In Defense Of Kevin: GLAAD vs. The People And Kevin Smith
The following is an editorial comment, and NOT the opinion or view of Countingdown.com
My name is Antony Teofilo. I am editor of Countingdown.com’s Countingdown To Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back. As an editor, it’s usually my responsibility to make sure that news posted here isn’t generally opinion oriented. A situation has arisen in which I, as editor of this page, have chosen to take a rare opportunity stick my neck out in support of Kevin Smith.
In Defense of Kevin
Like Kevin Smith, I am straight, white, chunky, and a lover of the cinema.
Recently, Mr. Smith, in good faith, sat down with Scott Seomin, Entertainment Media Director of GLAAD [the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation] to discuss GLAAD’s concerns that J&SBSB propagates negative stereotypes of the homosexual community. During said meeting, both parties amiably expressed their viewpoints. At the end of that discussion, Kevin Smith, in good faith, made a $10,000 donation to Matthew Shepherd Foundation as a way of continuing his support in the fight against homophobia.
Now, news has surfaced that GLAAD has gone to the press, continuing their campaign against Smith, openly labeling him as a homophobe. This after he had gone to pains explaining that such a moniker in his case is impossible to apply, never mind the gift Smith made.
GLAAD is an important organization. They fight hate, bigotry, intolerance, violence, and most importantly, fund educational efforts meant to foster understanding between all types of people. It is the humble opinion of this cyber-geek that the negative perception issue here is not Kevin Smith, but GLAAD. To sling mud in the direction of an artist that has already expressed his direct SUPPORT for your cause seems not only petty and a blatant attempt to media-grab, but in light of Smith’s generous gift, outright extortive. To paint Smith’s gift as an apology or admission of guilt belittles a generous charitable gesture of good will. Continuing a smear campaign in Smith’s direction could paint a far more negative picture of GLAAD than the other way around.
Like Mr. Smith, I support the gay community openly. I stood by as my best college chum through his own painful but ultimately essential coming ‘out’ process, never mind the fact that we lived together in a single room in a ten story college dorm full of homophobic rednecks. I knew that his coming out could affect my own reputation, and it did. I was perceived has being homosexual. There were times other guys would rush out of the bathroom when I entered. There was name-calling. Does my support of my friend make me a hero? Not in the slightest. I did it because it was the right thing to do.
How did we get through it? We laughed. A lot. When it was all over, because of our refusal to give credence to bigotry, acceptance became the rule, instead of the exception. Laughter is one of the most powerful tools against Hate. It saddens me to see an artist who has exhibited himself as so openly supportive of the gay community being dirtied with the label of homophobe.
Chasing Amy, anyone? Duh.
Kevin Smith is a satirist. Sometimes, he says things in his films that are inflammatory, sometimes insightful, sometimes hilarious, and sometimes outright ridiculous. Often, the point of satire is to generate dialogue by aiming laughter at the foibles of the human condition. That laughter can enlighten us to our own shortcomings, our own narrow perceptions, and yes, our own prejudices. Satire can make the process of personal or global revelation and the changing of one’s own opinions less painful; la vie satire’!
I hope that this situation will not deter you from going to see J&SBSB, which ironically, is about as far away from social commentary as a movie can be. I have seen J&SBSB; it’s a movie about two guys going across the country on about as idiotic a journey as two counter-culture heroes can take. At times, it’s shocking. At times, (not often, mind you) it’s thoughtful. At times, it’s sexual, and its characters make allusion to the fact that they may or may not be homosexual.
Are Jay and the Bob funny? All signs point to yes.
Are Jay and the Bob gay? WHO CARES?
It shouldn’t make a difference. The message to be learned from this whole overtly unpleasant situation is that we must decide for ourselves who we are and what we’ll tolerate…and that hopefully, our individual choices fall towards compassion, and tolerance. If two slacker dope-heads (and one chubby New Jersey filmmaker) must peddle that message to the world from an unremarkable convenience store by beating us over the head with blunt object of our own absurd prejudice, so be it. At least someone is speaking out.
You go, Kevin. CD2J&SBSB supports Kevin Smith, and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back.
