Vince Vaughn comments on ‘gay’ controversy surrounding The Dilemma

THE DILEMMA has been in the news recently for offending gay groups and Anderson Cooper (ahem, separate entities) with the inclusion of a joke in its trailer where Vince Vaughn calls electric cars “gay.” But not like, homosexual gay, he explains, rather like “my parents are chaperoning the dance, gay.”

Anderson Cooper brought the quote to light on his show, as unfortunately for the film, this was the week CNN decided to report on all the gay teens being bullied to death. Then GLAAD got wind of it, and the studio was forced to recut the trailer, making it less funny than it already was. Which is really saying something.

Now, the actor who uttered the “gay” heard ’round the world is speaking out about it. His advice? Lighten up.

“Let me add my voice of support to the people outraged by the bullying and persecution of people for their differences, whatever those differences may be. Comedy and joking about our differences breaks tension and brings us together. Drawing dividing lines over what we can and cannot joke about does exactly that; it divides us. Most importantly, where does it stop.”

I agree with his point that in order for comedy to work, everything has to be fair game, from race to religion to sexuality. But on the flipside, kids are being taunted with “gay” as an insult mercilessly these days, to the point where many of them have killed themselves. Gay teens have a 4x higher suicide rate than their straight counterparts, and likening their sexuality to an insult is probably not helping things.

What do you think? Are people right to be offended or is this PC-ness gone wild?

While you think it over, here’s what Louis CK has to say about the terms “gay” and “faggot.”