Video: ABC tries to create homophobic scene at sports bar, fails epically
posted at 4:55 pm on March 25, 2009 by Allahpundit
Via Breitbart, the latest episode in an endless series of media stunts involving minorities plopped down in unlikely surroundings — Muslims at a NASCAR event, gays at a sports bar — in order to demonstrate the horrible intolerance of mainstream American culture. It almost never works, but darned if they don’t keep trying. Credit ABC for going the extra mile here, arranging not only for the gay couple to act as bait but actually hiring an actor to heckle them in hopes of goading the other patrons to join in. Like I said last time we covered something in this vein, there is indeed plenty of prejudice at work here. It’s just that it’s on the other side of the camera.
Blowback
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FAIL.
ZJPolitical on March 25, 2009 at 4:58 PM
Reminds me of the Muslims in Alabama who were “testing” the level of intolerance by parading a dark woman in a headscarf.
jgapinoy on March 25, 2009 at 4:58 PM
Do I actually have to watch this trainwreck?
jimmy the notable on March 25, 2009 at 4:59 PM
…which is exactly why you linked that, right, AP? oops/heh
jgapinoy on March 25, 2009 at 5:00 PM
By all means…….
……….. let us make up the news.
Seven Percent Solution on March 25, 2009 at 5:00 PM
this is exactly the kind of garbage that is taught to these impressionable, functionally illiterate, hipsters at our fine institutions, the ones that have been corrupted by the likes of Billy Ayers.
Nothing new to anybody that knows how the colleges have been working…
benrand on March 25, 2009 at 5:00 PM
…which is exactly why you linked that, right, AP? oops/heh
jgapinoy on March 25, 2009 at 5:00 PM
don’t act like Code Pink in public and you’ll be ignored….don’t dress in a Burqa and yell ‘death to america!’ and you’ll be ignored….
funny how that works.
sven10077 on March 25, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Unbelievable.
youngO on March 25, 2009 at 5:01 PM
sorry–computer acting up.
=slaps self in face=
jgapinoy on March 25, 2009 at 5:01 PM
How bigoted of them to assume americans would bash the gays.
sonofdy on March 25, 2009 at 5:03 PM
That video is light in the loafers.
kahall on March 25, 2009 at 5:04 PM
The Scientologist do this kinda thing all the time. they pick physical fights with protestors and video tape it. then if they succeed in starting a fight, they can edit the tape and broadcast it to show how intolernat others are of “religion”.
As for the gays, even in gay bars you won’t find gay couples pawing all over each other like in the video. You will, however, see heterosexual couples making out a lot in gay bars. the woman enjoys making her man uncomfortable and the man is kissing for his life to prove to others that he isn’t gay.
These actors were waaaay over the top. I wouldn’t doubt if they were actually heterosexuals playing a stereotype.
Lothar on March 25, 2009 at 5:05 PM
Yep.
carbon_footprint on March 25, 2009 at 5:05 PM
Doesn’t ABC have some actual news to report?
Y-not on March 25, 2009 at 5:06 PM
Is this on a news broadcast, or what? I don’t get it.
Is it a primetime show?
lorien1973 on March 25, 2009 at 5:07 PM
Yeah, what’s “disgusting” is the myths to which the MSM clings.
JeffB. on March 25, 2009 at 5:07 PM
I wonder if they’ll do one involving someone with a pro-Palin t-shirt in Manhattan or San Francisco.
ddrintn on March 25, 2009 at 5:07 PM
ABC? Hahahaha…hahaha…HAHAHAHAHA!
Good one.
ZJPolitical on March 25, 2009 at 5:08 PM
why didnt they do this at a masque
or better yet put some pro prop 8 people out in san francisco to show the real intolerance .
ooops i forget that dosnt fit their ideals .
Mojack420 on March 25, 2009 at 5:08 PM
I dare them to go in to that bar and openly admit to being part of the MSM!
ronsfi on March 25, 2009 at 5:08 PM
Unwatchable
MarcusBrody on March 25, 2009 at 5:09 PM
They should try that in Southie.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on March 25, 2009 at 5:09 PM
ABC,
No need to stage anything or use hidden recording devices. Just cover your MSM buddies’ reactions to a Republican Indian-American governor rebutting Barry.
Christien on March 25, 2009 at 5:09 PM
the donks wanting to cut the defense budget 25% while we are still in a shooting war does NOT need covering since it “may not play well in Peoria”….
//Al-NYT
sven10077 on March 25, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Notice how it was the liberal who got emotional and starting acting out. It was the liberal that showed the most intolerance in that setting. So intolerant she had to leave.
