‘The New GLAAD’ Takes On Hollywood

Posted on Nov 9, 2010

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Vince Vaughn’s controversial moment in “The Dilemma” was pulled from the trailer but not from Ron Howard’s upcoming film.

It appears that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is taking the direct approach in responding to Hollywood studios’ less-than-enlightened portrayals of GLBTQ characters and use of certain slang terms, but we’re not entirely sure that the watchdog organization is “Hollywood’s Latest Bully,” as The Wrap suggested Tuesday.  —KA

The Wrap:

In early October, the New York-based organization issued a “call to action,” asking its members to ramp up their tweets and petition Universal and Howard to remove the scene from “The Dilemma” in which star Vince Vaughn, who plays a designer of internal combustion engines, calls electric cars “gay.”

The gag has since been removed by Universal from the trailer, but Howard—who had final cut—refused to pull it from the film.

He told the L.A. Times, “I don’t strip my films of everything that I might personally find inappropriate. It is a slight moment in ‘The Dilemma’ meant to demonstrate an aspect of our lead character’s personality, and we never expected it to represent our intentions or the point of view of the movie or those of us who made it.”

GLAAD deputy director of media programs Herndon Graddick said, “The notion that GLAAD is able to bully around Hollywood is just not realistic.”

But GLAAD can talk tough.

“This is the new GLAAD,” said Barrios, acknowledging a more aggressive campaign to stamp out what it feels is harmful language.

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