NYT: It’s a Homophobic Slur. What’s It Doing in So Much Theater?
NYT: It’s a Homophobic Slur. What’s It Doing in So Much Theater?
MezzA101
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/29/23
#2NYT: It’s a Homophobic Slur. What’s It Doing in So Much Theater?
Posted: 12/1/25 at 8:51am
I really appreciate you sharing these articles. It’s become part of my daily reading ritual
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#3NYT: It’s a Homophobic Slur. What’s It Doing in So Much Theater?
Posted: 12/1/25 at 10:52am
Thank you for sharing this as a gift article!
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
John Adams
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/13
#4NYT: It’s a Homophobic Slur. What’s It Doing in So Much Theater?
Posted: 12/1/25 at 11:58am
A quote from the article:
"Maybe I’m overreacting. Jeremy O. Harris, the 'Slave Play' author and a producer of 'Prince Faggot,' suggested I stop pearl-clutching over a word. Sometimes theater tests.
Besides, he added, “'Prince Gay’ would mean nothing.'”
I don't find much (if any) difference between the use of the "N" word or the "F" word. There's already been much said and written re: the reasons the former is used, that would also apply as response to the author's current question.
I don't find any instance in the article where the author offers their own opinion about the subject, beyond providing anecdotes of how the word has been personally hurtful to them in the past.
They even seem to insinuate a resignation to the topic's banality when they write, "In the queer bubble that is New York, these shows have drawn little ballyhoo. Concerned about potential backlash, Playwrights Horizons contacted a board member who specializes in crisis communications to develop a contingency plan. It was never needed."
I agree with Jeremy O. Harris' initial advice to the author. If there is a unique or "new" POV to their article, I'm not finding it in their words.
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#5NYT: It’s a Homophobic Slur. What’s It Doing in So Much Theater?
Posted: 12/1/25 at 12:01pm
For the record, I saw Angry F*gs the other weekend in Chicago, and it was revolting. Maybe the most inadvertently homophobic play I've ever seen.
#6NYT: It’s a Homophobic Slur. What’s It Doing in So Much Theater?
Posted: 12/1/25 at 12:58pm
It's interesting to me because as a young person the idea of a "controversial title" was a little silly. Who gets upset about a word? BUT. With the popularity of Prince F----t I found that word all over the media I frequent and repeatedly in my inbox. Again, it's just a word and it doesn't bother me much... but having to confront that word over and over again alongside notifications from Redfin and NYTimes Cooking emails was really something.
The actual use of the word is harmless to me but now that I'm old, I realize using a word like that in the title means folks have to interrogate their relationship to the word wherever it is advertised, including in the inbox of every former patron.
Jesus saves. I spend.
#7NYT: It’s a Homophobic Slur. What’s It Doing in So Much Theater?
Posted: 12/1/25 at 2:25pm
"We want art to be challenging, thought-provoking and maybe transgressive--but not when it upsets us!"
Look if people who aren't gay write a show called Prince Faggot, there'd be a problem. I'm pretty sure if a Black author wrote a show with the "N" word in the title, we wouldn't be marching to the castle with pitchforks and torches. A white author doing this for a white audience would of course create a different--and completely unacceptable--inference. Same here. But even more, geez, can people please be adults and not immediately go into a fetal position beause they encoutered a word?
I say this as a gay man who has had the word hurled at him enough times (most of it in high school) to know how painful it can be. I don't even care for it when gays use the term for each other. I think it isn't a nice word. And yet I still think we have to allow artists to address controverisal subjects and use controversial words, and I get how it can be used for comic or dramatic emphasis. The issue should always be "how is this word (any word) being used in this specific context."
#8NYT: It’s a Homophobic Slur. What’s It Doing in So Much Theater?
Posted: 12/1/25 at 2:27pm
I actually think Price F*ggot deserves a better title, but hey, it gets people talking I guess.
I personally hate slurs and don't like when anyone uses them.
#9NYT: It’s a Homophobic Slur. What’s It Doing in So Much Theater?
Posted: 12/1/25 at 2:31pm
In my very queer social circle, the word has been pretty much reclaimed and used, if not casually then at least with some regularity.
But I also know of folks who bristle at the use of "queer," which has had a much longer history of reclaimed use, dating at least back to 70s. Everyone's comfort levels are different.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Updated On: 12/1/25 at 02:31 PM
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