Papi Chulo's BLOG

Leno Asks Phillippe for "Gayest Look"; Apologizes for Joke

Jay Leno apologized Tuesday for making a series of gay jokes at the expense of guest Ryan Phillippe last week ...

Phillippe was a guest on Thursday's Tonight Show to plug his latest film Stop-Loss ... but wound up getting grilled by Leno about his first acting job on the soap One Life to Live playing a gay teenager ...

Jay Leno: "Say that camera is your gay lover. Can you give me your gayest look? Say that camera is Billy Bob—Billy Bob has just ridden in shirtless from Wyoming."

The remarks clearly made Phillippe uncomfortable ...

Ryan Phillippe: "Wow. That is so something I don't want to do. Are you just going to embarrass me tonight?"

Jay Leno: "No. I got more stuff. This is the least of it."

Here a clip of the interview ...

The remarks caused an instant backlash ... The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation called the remarks "a misguided use of adolescent humor" ...

Neil G. Giuliano (GLAAD President): "We are proud of Ryan for refusing to participate in Leno's thoughtless attempt at humor. Under the guise of comedy, the talk show host is demonstrating a lack of respect for the gay community and insensitivity to both his coworkers and the audience, to whom he owes an apology."

Outrage from the gay community caused the creation of a website called My Gayest Look ... which features individuals showing Leno their gayest face ... usually a shot of the individual giving Leno the bird ...

Jay Leno: "In talking about Ryan's first role, I realize that what I said came out wrong. I certainly didn't mean any malice. I agree it was a dumb thing to say and I apologize."

~Papi Chulo~

19th Annual GLAAD Media Award Nominations

ABC leads the pack at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards ... the network has the most nominations for the awards that are prestented to positive portrayals of gay and lesbian issues on television ... ABC has picked up nominations for Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, Boston Legal, Dirty Sexy Money and Greek ...

GLAAD will pay tribute during the ceremony to two of the organization's favorite musical acts ... Janet Jackson and Rufus Wainwright ... They are named special honorees along with late pioneering photographer Herb Ritts ... LOGO president Brian Graden ... actor and activist Wilson Cruz ... The L Word writer/producer Ilene Chaiker ... and political activist/author/blogger David Mixner ...

The ceremony will take place on March 17 in New York's Marriott Marquis ...

Here's a brief rundown of the some of the key nominees for the GLAAD Media Awards ...

Fewer Gay Characters on Network TV

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) finds that the number of gay characters on network television is falling ... yet it is rising on cable television ...

GLADD noted that in the new television season, five broadcast series will have seven characters who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender -- Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, The Office and the new midseason series Cashmere Mafia.

Although there are fewer regular and recurring gay characters on network television ... the characters that are featured are not the one-note caricatures of gay culture of the past .. The characters are three-dimensional ... and the networks feature gay characters in relationships and love scenes ... which was rare to see in the past ...

On cable television ... 40 gay characters will be featured ... up 15 from last season ...

GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano:  "While we acknowledge there have been improvements made in how we are seen on the broadcast networks, most notably on ABC, our declining representation clearly indicates a failure to inclusively reflect the audience watching television."

~Papi Chulo~

Celebs Join GLAAD Against Homophobia

Television stars from Grey's Anatomy (T.R. Knight and Sara Ramirez), Ugly Betty (Eric Mabius, Rebecca Romijn, Becki Newton and Michael Urie) and Brothers & Sisters (Rachel Griffiths and Jason Lewis) are joining a plethora of entertainers and sports athletes ... such as:  Martina Navratilova, Lance Bass, Marlee Matlin, Jerry O'Connell, Julianne Moore and John Amaechi (just to name a few) for a brand-new GLAAD campaign titled "Be an Ally, Be a Friend" ...

The ad campaign ... which has already started to run ... aims to target straight people whose support and tolerance towards the GLBT Community can aide in fighting homophobia ...

~Papi Chulo~

In the News :: TV Host Fired Over Unintended Gay Slur

The media has come under scrutiny in the past over the blatant use of racial and ethnic slurs.  In recent times, the media has blasted those who use derogatory remarks against those of different races, ethnicities, religions and sexualities.  Don Imus said "nappy headed hoes" on his radio program and he was fired.  Isaiah Washington uttered the word "faggot" on the set of Grey's Anatomy, and his contract was not renewed.  Over the summer ... Telemundo TV personality Luisa Fernanda made a derogatory remark against gay men ... and she has been fired.  So, why is Telemundo getting flack from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for the firing ???