Keep digging, Billy.
On Friday, Billy Eichner doubled down on his disdain for American moviegoers who failed to turn out for his gay rom-com flop Bros, claiming that an irrational hatred toward gay people in certain parts of the country helped tank the movie at the box office.
Billy Eichner appeared at the New Yorker Festival Friday where he discussed Bros with Harvey Fierstein and New Yorker magazine writer Michael Schulman.
“Homophobia is a bigger problem than how it pertains to this silly rom-com. But do I think it’s a factor? Yes, in certain parts of the country, I think it was a factor,” Eichner said, according to an Indiewire report. “Though, to be honest, we really didn’t make the movie for homophobes anyway.”
He added: “This is an R-rated gay rom-com. It was never intended as a movie to try to convince people who don’t like gay people that we’re normal, and soft, and cuddly, and okay to love. It’s so not that movie. So it’s complicated, and I honestly find the whole thing to be very silly when you take a bird’s-eye view of it all — it’s just a comedy.”
Eichner also noted that there was “a lot of gay sex in the trailers” for the movie, which he claimed prompted one theater chain “in the South and the Midwest” to pull the trailer.
Since Universal’s Bros officially became a box office bomb — grossing a mere $4.9 million on its opening weekend, way below estimates — Eichner has embarked on an ill-advised blame tour by pointing the finger at “straight people” in certain parts of the country and their supposed homophobia.
In its second weekend, Bros reportedly dropped a substantial 53% from its already terrible debut — with earnings estimated at $2.3 million, bringing its cumulative gross to just $9 million.
As Breitbart News reported, the actor-comedian claimed that “straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for Bros,” later tweeting: “Everyone who ISN’T a homophobic weirdo should go see BROS tonight!”
But as Breitbart’s John Nolte observed, gays also didn’t turn out for Bros. Nolte noted that approximately 500,000 people bought tickets to Bros on opening weekend. Assuming for that all those ticket buyers were gay — which they most likely weren’t — that would mean less than five percent of homosexuals saw the movie in cinemas.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
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