Typical of liberals.
keep the change on March 25, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Better yet. How about sending Mormons into a gay bar!
That would be nooze!
ronsfi on March 25, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Yes. What this country REALLY needs, is more overt homosexual display of affection in public. Otherwise, we are really just animals.
Star20 on March 25, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Since when did entrapment and journalism become one in the same? There is no such thing as an “intolerant” person anymore. There are just levels that become genarlly unacceptable. For instance, if a straight couple started making out at the bar and the guy hands were up the girls shirt and her hands were all over his c*ck, they would most likely be asked to leave.
I cringed when they had the two gay guys “amp up the affection level” because I feared they would reach the point at which their behavior is considered unacceptable for both straight couples and gay couples in public. And then the newsies would have referred to the “reaction” to that public soft core porn as “homophobic”.
Zetterson on March 25, 2009 at 5:12 PM
I saw the first couple of segments of this absurdity last night and was awestruck at the sheer stupidity of the premises for those segments. The first was about a black woman targeted by a clerk in an upscale SOHO store. In all my years of working in both retail in my youth or in my professional sales efforts in the last 25+ years, I’ve NEVER seen such nonsense toward any black at any time. The ABC crew that came up w/this whole thing exhibited their complete and total stupidity. At one point it appeared to be nothing more than a joke to them. Ironically (and THANKFULLY), the whole thing was staged in the north and not here in the South where I live.
ConservativeTxn on March 25, 2009 at 5:13 PM
This show specializes in this, but they usually turn out about the same. Obnoxious American tourists in Paris are met with indifference by the French but active embarrassment by other North Americans. Anti-immigrant restaurant workers are met with hostility by their customers. And now gay-bashers are kicked out of bars. I don’t think this series is necessarily supposed to show that stereotypes of Parisians as rude, American barflies as gay-bashing, or Americans in general as anti-Mexican are true. If anything, it shows the stereotypes are false, which isn’t bad to illustrate to those who might think otherwise.
calbear on March 25, 2009 at 5:13 PM
Now they should try that in Iran.
Maxx on March 25, 2009 at 5:14 PM
Is it that idiotic show “what would you do?”. They try to show scenes of discrimination & the public’s reaction to it, but it’s all the predictable stuff like the gays. One of the first shows was how people would treat “ugly americans” (loud, boorish, redneck, bush supporters) in Paris. Then the show helpfully went on to explain how you should behave if you are visiting Paris from the US.
I send an email to the dolt producers that if they were really interested in some cutting edge television, the would show a bunch of white people going into some of the seedier areas of Chicago or NY. Or show some hip-hop youths, with pants hanging below their butts, roaming the streets of Paris and see how the enlightened Europeans react to that. Predictable, infuriating, nonsense.
Security Mom on March 25, 2009 at 5:14 PM
“Tolerance has become an American value”
That’s why we need investigative news networks.
Phoenician on March 25, 2009 at 5:14 PM
“Journalism”????
d1carter on March 25, 2009 at 5:15 PM
people who like sports are bigots, according to stereotypical bigots who believe in identity politics.
rob verdi on March 25, 2009 at 5:15 PM
ABC lost all credibility with me a long time ago.
If they can’t find something, they just make it up.
Ryan Gandy on March 25, 2009 at 5:16 PM
Send an openly conservative journalist to work for ABC.
Secretly record.
Report.
Christien on March 25, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Can’t wait for the Straight couple to go into the Gay bars and get the gays on camera calling them “Breaders”. This kind of bigotry goes both ways.
portlandon on March 25, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Heh. Thats all it would take. The violent Iranian reaction would spurr a movement by the American left to invade Iran.
Zetterson on March 25, 2009 at 5:18 PM
Heh. Rough thread for you.
BadgerHawk on March 25, 2009 at 5:18 PM
“Tolerance has become an American value.”
Really, lady? It’s just become a value? It hasn’t been a value since before 1776? That line really made me mad.
warrenmr on March 25, 2009 at 5:19 PM
LOL. How much are they paying these writers? HA HA HA!
jencab on March 25, 2009 at 5:19 PM
There’s this guy I used to work with in San Francisco. When he first met me and found out I was from flyover country, he assumed that I would be all prejudice-y towards him since he was gay. When I moved jobs, he said that I changed the way he looked at people from flyover because I treated him the exact same way that I treated everyone else.
Newsflash to ABC News: Contrary to movies and the like, people from flyover aren’t a bunch of inbred hicks. They’re actually normal people…. Just fyi.
mjk on March 25, 2009 at 5:20 PM
Yes, that a great idea, Christians in San Francisco
or perhaps put a Marine Recruiting Office in Berkeley
Oh, wait, you mean those events weren’t staged?
