The Dilemma Revealed A Much More Dangerous And Dumber Anti-Gay Joke

By now you know that the trailer for Universal Pictures The Dilemma has been re-cut, the line delivered by Vince Vaughn “Electric cars are gay” exorcised from the preview though it remains in the film, directed by Ron Howard, scheduled for release in January. There has been debate about the true controversy of that line and whether a harmless “joke” that employs the pejorative use of the word gay can carry a much more menacing message. Playlist.blogspot.com creates a greater context with which to judge just how offensive the line is, Oli Lyttelton Tuesday writing that “In Allan Loeb’s screenplay, dated a year ago, Vaughn’s character goes on to say “Not homosexual gay ... but soft gay, unmanly gay, quiet and small gay’ (in the trailer, the line was ‘my-parents-are-chaperoning-the-dance-gay”) and that “if you’re a real man ... you don’t want an electric car,” which tries to swerve homophobia while still taking the word as a slur, and at no point is he reprimanded for his stance by any other character.” Are the filmmakers guilty of being homophobic, irresponsible, and reckless? Of course they are; the “joke” is not a joke at all – it is lazy and lacks any creativity, but then, sadly, so does the entire film as does the career of Vince Vaughn.