Jeff Whitty's Letter to Jay Leno- Page 2

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 12:09pm

Corine, I believe that's a World Class Threadjack. Even for you.

[Corine2]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 12:25pm

You talked about funny people and Vilanch just comes to my mind.

Sorry, Pizza Monster.
Updated On: 4/22/06 at 12:25 PM

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:08pm

Oh Corine, how I do love thee.

[Tag]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:46pm

Chita, when every single person in your family has been tortured and murdered in the most unimaginable ways, when you are starving and invested with vermon, when you are lying between dead bodies in your own excretement, when you are treated like an animal, and when every day you pray to die before the next selection...

get back to me.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 1:49pm

When I think of gay people, I think of the gay news anchor who took a tire iron to the head several times when he was vacationing in St. Maarten's. I think of my friend who was visiting Hamburger Mary's, a gay restaurant in Las Vegas, when a bigot threw a smoke bomb filled with toxic chemicals into the restaurant, leaving the staff and gay clientele coughing, puking, and running in terror. I think of visiting my gay friends at their house in the country, sitting outside for dinner, and hearing, within hundreds of feet of where we sat, taunting voices yelling "Faggots." I think of hugging my boyfriend goodbye for the day on 8th Avenue in Manhattan, and being mocked and taunted by passing high school students.

These are very tragic things and we have all had these experiences or know people who have. What I find sad is that this is the first thing you think of when you think of gay people. Your letter does go on to point out the fun and truly honorable contributions of Gay people to our society, and these are the first things I think of.
Gay jokes don't bother me in quite the same way that they seem to bother you. I respect that you think they are homophobic and may reinforce stereotypes, but I think your letter comes off a bit righteous and whiny. Lighten up, Jeff. I mean people could accuse you of belittling former black child actors who were taken advantage of by their parents and who are now totally ****ed up!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 2:07pm

Sueleen, I TOTALLY agree with you, I thought the same thing and was worried that Whitty wasn't even going to include the stuff that he finally did by the third paragraph. I guess starting with that would have undercut the victim image he was trying to create. I was thinking I'd have to throw him a big gay pizza party if he never got to that.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 4/22/06 at 11:14pm

Tag, Whitty wasn't comparing homophobia to the Jewish Holocaust. The term "holocaust" existed before WWII and it was later applied to the German obliteration of Jews, Gypsies, and yes, homosexuals. In fact, the dictionary defition of holocaust is "the loss of many lives" and I think it applies to us, too. Throughout the centuries, we homosexuals have been mocked, persecuted, and murdered repeatedly. That's one example of a holocaust.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:09am

One could easily deem the thousands of deaths from our government's lack of concern for fags dying in the 80s to be a holocaust. When just a handful of people died from the infamous Tylenol scare, the government hauled ass. And it wasn't until straights starting dying that the US gave a damn about AIDS.

All in all, is it really a pissing contest?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:18am

To be fair, once they realized which straights were dying they stopped caring again.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:22am

LOL! Those DAMN hemophiliacs!

[Horton]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 12:19pm

Love to Jeff Whitty! really, I love Jeff Whitty!

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 12:41pm

OF COURSE Jay Leno has an oversimplified view of gay people. Jay Leno has an oversimplified view of everything. Has Jeff Whitty ever made it all the way through a Jay Leno monologue? Here's the template.

Michael Jackson molests children. Ha ha ha ha!
OJ/Robert Blake is a killer. Ha ha ha ha!
The governor pronounces things funny. Ha ha ha ha!
Americans eat too much and are fat. Ha ha ha ha!
George Bush is a dumb warmonger. Ha ha ha ha!
Dick Cheney shoots people. Ha ha ha ha!
Al Gore/John Kerry lost. Ha ha ha ha!

It's a pathetic theme and variations on the same dozen or so jokes. The only reason I ever try to watch Jay Leno is to see how many punchlines I can guess before Jay reaches them. And it's usually more than 50 percent.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 1:11pm

Yes, Calvin, you and Andy Kindler are correct.

I'm not sure why anybody would actually watch him. I got sick of watching the Dancing Itos and that was just on the promo commercials, it's not like I could actually watch The Tonight Show without my flesh crawling. Leno's second only to Norm "'Is Gay' is a punchline!" MacDonald in lack of nuance, skill or the sense of surprise that makes comedy comedy.

The Germans love David Hasslehoff.

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 4:09pm

"I'm not sure why anybody would actually watch him"

I'll make it easy for you-some (lots) of people find him funny. In fact, more people watch him than Letterman. Are you still not sure?

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:13pm

But more people (supposedly) voted for Dubya.

More people saw White Chicks than any of the recent Best Pic noms.

There's no assurance of good taste!!

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:15pm

I just don't like it when someone resorts to personal insults about others' tastes. When that happens, I get really angry!

[starletta8]

Posted: 5/2/06 at 2:22pm

Not sure if anybody else has noticed this (I did search), but Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS now has this letter and a note from Exec. Director Tom Viola posted on their website.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/2/06 at 3:07pm

Gee Jane I didn't realize you were reduced to using the "more people watch Leno so therefore he's funnier" argument. But then again, I suppose when you have an "I wish there were more big box chainstores and mall restaurants" worldview it should come as no surprise.