My bad.
INC on March 25, 2009 at 5:20 PM
They should have sent two heterosexuals to a gay bar.
JohnJ on March 25, 2009 at 5:20 PM
No kidding. Except I think you mean breeders, bread isn’t something that gay people would get too worked up about….
:)
mjk on March 25, 2009 at 5:21 PM
Send a couple with Palin T-shirts to Manhattan. That would be entertainment.
faraway on March 25, 2009 at 5:23 PM
Just what I was thinking. I could of told them they are wasting their time. Where do these people get these stupid notions? It must be the public school system teaching some politically correct history or something.
Sapwolf on March 25, 2009 at 5:23 PM
“A priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk up to a gay bar… ”
Sorry, wrong thread!
Y-not on March 25, 2009 at 5:24 PM
That will teach me to post, then read all the comments.
faraway on March 25, 2009 at 5:24 PM
You know what? It just so happens that I caught that exact senario on TV a few nights ago. It was a documentary about a straight Southern Babtist researching life in “gay communities”. Very polite guy, sincerely interested in learning about the lifestyle and what goes along with it. In one scene he went with a few guys into a gay bar. Lets just say, their kind was not welcome.
Zetterson on March 25, 2009 at 5:25 PM
Yep. In fact, I’ll volunteer for it if it gets played in the media and we can show it on TV what really happens.
But it ain’t gonna happen because the dopes who run these shows know what would happen. Epic UGLY it would get and it would boomerang all over them.
Sapwolf on March 25, 2009 at 5:25 PM
Put a Bush-Cheney sticker on your car in the faculty parking lot.
Oh, wait, I did that one. It took 3 days for the crazy as5 letter to appear on my windshield.
Y-not on March 25, 2009 at 5:25 PM
Justin St Ahman?
That’s gotta be a fake name.
Now if it was two chicks…
LtE126 on March 25, 2009 at 5:26 PM
This is why we should never be (overly) worried about kooks in our midst. When deranged libs can’t find kooks/discrimination, they make them up.
faraway on March 25, 2009 at 5:26 PM
So,ABC,does a planned set-up,ambush if you will,
and an over-top in your face act,at said bar,
to provoke,or sh#t-disturb,as an ongoing war,
just to see,who’s tolerate!
I’ve got a brilliant idea?
How about doing a segment on Barney’Banking Queen’
Franks,into the caring and compassionate,and tolerate
words he used on a Supreme Court Judge!!!!!!!!
canopfor on March 25, 2009 at 5:27 PM
John Simones is the racist homophobe.
roux on March 25, 2009 at 5:27 PM
Keep your tempura to yourself.
mchristian on March 25, 2009 at 5:27 PM
Maybe it’s because of my military family upbringing, but that kind of PDA is classless be it straight, gay, or anything in between.
KelliD on March 25, 2009 at 5:28 PM
The outraged young lady hit the jackpot. She got to be offended and on TV at the same time.
DFCtomm on March 25, 2009 at 5:31 PM
I remember when ABC ran the one story where they had a white jewish kid from NYU go to the Bronx and get harassed by a group of black kids till they chased him out of the fast food place into on comming traffic where he was hit and killed.
Oh wait that was real, and ABC couldn’t give two shits, there was no outrage, no call of a hate crime, no wondering whats wrong with “That culture” to them it was a small news story.
Rbastid on March 25, 2009 at 5:32 PM
Looks like they are trying to let the air out of the new Borat movie before it is released. He must be making life harder for reporters by making people more skeptical of reporters.
pedestrian on March 25, 2009 at 5:32 PM
Love the closing lines;
“Here you expected very few people to come to the aid of this gay couple in a sports bar. It just goes to show you how lousy a stereotype can be.”
You mean like the stereotype of sports bar patrons who are knuckle-dragging bigots? Thank you for both making, and un-making, your own stupid point in the same breath, you closed-minded elitist.
landshark on March 25, 2009 at 5:33 PM
Isn’t that sort of the point here? If you changed the way one person thought of “flyover,” imagine how many people’s minds might be changed by this.
I must admit, though, when I first heard this presented as being from “ABC News,” it seemed rather weak. This is a reality show in the mold of Candid Camera, Punk’d, etc.
calbear on March 25, 2009 at 5:34 PM
I think Headline News did this around the election, a guy went to the UES and was sayin “vote for McCain” he was harassed, cursed at and taken to task. Sort of like the elderly McCain supporters in the same UES that were attacked for their views.
