Gay Joke on "Project Runway"

tristanrobin · Joined: 29 Dec 2007 Posts: 142 Location: New Haven, CT USA

I just read this on a blog (I didn't write it) and thought it was an interesting take. What do you think?

I was floating on a little riff of the show's trademark workroom banter between two of the show's out gay contestants, Chris March and Ricky Lazade. Chris had a joke:

"What would you call the Flintstones if they were gay?"

Ricky didn't know.

"Fags," Chris replied, laughing.

Now, I did laugh. I get the joke. I even get that it's not anti-gay, and not simply because it was a joke between two gay men. I mean, the whole premise of it is that if you're gay, that's all homophobes will see. It doesn't matter if you're a college professor, auto mechanic, ballroom dance instructor, or paleolithic cartoon character: You're just a fag.

So I'm not casting any aspersions on my beloved Chris or Ricky. I love you both, you know that, guys, right?

No, I'm wondering about Bravo. And this isn't your usual rhetorical, fake-concern, I-already-know-the-answer type wondering, either. It's genuine, and it's this: Would Bravo have aired a similar exchange between two African-American designers joking about the word "n****r"?

I don't watch much reality TV, and I never watch the kind where the focus is the backstage drama and backstabbing. Perhaps Bravo not only would air such an exchange, but already has. Those wiser in the ways of reality television can probably answer that question, and I hope one of you does.

But it did give me a tiny pause, in the moment before I laughed, and again after. Just a little question in my brain, wondering what Bravo was thinking when they edited this episode, and made the decision to include this joke, and that word.

Kizzume · Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 3:38 pm Post subject:

That's a strange one.

When it comes to language, homophobic phrasing has actually become more popular over the past few years, especially calling things that people don't like "gay".