12/10/2004
Australian man lay dead for four days before he was discovered. Police investigating whether death was a gay bashing.
George Clooney's "charisma" involves practical jokes implying gay people and their hope for equal rights are worthy of ridicule. "I...put two bumper stickers on the back of [Brad Pitt's] car. I put one on that ran for about three days that said, 'I’m gay and I vote.'...Then it was 'small penis on board,' and that ran for a few days too. So as he drove home through LA rush hour traffic, people were honking at him and waving, and he thinks it’s because he’s Brad Pitt. So he’s waving back..."
Posted 3:01 AM EST by Andy Towle in Elsewhere | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
I've seen George Clooney on several talk shows the past couple of weeks, and the topic of his "practical jokes" is bordering on the insufferable when watching an interview with him.
The bumper sticker "I'm gay and I vote" put on a straight person's car as a "joke" is truly ignorant, in bad taste and definately meant to be used as ridicule, and if he did do it...he is even more ignorant to bring it up in a public interview. It is nice to hear, however, that Pitt got lots of honks of support. I wonder if Mr. Clooney's glee at his prank would have been enhanced if one of the drivers tried to run Brad off the road yelling "Faggot" at him.
Posted by: Patrick | Dec 10, 2004 9:32:42 AM
Please! Where's your sense of humor guys?? I don't think Mr Clooney is implying anything negative, he's just labelling Brad Pitt in a clearly false way in a good hearted joke. I think it's funny. Call me self loathing, but I don't think it's malicious or negative.
Posted by: Dan | Dec 10, 2004 1:01:55 PM
Well, I think that many foolish American's got used to being petty about us long ago... and lately they are finding that we're not so much fun all of a sudden... lately I feel we haven't been "fitting in", and they are realizing that they have 20 million Americans that they know nothing about. It's insulting that a fool like George Clooney thinks we are just to be treated like trash so he can "have fun" at our expense.
Posted by: visibleh20 | Dec 10, 2004 1:19:19 PM
oh, c'mon, you guys! get a hambone!
while i find his pranks childish, at best, its far from harmful or demeaning or anything like that.
Posted by: cafegogo | Dec 10, 2004 2:52:59 PM
"George Clooney's "charisma" involves practical jokes implying gay people and their hope for equal rights are worthy of ridicule."
I see NOTHING in those bumper stickers that imply disrespect for gays:
"I'm Gay and I Vote"...SO?? Gays vote...wouldn't we get hard thinking that Brad played on our team?
"Small Penis on Board"...this is GAY??
Lighten up dudes...Clooney has a sense of humor on the level of a college freshman...but gay bashing? I don't see it.
Posted by: JOHN | Dec 10, 2004 3:10:47 PM
Why so sensitive?
Posted by: Rob | Dec 10, 2004 3:36:33 PM
I had a feeling this entry would start a debate. I'm sure that deep down Clooney has no bad intentions. This is really a minor thing.
However, it's still worth pointing out that prejudice against gays is still tolerated in this country, and Clooney's practical joke is the equivalent of a fifth grader putting a "kick me" sticker on an unwitting classmate's back. Except in this case, he's saying, "this person doesn't know he's being called gay" and isn't that funny?
Imagine if the sticker had said instead, "I'm a Pervert and I Vote." Still funny, because Brad Pitt is still his unwitting victim, yet the joke doesn't rely on an unnecessary and distasteful affirmation of intolerance.
And yes, I was the butt of a few "kick me" stickers in my day.
Posted by: andy | Dec 10, 2004 4:08:37 PM
Whatever Mr. Clooney's motives were, innocent or not, the act was to embarrass the recipient of his practical joke. When you use gay people in such a way, as if being gay or being thought of as gay should be something to be embarrassed about, you are demeaning gay people. It's that simple. The other bumper sticker mentioned was obviously meant to embarrass, so clearly the "I'm gay" sticker was meant for the same purpose.
Posted by: Patrick | Dec 10, 2004 4:11:57 PM
Clooney is a friend of mine. Truly, he has the sense of humor of a college freshman and I, for one, am not a fan of his practical jokes. I hate practical jokes, as a rule. I was on the Larry King Show once commentating about something or other and he called in and said he was an IRS agent trying to find me for an audit, and asked that I verify my address! On the air! I didn't think it was funny, at all. (Looking back on it now, I do have to smile when I think about the look of horror on my face.) But... on the Brad thing... These guys -- George and his bunch -- never think of the political ramifications of their pranks, they just hope they're funny. Like kids. (Only they're not kids, are they?) Anyway, Clooney is good-hearted beyond belief...always available, generous, a good listener, a very sweet guy and very tolerant of my gay friends who just want to lick his face. :-) Hate to see him get a bad rap for this kind of thing. He lives the life of a frat-boy and, somehow, when you're with him you feel like one, too. One day, maybe he'll grow up. (I doubt it, though. :-)
Posted by: J. Randy Taraborrelli | Dec 10, 2004 7:56:48 PM
I hope he doesn't grow up. Just what we don't need. Another dreary politically-correct grown-up.