Rbastid on March 25, 2009 at 5:35 PM
Someone should suggest that to John Stoessel.
notropis on March 25, 2009 at 5:35 PM
Judging by some of the females in that sports bar, a guy just might turn gay by default….
Braindroppings on March 25, 2009 at 5:36 PM
ABC News? What news?
Yes, a lot of us folks who cling to our guns and our Bibles are intolerant…extremely intolerant…of bigotry, intolerant of East and Left Coast elites telling us how to think, and intolerant of pseudo-news organizations like ABC trying to stir a pot that does not exist except in their own narrow bigoted intolerant minds.
coldwarrior on March 25, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Why doesn’t someone make a documentary detailing those places and people that are most intolerant? It can’t be that difficult? Evan Coyne Maloney, where are you?
JohnJ on March 25, 2009 at 5:36 PM
You know, one of these times this kind of “prejudice entrapment” will work and someone will actually say something nasty to the minority(ies).
And when it happens, get ready to see it on every network news broadcast, the View, the Huffington Post, etc. as an example of how far America still has to go.
“Think electing a black president cured America of racism? THINK AGAIN. Stay tuned for an ABC News special report…”
Enrique on March 25, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Do I actually have to watch this trainwreck?
jimmy the notable on March 25, 2009 at 4:59 PM
———
Not yet… Have no fear, sooner or later a bill will be introduced in congress to require it …..
Mew
acat on March 25, 2009 at 5:38 PM
I like how they just had to make them act like stereotypical flaming queens, too. Because that’s how “those people” comport themselves.
I smell, prejudice, but it’s not coming from the patrons…
CTD on March 25, 2009 at 5:39 PM
Sorta like Acorn and dead voters?
Maquis on March 25, 2009 at 5:40 PM
Can’t wait until they put a banjo player in the middle of an NAACP meeting. Ohhhhh, the dancing! the dancing!
29Victor on March 25, 2009 at 5:41 PM
How many times do they have to shove their foots in their mouths before they learn? Or do they care because they just reinforce their own stereotypes?
Defector01 on March 25, 2009 at 5:41 PM
“We haven’t got the reaction we wanted so we’re going to keep running it over and over and over again until we can find SOME proof how ignorant and homophobic Americans are!”
Sheesh.
Sarjex on March 25, 2009 at 5:44 PM
enrique, bingo. You hit the nail on the head.
Zetterson on March 25, 2009 at 5:44 PM
Christians in San Francisco.
Let’s make it a true daily double, Alex!
maynila on March 25, 2009 at 5:45 PM
Bible toting Mormons knocking on doors in Manhattan/San Fran
faraway on March 25, 2009 at 5:46 PM
The only thing that would bother me was the PDA – from either couple. Get a room, people! I’m trying to eat my lunch! And yeah, I would probably tell the loud mouth to leave, too.
ladyingray on March 25, 2009 at 5:46 PM
Frankly, I LOL at the “Haaayyy” joke.
The Ugly American on March 25, 2009 at 5:48 PM
If its soi bad, why the need to stage these things all the time?
Elric66 on March 25, 2009 at 5:52 PM
A play straight out of the playbook of the left.
carbon_footprint on March 25, 2009 at 5:53 PM
They should have tried that at Murphy’s Taproom in Manchester, New Hampshire on a Tuesday night. The place is packed with members of the local Pink Pistols chapter and other libertarian activists – all pretty well armed.
God help the faux gay-basher if he got too aggressive in his harassment of the faux gay couple.
Bruce in NH on March 25, 2009 at 5:57 PM
Harpoon on March 25, 2009 at 5:58 PM
To paraphrase Roseanna Roseannadanna: “They belong in New Jersey” ; D
thomasaur on March 25, 2009 at 5:59 PM
I’d love to try it except I think I’d it’d really tick off The Liberal Girlfriend.
Plus, honestly…coming out as a conservative in San Fran would cost me work.
Conservative! It’s the New Gay! :)
Sarjex on March 25, 2009 at 5:59 PM
They should film a straight couple attempting to get a drink in any leather bar in San Francisco.
Not only will they not serve women and anyone perceived as heterosexual, they’ll ask you to leave.
Tolerance & Diversity.
The Ugly American on March 25, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Nah, for one thing, they’re looking for good old fashioned “Bubba” charcacitures to exploit, because EVERYONE (at the cocktail parties the execs frequent) KNOWS that there’s NO bigger group of bigots than “Fly Over Country Bubbas” (What, you think those Hollywood douchenozzles ever look in the mirror?) So there’s no way they’d ever go looking for intolerence in say, San Francisco or New York. (Because anyone who’s been to either of those cities can tell you that the folks there? Sooooo civil and tolerent./sarc)
Second, they’re looking for intolerence, not bloodshed.
