On last night's This Show is So Gay, we had the opportunity to speak with iconic communications guru Cathy Renna about the visibility issues right now in the LGBT community. It got us to asking, "So what are people's perceptions of the gay community?"
On Tuesday night's Larry King, Donny Deutsch questioned whether gay men even watch football. Is that where we're at?
Authored by: paulgardner on Friday, February 05 2010 @ 09:23 AM GMT+4
I grew up a baseball fan. Football was the dumb sport where big, dumb men crashed into each other at top speed on purpose.
I didn't start to shed that stereotype till a couple decades ago.
Now I realize there's far more critical thought and analysis and planning that goes into football than baseball.
I read an article in USA Today last year that claimed that there are only 16 college grads in the Major Leagues - that's out of 800 guys. The grads are always referred to mockingly as "professor" and asked all the sorts of questions that most of us refer to Wikipedia.
Football is the opposite. All the kids have been to college. They don't necessarily have a degree and many took classes specifically made for football players to pass so they could stay in school.
BUT college is not a foreign concept. Intelligence is prized and the word "genius" when bestowed is meant sincerely.
Fans of football are another matter. Many football fans are total meat heads. The guys that actually go to games have to be doing well in the material world because an NFL season ticket costs thousands of dollars (an idea that a guy like me who can barely come up with a couple hundred to see an occasional Red Sox game can't fathom). Presumably they must have some intelligence to do that well financially, though they might not look so smart acting like fools in the stadium.
So how does all this fit into my personal stereotypes of gays watching or not watching football? Let's put it this way; I know that I don't know.
Authored by: paulgardner on Friday, February 05 2010 @ 12:20 AM GMT+4
Based on averages (10% if I understand correctly) and the number of players in the NFL (about 1,500) there ought to be about 150 gay NFL players at present. Given an average NFL career length of 4 years, in the last 25 years there've likely been about 1,000 gay NFLers.
I play fantasy sports and can probably rattle off 1,000 or more current and former NFL players (given enough time) and I don't know of any that are gay. Some of them must be but remain closeted.
Its like there's an unspoken don't ask don't tell rule in the NFL - ditto the other major sports. It's extremely weird to me in this day and age.
My point with regard to stereotypes is that to the fan a gay football player is indistinguishable from a straight one.
I don't know why someone would make a comment as ignorant and dumb sounding as Mr. Deutsch's. I certainly hope Larry King gave him hell for it.
My perception of gay people watching sports is it's like straight people watching sports. There's a lot of different reasons to watch and I would imagine that's true whether one is gay or straight.
In my own mind I compare it to a lady I once knew - very prim and proper - who said she liked watching the Braves because Claudell Washington had a nice butt. It's the same game, but with added flavor.
Authored by: tiny on Friday, February 05 2010 @ 08:27 AM GMT+4
I am perplexeed by Mr. Duestch's comments. You would think he would
know better. Being a media talking head, can't you see him saying "a
lot of my collegues are gay..."
One thing that drives me crazy is when people claim to have "gaydar."
Authored by: SpudHill on Saturday, February 06 2010 @ 06:32 AM GMT+4
As I said because he is dumb.
Apparently you don't know about him. He has a reputation for speaking before he thinks and takes pride in it and a track record of saying things that are a bit outlandish at best, very outlandish a lot of times. He wouldn't even understand why this was a stupid statement. He loves his persona of the big macho guy and to make it worse, yes, he is a media guy, has been involved in the design/art world and in fact he undoubtedly has worked and associated with gays for years and gays who are out. He's just a big dumb slob who sees himself as a big touch Mr. Macho bravado kind a guy. Here's one of my personal favorite stories about him:
"He's an unjustified narcissist. He once ripped off his shirt in front of an Ad Age reporter, and came to regret it, because she didn't find it as charming as he had hoped. That didn't stop his penchant for ripping off his shirt during interviews though—it continues to this day."
So actually anything he says about anything should be taken as a grain of salt anyway. You don't try to "understand" how a guy like Deutsch thinks you just shake your head sadly and walk away.
Authored by: SpudHill on Saturday, February 06 2010 @ 06:38 AM GMT+4
Correction
"He's just a big dumb slob who sees himself as a big touch Mr. Macho bravado kind a guy."
Should have been
"He's just a big dumb slob who sees himself as a big tough Mr. Macho bravado kind a guy."
Although touch might be a bit more appropriate as he seems to crave this response from women. Another Deutsch tidbit, inherited everything from Dad (he refers to himself as a member of the lucky sperm club) and everything is a lot, other words used to describe him....narcisstic unbearable insufferable.
He's not exactly a guidepost of what most normal people think about this topic although sad to say in this case I'm sure this comment gets made but Deutsch has no excuse except for dumb. I'm sure there are still people out there who actually don't realize that a lot of sports figures are and have been gay....but Deutsch has no excuse.
Authored by: tiny on Saturday, February 06 2010 @ 08:56 AM GMT+4
Well, you know so much about him, I don't. Certainly not well enough
to a make a value judgement to call him a slob, narrcistic, dumb or any
other thing. All I know is he made a very misinformed statement and I
am wondering, what possible view or information does he posess that
would conclude him to say that.
Authored by: SpudHill on Saturday, February 06 2010 @ 09:24 AM GMT+4
Google him....
This has nothing to do with what caused him to make that kind of statement, you're talking about a guy who took his shirt off (and I suspect beat upon his chest) when being interviewd by a female reporter he apparently found attractive.
If you want insight into what people, other than those throw-backs to Neanderthal days, ideas or misconceptions are about gays and football you should look a little deeper into the gene pool. Although I guess you could argue that Deutsch will always represent the most throw-back attitudes and misconceptions about just about anything to do with social interaction so in that regard his comments are insightful.
Authored by: SpudHill on Saturday, February 06 2010 @ 09:27 AM GMT+4
"Certainly not well enough
to a make a value judgement to call him a slob, narrcistic, dumb or any
other thing. "
I am repeating what just about anyone who's asked about him says.
Like I said google him and then let me know how many comments you can find that put him in good light. This is the general impression of Deutsch throughout the industry in NYC, not just my comments.
Trying to find any depth in any of his remarks is a fool's errand.
Authored by: tiny on Saturday, February 06 2010 @ 03:01 PM GMT+4
I googled him.
Reports are he is a douche bag.
But, I am interested in the motivation behind what he says.
A lot of people probably think what he says.
They might not all be d-bags like him, but they believe that..
That's what the thread is about, misconceptions and stereotypes
But hey, look at who you're talking about... not the sharpest knives in the drawer.
---
"No guts, no glory."
Bette Davis