Is The James Franco & Seth Rogen Parody of Kanye West Video Homophobic?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCGZ6tJdtmc
Although the James Franco & Seth Rogen parody of Kanye West new video is considered funny is it really? The immediate reaction people have is Franco & Rogen are just being funny making fun of rapper Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s arrogance.
Franco and Rogen are homophobes, except they utilize humour as a mask to conceal their anti gay prejudice.
Franco has used male homosexuality as a gimmick to get free publicity, yet he clearly has no respect for gay men!
The subliminal message is still homophobia against male homosexuality is palatable if the homophobes are young white heterosexual male actors. We live in a racist, homophobic world where the obnoxious behaviour of white heterosexual men is giving a free pass. Imagine, if two young black male actors made this parody video? Would the mainstream media and public be so accepting of it or would they scorn them?
Some people might argue, that it is simply a joke not be taken seriously. However, humour has a subtext, a message that is beneath the surface. The homophobia Franco and Rogen are engendering is that male homosexuality is wrong.
The anti gay message Franco and Rogen are spreading must be challenged and not dismissed as just comedy.
The general public is laughing at the fact two famous young male actors are kissing and being affectionate with each other. People are not just laughing at Kanye West, they also have a platform to being homophobic because Franco and Rogen provided the space for this to occur. Male homosexuality is ridiculed, gay men being affectionate with each other is seen as a joke. Since Franco and Rogen are both white, heterosexual men, they utilize their white male privilege to humiliate gay men.
Once again, two men kissing is considered funny and disgusting at the same time. Although, James Franco claims to be an ally of the gay community he has a propensity to be an opportunist. Franco is no friend of the gay male community, he utilizes male homosexuality to shock his heterosexual audience. James Franco is a bigot, but his bigotry is covert not overt. Franco’s art about gay male sexuality which he manipulates for his personal game is an example of his prejudice.
Since Franco is heterosexual, some gay men fall for Franco’s prejudice they give him a free pass for mocking male homosexuality.
Franco has white male skin privilege and since he is handsome, gay men ignore his anti gay prejudice. However, just because Franco is a good looking man, does this give him a pass for being a jerk?
Franco isn’t as gay positive as some gay men assume. For instance, Franco’s short film Interior Leather Bar, was created to alarm heterosexual audiences since he was recreating portions of the 1980 cult gay classic Cruising. Of course, Franco was not involved in any of the gay male sex scenes.
Franco’s so called art is meant to shock, he feels comfortable exploiting male homosexuality for his own personal fame. However, Franco won’t get too close to male homosexuality and he is quick to point out he isn’t gay. Franco’s coy attitude about his sexuality is lame and pathetic. Franco needs a new gimmick and move on from male homosexuality he is a coward.
Only a coward would claim to be an ally of the gay male community yet consistently use homosexuality to alarm the general public. There is no substance behind Franco’s art, it lacks true meaning.
Male homosexuality is just a prop for Franco, a joke, not to be taken seriously. In addition, since Franco has never clarified his true sexuality, he is assumed to be heterosexual. Franco utilizes his heterosexual male privilege to mock, humiliate, and discriminate against gay men.James Franco is the enemy of gay men he is not an ally.
HBO New Gay Series Looking Once Again About Pretty White Gay Men Complaining About Their Lives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawZGuGHDWo
Of course, I know I shouldn’t be surprised, the trailer for the new HBO show Looking which will debut in January 2014 is all about young white gay men. I hear there is a Hispanic character in the cast, of course there is no black, Asian, or Native American gay characters.
It is more of the status quo, and this is why gay people of colour we must continue to create our own art.
The representations of gay men in pop culture are still the same bland white gay guys or the token Latino.
Remember, being Hispanic is NOT a race it is a cultural group. It seems to me the casting director made sure the cast was white enough to pass for their white gay male audience.
San Francisco where the show is based has a very diverse gay community so where is the diversity?
I will probably pass on watching this show. I am just apathetic to pop culture viewing gay men through a Eurocentric lens.
Shocking News:Black Action Defence Committee Suing Toronto police for $65 Million Dollars!!!
Toronto Police Services Board Chair Alok Mukherjee has made recommendations on changes to carding, to be discussed at a public meeting Monday Nov. 18.
By: Jim Rankin Feature reporter, Patty Winsa News reporter, Published on Sat Nov 16 2013
A proposed class-action lawsuit seeks $65 million in damages and other remedies from Toronto police for alleged racial profiling practices and documenting of citizens.
The suit, filed Friday by the Black Action Defence Committee, comes in advance of a special Toronto Police Services Board meeting to be held Monday on the controversial police practice of carding — encounters where police question citizens and document personal details in stops that typically involve no arrest or charge.
Police Chief Bill Blair and the civilian police services board are named as defendants in the suit, which alleges police and the board have failed to adequately address a problem that has impacted blacks and other minority groups for decades.
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The committee seeks to have the suit certified as a class action, and have itself named as the representative plaintiff, but it estimates there are hundreds and “perhaps thousands” of citizens who would fit into the class.
“The Plaintiff believes the only way to litigate and seek remedies to uproot the acknowledged scourge of racial profiling and carding is a frontal attack” like a class-action suit, reads the statement of claim. “There is no other effective way.”
The suit alleges police and the board “have failed to prevent the violation of the equality rights of African-Canadian residents of Toronto and Ontario,” resulting in discrimination under the Charter.
