Gene Shalit regrets "Brokeback" comment

[swimmernsecretsea]

PlanetOut Network
Tuesday, January 10, 2006 / 01:04 PM

A gay media watchdog group said Tuesday that film critic Gene Shalit has expressed regret over comments he made about "Brokeback Mountain" during a "Today" show appearance last week.

In his review of the film, which follows a two-decade romance between two cowboys, Shalit called the character of Jack a "sexual predator" who "tracks Ennis down and coaxes him into sporadic trysts." The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation accused him of inciting homophobia with his comments, which aired Jan. 5, and demanded an apology.

On Tuesday, GLAAD said it received a statement from Shalit, saying, "In describing the behavior of "Jack" I used words ("sexual predator") that I now discover have angered, agitated, and hurt many people. I did not intend to use a word that many in the gay community consider incendiary. . . . I certainly had no intention of casting aspersions on anyone in the gay community or on the community itself. I regret any emotional hurt that may have resulted from my review of 'Brokeback Mountain.' "

Shalit's gay son, Peter, criticized GLAAD's alarm over his father's comments in a letter that was posted Monday on Advocate.com.

"He may have had an unpopular opinion of a movie that is important to the gay community, but he defamed no one, and he is not a homophobe," the younger Shalit wrote of his father.

Shalit is one of the nation's best-known film critics and one of the few to criticize the film. "Brokeback Mountain" received widespread acclaim after opening in December, as well as dozens of honors that suggest the film will be an Oscar contender.

Source Link here: http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2006/01/10/2

[acmejack]

1. I'll bet he does

He has probably received about five tons of snarky mail taking vigorous exception.

[Brian_Expat]

2. Which is sorta the whole problem

It's a shame the only time we can muster 10 tons of mail is when some reviewer pans a movie which the gay establishment has decided "empowers" us.

Would that we could muster 10 tons of mail to fight the anti-gay constitutional amendments in various states, or Virginia's anti-gay law. . .

[Cronus Protagonist]

4. Again, Brian, you hit the nail on the head

Educate a Freeper Today!
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[swimmernsecretsea]

6. Great response!

In this modern age, we tend to get way too serious about our entertainment and the cult of personality instead of protecting our rights and priveliges.

[dsc]

7. actually we have and do

but since VA politicians only really care about what VA residents think my mail, nor yours for that matter, really helps.

[closeupready]

8. For better or worse, in American culture, films are powerful

As evidence, look at "Angels in America" or "Philadelphia".

Also, despite what the xtian fundies claim, many gay men still live in the closet. Writing a letter with your name on it, protesting anti-gay laws and by extension defending gays, tags YOU as gay or at least "suspect". Defending a film about gays which is critically acclaimed and very "hot" tags you as maybe "liberal" or "progressive" but not gay.

So a negative film review is more likely to get protests than anti-gay legislation. It's sad, but true.

[mitchtv]

9. Again, missing the point

He can hate the movie for all i care. It was ok in my opinion. But the point about calling Jack a predator, WTF? is that all about? They were adults, and that sort of language insults anyone who has really been "preyed upon" .That kind of rhetoric is uncalled for.

[zbdent]

3. Shalit musta done something wrong

to have "turned" his son gay (at least, by the conservative definition . . .)

Maybe his hair looks that way, too, when he's in the shower with his son, . . .

[Lex]

5. I wonder if Shalit thinks a "sexual predator" chased his son down

and badgered him into having sex or 'turning gay.'

What Gene Shalit said just made me think that he has some misconceptions and maybe that's the (wrong-headed) way he comes to terms with his son being gay.

Just a thought . . .

:shrug:

[TaleWgnDg]

10. Oh, geez. Another idiot "celebrity" chanting discriminatory

.

Oh, geez. Another idiot "celebrity" chanting discriminatory remarks off-the-cuff. Then when there's a public outcry about how stupid it is, the celebrity recants.

Big-fucking-non-deal!

What is sad and revealing about the entire event is that it demonstrates how low it can get in America, both the celebrity pedestal crap as well as the rants of celebrities as meaningful.

.

[Ian David]

11. And now the right-wing know Shallit has a gay son

I met Shallit once years ago at a theater in Pittsfield, Mass.

The man has terrible body odor.

[Name removed]

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[William769]

13. Does that mean that all Heterosexual men

Who tracks woman down and coaxes them into sporadic trysts, are sexual predators? I'm just saying...