Sacha Baron Cohen arrives fort the London premiere of "Bruno"'on June 17, 2009. (Getty Images)
Sacha Baron Cohen swished onto the red carpet of his London "Bruno" premiere on Wednesday in a hot-pants-and-crop-top Buckingham Palace guard uniform suitable for a drag show. Not quite as flashy as flying in and landing his bare butt on Eminem's face, but still an impressive caricature of a Narcissistic oversexed queen.
So is that funny? Or is it homophobic? Some gay activists don't think so. With the right to marry and have a family on the line (and in the headlines), some worry that the movie reinforces negative stereotypes. For example, there is a scene in which Bruno, who has adopted an African child, shows a talk-show audience photos of himself having oral sex with men in a hot tub right next to his child. In the movie, the audience is horrified, but how does a scene like that unmask homobobia, as Mr. Cohen purports it to do?
Rashad Robinson, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's media programs director, says scenes like that do not call attention to homophobia; they present gay men as ridiculous and dangerous to children:
" ... In a country where gay and lesbian parents can still be denied the ability in some states to adopt the children they have raised since birth — and where those children can even be taken away from the only parents they've ever known — the idea of trivializing gay families, making them the butt of a series of crude jokes, and reinforcing pernicious stereotypes about gay men and children didn't feel funny. It felt dangerous."
But others believe Mr. Cohen's outrageous alter-egos (Borat, Ali G, Bruno) effectively expose racism, anti-semitism and homophobia. Responding to criticism of "Da Ali G Show," HBO spokesman Quentin Schaffer said:
Through his alter-egos, he delivers an obvious satire that exposes people's ignorance and prejudice in much the same way 'All in the Family' did years ago."
We get that. And it's obvious that Borat and Ali G are bigots, so the comparison to Archie Bunker works. But Bruno is not a homophobe, he is a homosexual. The movie does not make fun of homophobia, it makes fun of homosexuals.
We're just saying.
So what do you think?
Comments
Bruno is homophobic garbage framed for the press to look like a progressive movie about homophobia. Don't believe. I'll bet Cohen has been doing his swishy queen imitation at parties years before he ever gave a thought about gay rights. Let's not let him get away with it.
'So is that funny? Or is it homophobic? Some gay activists don't think so.'
That's really bad writing.
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