Police have not had a chance to respond to the proposed suit. They defend the practice of carding citizens as a valuable investigative tool that allows investigators to make links between people and places, and say they target areas where violent crime is taking place.
But they also have acknowledged carding interactions with citizens can harm their relationship with the public.
There has been talk of a class-action lawsuit on the issue for decades, said Toronto lawyer Munyonzwe Hamalengwa, who filed the suit on behalf of the committee and spoke on its behalf.
After many reports by academics, the media and court decisions, the police and board “haven’t done anything to address this at all,” so the committee is hoping a class-action lawsuit will allow for a “holistic comprehensive judicial remedy” to carding and racial profiling.
“The black community has now reached a point where talking has been going on, not much has been happening, so it’s time for action,” said Hamalengwa.
In addition to monetary damages, the action, which has not been certified or proven in court, seeks remedies that include:
A declaration that police have breached the Charter and an order requiring them to “desist from engaging in and condoning racial profiling” of blacks and other “colourful” minorities.
A declaration that racial profiling is a criminal offence.
A written police apology to the committee and “all African-Canadians for their being targets and victims of racial profiling and carding.”
Mandatory reading for officers, including books on racial profiling, the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s 2003 report “Paying the price: The human cost of racial profiling,” the 1995 report of the Ontario Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System, and several Toronto Star series on carding, including 2003 report “Paying the price: The human cost of racial profiling,” published in September.
Class-action lawsuits in Canada can be expensive and lengthy and orders difficult to come by, but as Toronto lawyer Murray Klippenstein recently told the Star in a story about carding, they can prompt change.
“By declaring a practice to be illegal and awarding a significant amount of money to a group of people as compensation, the incentive or pressure to change the practice becomes pretty substantial,” he said.
The Star has published four series — in 2002, 2010, 2012 and 2013 — that examined Toronto police arrest and stop data and found patterns that shown disproportionate treatment for blacks, and to a lesser extent, “brown”-skinned people.
Between 2008 and 2012, police filled out 1.8 million contact cards, involving over a million individuals, and entered their personal details into a database.
A Star analysis showed that blacks over that period were more likely than whites to be stopped, questioned and documented in each of the city’s 70-plus police patrol zones. The likelihood increased in areas that were predominantly white.
On Monday, the special public police services board meeting on carding, scheduled to be held at city hall, will address recommendations from both the police and board chair Alok Mukherjee to change the way police card and interact with the public. Mukherjee has said the Star’s latest findings on contact cards “devastating” and “unacceptable.”
While there has been an acknowledgement by Blair and the board that profiling exists and that carding is problematic, the lawsuit alleges little has changed to deal with it.
Although no individuals are named as plaintiffs, Hamalengwa expects many will come forward and take part.
ITV Reporters Discuss Whether Morrissey Autobiography Is Good.
I love Morrissey, and yes I purchased my copy of his autobiography from Ebay. Morrissey’s book is not available in Canada yet. I have read the early sections of the book Morrissey is a talented writer. Morrissey is famous for being outspoken. Morrissey’s autobiography debut at number one on Amazon.com!
Why Are Canadian Media Ignoring Rob Ford White Skin Privilege In Crack Scandal?
The issue of race has been ignored by the Canadian media in relation to the Rob Ford crack scandal. The question is why?
Canadians are not comfortable discussing race issues. Canadians pretend race is an American issue it is
not a problem in Canada. There is a facade that Canadians are not prejudiced or racist.
Canadian culture is indeed racist, but the racism is more covert not overt. Canadians engender this mythology race should be ignored.
An African American website, Uptown magazine has published an article about Toronto’s trainwreck crack smoking mayor and the subject of white male skin privilege. Why hasn’t the Toronto Star published an article about this issue? Where is the Globe & Mail editorial?
It seems to me the silence about Ford’s white privilege speaks volumes about Canadian society. By pretending race is not a factor in this crack scandal, the Canadian press are also a part of the quandary.
Ford’s whiteness is an integral part of the scandal. The shock and the horror Canadians have is, due to the fact Ford is white middle class. Since Ford is a public figure, and he’s hanging out with drug dealers, gang bangers, and other underworld people this upsets the Canadian media.
Smoking crack is associated with subaltern people not rich white folks like Rob Ford.
The lack of press about the ways in which white privilege works is due to the fact white people control the Canadian media.
The privilege being a white man grants Ford the ability to get a pass for his deleterious behaviour.
Does anyone honestly believe if Ford was a man of colour his supporters would be so forgiving? Ford’s white constituents give him a pass for his unprofessional behaviour because he is a white man. People of colour are judged at a higher standard than white folks. The people supporting Ford have sympathy for him because they identify with him.
The paucity of news or television broadcasts about the issue of race is not surprising since Canadians have polite bigotry. Canadians are polite racists, they are just bigots in private not public.
Link: http://uptownmagazine.com/2013/11/white-privilege-torontos-crack-smoking-mayor/
Robyn Doolittle Talks About Rob Ford Crack Video Homophobic & Racist Comments.
The Rob Ford Circus at Toronto City Hall about the crack video has ignored an important component, and that is what Ford actually said on the video. According to Robyn Doolittle a Toronto Star reporter who watched the video Ford uttered racist and homophobic comments. Ford called Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau a “fag” he also made a disparaging comment about “fucking minorities”. Is this what the people of Toronto want a racist and homophobic mayor?
Gayblackcanada 