Posted by: cafegogo | Dec 10, 2004 10:53:26 PM
I hope he doesn't grow up!
Just what we don't need: another dreary politically-correct grown-up.
Posted by: cafegogo | Dec 10, 2004 10:54:05 PM
That was a dumb practical joke. My 7 year-old nephew has come up with better ones.
Personally, I'm not offended by it but I wonder what the public reaction would be if the bumper sticker had said, for example: "I'm black and I vote".
Posted by: Linton | Dec 13, 2004 5:26:48 AM
If I were J. Randy Tamborelli I would give George Clooney a call and tell him that the gay bumpersticker is a means of dehumanizing gay people. Because that's what it IS.
If he doesn't get that, he's not only immature, he is simply cruel.
How can you excuse such a prank with "he just hasn't grown up"? If he had pulled a similar prank that dehumanized ANY other group (blacks, Jews, Indians, Moslems...) the entire world would have condemned him. Clooney was telling the world that it was BAD to be gay. I reject that, forcefully. We all should.
Posted by: Hephaestion | May 22, 2005 9:30:39 AM
I think George Clooney IS gay. Maybe he knows, maybe he doesn't, but this kind of behavior doesn't surprise me given that he's living a fake life. Just how fake, who knows?
Posted by: Dennis | Sep 13, 2005 1:48:10 AM
I thought I was the only person on this earth that thought maybe George Clooney is gay. I say that because he doesn't want to marry again and doesn't want children...strange. He also hasn't been with a woman in a long while (that I know of - let me know if I'm wrong..) I think he's hiding something... however, his career will be ruined if he came out..
Posted by: straightgirl | Oct 29, 2005 11:09:16 PM
Everyone I know says Clooney's a fag. And that all this frat boy stuff and chicks and all is just smoke. He seems pretty faggy to me. What say?
Posted by: JJ | Nov 4, 2005 3:55:14 PM
u folx r funni
Posted by: miles o'toole | Nov 30, 2005 8:57:16 AM
Well doesnt matter what george says about gays cause we all know he's a fag himself.
You fags who get mad should learn to laugh at yourselfs... hey if you can take a dick! you can take a joke!
Posted by: HATEStheCOCK | Jan 20, 2006 3:58:32 AM
I don't think the bumper sticker is such a big deal....I could totally see myself doing that to a friend, and I AM gay! I don't see anything self-loathing about that. More self-loathing is all the gay guys using terms like "straight-acting". Get a sense of humour guys! ;-)
Posted by: joseph | Jan 20, 2006 8:17:26 PM
I'm a bit out of touch with show biz people but I did watch the Golden Globes and I felt, for some inexplicable reason, other than the presence of a man that appeared to be George Clooney's male companion, that George Clooney was gay. Is George Clooney gay? Watching the latests movies, the trend indicates it would be a boost in his career if he is.
Posted by: Bull Good | Jan 29, 2006 8:24:05 PM
George Clooney is hot! I really don't think he meant any harm by the comment although I can see where it could offend some people. George is very gay friendly actually. He loved Brokeback Mountain and hates George Bush and all of his cronies. He also thinks it is deplorable that the right wing fundamentalist blame 9/11 on "homosexuals". I actually wonder about my boy George. He is 44 handsome and not married. I think he also has too much style to be straight. How many times have we seen leading men in Hollywood in the past come out later in life after the damage it could do to their careers is over? I think he is a good man.
Posted by: L. Bains | Feb 17, 2006 7:56:20 PM
We can't say anything for sure unless he admits it himself. I am gay myself and from my experience and my judgement which has never been wrong to judge if they were gay - I think he is or perhaps a bi if we take his past marriages and other dating rumours into consideration. My point here is in my opinion, he definitely has some gayish features which can only be seen by gay guys..
Posted by: mike | Mar 7, 2006 1:12:00 PM
I live in an unfortunate part of the country right now where there is a lot of gay men in the closet. It is awful! It is so sad to see people living a double life but this is the bible belt and all... however, one thing i notice about them is that they make constant gay jokes. Perhaps Clooney is doing the same.
(sigh) It would not surprise me if he is gay, all the good ones are.
Posted by: Sandra | Mar 8, 2006 12:11:29 AM
Poor George Clooney! He is sooo transparent, shame he can't see that the lengths he goes to to pretend he is Mr. Straight make him the Rock Hudson of today!
Wasn't Rock once married ?( to his secretary, didn't Rock date all the hot Hollywood Starlets, while Troy Donahue waited at home for him? I wish instead of doing movies like Syrianna George would step up to the plate, come out of the closet and make a real statement, now that would be politically correct. He can fool middle America but he cant fool a girl whose lived and worked with gay men all her life!
Posted by: kimmy | Mar 23, 2006 8:41:19 PM