Our buddy Kyle Smith points out that the Daily Beast has made a laughably pathetic attempt to gin up some controversy over a line from the movie “Horrible Bosses,” which is in theaters today. From NewsBeast’s Ramin Setoodeh:
In the new comedy Horrible Bosses, Jennifer Aniston plays an overbearing dentist named Julia who tortures her assistant Dale (Charlie Day) by sexually harassing him. She’s one of three managers (along with Colin Farrell and Kevin Spacey) meant to be so detestable that their underlings plot to murder them. She constantly corners Dale, asking him to perform lewd sexual acts. In one scene, Aniston’s character calls him into her office, wearing nothing but a white lab coat. When he expresses discomfort, she taunts him like a high-school bully. “You’re starting to sound like a little faggot there, Dale,” she says.
[…]
A few openly gay screenwriters, producers, and publicists said that a high-profile star like Aniston using that word, even in character, seemed like it could backfire. Others argued that the word could have been replaced by one that is less volatile–and still made the same point. “I just don’t know if everybody is thinking about the collateral damage they are creating,” says Dan Bucatinsky, the executive producer for the Showtime series Web Therapy headlined by another Friends star, Lisa Kudrow. “That’s a harder question for a screenplay writer. What’s going to happen when millions of people watch an actress who is supposed to be America’s Sweetheart say a word like that?”
But even Setoodeh acknowledges that Aniston’s character is meant to be repellent. She’s a horrible boss. She’s supposed to be offensive. So it’s not America’s Sweetheart saying it; it’s Jennifer Aniston playing a bad, bad, bad person. The article goes as far as to suggest we consider removing the word from our language entirely. Bad people say bad things, in movies and in life, and removing words from our language because they offend a group of people will just make our bad guys seem less bad.
Is that what NewsBeast is after?
So remember folks, the First Amendment provides for freedom of speech, just so long as you don’t offend any gay people. Just ask Tracy Morgan…
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