publicly that you are a homosexual, which constitutes homosexual conduct. Your actions negatively affected the good order and discipline of the New York Army National Guard.

Choi reiterates that he’s only one of the 12,500 soldiers who have been kicked out of the army in the 15 years of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” It’s a shame that Choi was dismissed, but I think it’s a good sign when officers start telling, publicly, just to reveal the utter ridiculousness of the rule. Here’s to hoping he’s the last, President Obama.

“Does Kanye Dress Too Gay?” Elizabeth Gates writes on the Daily Beast. The speculation on the impact of Kanye West’s dandy foppishness isn’t invalid, but it does require a follow-up: too gay according to whom?

Gates makes the case that West dresses too gay for hip-hop, which she claims has backed off from its full embrace of flamboyant dress—see George Clinton, Dr. Dre (?), and my personal favorite, Cameo (above). But Kanye isn’t too gay for the “black-male community” in general. Gates’ main evidence of homophobia against Kanye’s lavender suits are Internet trolls. In other words, Kanye is too gay for the most homophobic idiots ever.

Gates writes:

“Only gays wear that [crap]!” wrote blog reader “TheTruth,” while another reader advised that they should “go taste the rainbow.” “Bootylishious” wrote that he/she simply “feel(s) sorry for all those gay dudes,” and sadly, the list goes on. It seems that just as we settle into our most modern America yet, the tradition of black fashion has been lost.

Also lost in the Internet fray: decorum, intelligence, sincerity, accountability. Kanye isn’t too gay for hip-hop—he’s one of its biggest stars. But he is too gay to escape indiscriminate homophobic Internet trolls, a phenomenon that wasn’t around when Dr. Dre was drawing on eyeliner and Cameo was strapping on a codpiece.

Clinton, though, probably would have been spared. Writes one more fop-friendly Internet commenter, “[calling Andre 3000 gay is] like saying prince is gay. prince is renown for pulling some of the finest woman of all time, in spite of being just so different. . . . oooor beter yet, like calling george clinton gay. lol, u crazy. he’s just a funky individual.”

Well, well, well, isn’t this interesting. The National Organization for Marriage is bristling at Perez Hilton’s request for YouTube to remove a NOM ad (above) which features footage of Hilton calling Miss California Carrie Prejean a “dumb bitch.” Hilton claimed that NOM had violated copyright laws by lifting “about three seconds of footage” from his video blog. NOM’s lawyers have appealed the video’s removal to the video sharing site.

It’s no surprise that NOM would fight to keep the video up—Perez Hilton is probably wrong here, as the clip is short enough to constitute fair use. The interesting part is the way NOM executive director Brian Brown has characterized Hilton’s request.

It seems like only yesterday that NOM was working exhaustively to remove YouTube copies of the leaked audition reels to its now-infamous anti-gay “Gathering Storm” ad. And yet, In an interview with Bloggasm, Brown painted Hilton not just as a copyright law novice, but as a coward.

Read More “NOM and Perez Hilton In YouTube Pissing Match” »

Stephen Colbert has created his own anti-gay-marriage ad parody that mocks both the National Organization for Marriage’s “Gathering Storm” ad and the hilarious leaked audition tapes that prove just how difficult it is for trained actors to spew homophobic lies on cue [h/t Broadsheet]

Soften your raging homophobia unto me!

If you’re a raging conservative homophobe looking for a prime time interview spot, all you’ve got to do these days is suddenly pretend to be only a mild conservative homophobe, and you’ve got an audience on on Larry King Live.

First, noted conservative homophobe Rick Warren appeared on King’s show to tell Larry that his official position on gay marriage is “oblivious” and that he wasn’t the outspoken supporter of Prop 8 that he appeared to be obviously was last November:

Read More “Larry King Currently Accepting Homophobic Flip-Flops” »

NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM

Well, the National Organization for Marriage keeps bitching at someone to have its hilarious gay storm audition reels pulled down from video sharing sites like Youtube and Vimeo. Citizen bloggers keep ripping their own copies of the auditions and reposting them to those same sites, causing what must be a pretty big pain in the ass for NOM. I’m doing my best to keep the original post, “Welcome to the Gay Auditions!,” updated with watchable videos.

When videos are deleted, and you know of a new place they’ve cropped up, leave the link in the comments. Together, perhaps we can so distract the National Organization for Marriage that they forget about spreading homophobic lies and instead spend their time declaring, “Mr. Youtube, Tear Down That NOM.”

Photo by Ollie Crafoord