Anything to keep a lid on the fact that they’re side is turning into nothing more than The SA without the brown shirts.
SuperCool on March 25, 2009 at 6:01 PM
You know why no one says what they think any more. Most of us know we’re being taped for our responses to be overblown by the producers for profit to smear us for being honest and fair.
If you don’t stand up for yourself, no one else will, either. Only those in the production can be accused of bigotry for not tolerating the right to not like watching homosexual public display of affection in a heterosexual social setting.
ABC conducts entrapment on a nationally televised program that can’t even tolerate an honest, simple response without labeling the guy a bigot for admitting his distaste being forced to watch an out of place* public display of affection. Had the disgusted fellow yelled profanities at the gay couple, then the psychologist might have the “bigot” point to make. But as it was, the producer is the bigot for pressuring public opinion to do more than “tolerate” but to prohibit any response to things not appreciated in a public heterosexual atmosphere. The gay couple already stipulated that they understand socially accepted “appropriate” public behavior. But the producer, having nothing important to report on the bribes or corruption bringing our nation into the despair of bankruptcy, sets his sights on his own personal fetish vendetta to punish unobtrusive honest reactions from fair minded people; fair minded because they tolerate their own heterosexual sensibilities as well as those of homosexuals.
maverick muse on March 25, 2009 at 6:01 PM
I don’t get it: they say they want us out of their bedrooms, then they bring their bedrooms out to us…you can’t have it both ways.
Richard Romano on March 25, 2009 at 6:04 PM
Anything ‘out of place’ will probably get some glances or even *gasp* stares.
It’s the type of sports bar that rarely gets patronized by the so-called ‘flaming’ type of gay men.
If a couple of Amish guys walked in there, people would have thought it was odd and would likely have been slightly uncomfortable with it. It’s not because they are Amish-phobes.
The only person that ended up looking silly in this whole thing was the girl they chose to spotlight as a hero. When did over reacting and having an emotional break down in public become something to celebrate? Did her little freak out achieve anything or are we just giving her an A for effort?
I was hanging out with a group of people that weren’t exactly my cup of tea once. They were my roommate’s, brother’s friends – the college-age, still living with their parents but know more than anyone else type of liberals you often run into in California. While I was there, the people made not one but two derogatory comments about my church (not realizing that I was a member of that particular church, I’m sure as none of these people struck me as particularly courageous with their convictions).
I didn’t freak out and start screaming/crying at them. I just told them that it was obvious from what they said that they didn’t actually know much about the church they were talking about, then I changed the topic. I also (silently) vowed never to get suckered into hanging out with them again.
I’m sure what I did achieved just as little as what that woman did, but it achieved it with a lot less effort and a lot more dignity.
JadeNYU on March 25, 2009 at 6:04 PM
What is funny is how there is a lot of gay people that are almost hostile to straight people.
I gay buddy of mine met up at a bar(straight)with a lesbian couple.
The bull dike was hatin’ on me because I am straight and happily married.
LOL
TheSitRep on March 25, 2009 at 6:04 PM
What’s particularly stupid about this clip is that if you go to any city with a decent sized gay population there probably already is a gay sports bar and it’s probably been there since the 90s, maybe earlier. The “relevation” that gay men, like most men, enjoy sports is about s newfangled as this hear cell phone in my pocket. Or the shiny metal thing I’m ascribing these words into. Like, get it together ABC.
As for places without a decent sized gay population, there’s probably STILL a gay bar (it probably sucks) but gays and lesbians who voluntarily live in conservative areas have made their choice about what their lives are going to be like. There are SO many options in so many places where gay people are accepted, even celebrated, that if you’re stubbornly persisting in sticking around boonie town U.S.A don’t be surprised if someone calls you an ugly name.
DeathToMediaHacks on March 25, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Model rocket motors wired to a rigged gas tank? Oops, wrong network.
Feedie on March 25, 2009 at 6:14 PM
“Here you expect very few people to come to the aid of a gay couple in a sports bar.” You expect it if YOU subscribe to the bigoted stereotypes inherent in your weltgeist. You set your expectations of other based on the your own prejudices.
hburns on March 25, 2009 at 6:15 PM
I’m gay and I’d be annoyed by their queenie behavior, although I wouldn’t say anything. That said, what the hell is ABC trying to become – the PC Gestapo?
Pathetic.
D2Boston on March 25, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Yeah, because all whites are in danger when they enter “seedier” areas, which are inherently not white.
Spend a lot of time in “leather bars,” do ya?
***
You two are engaging in precisely the same kind of stereotyping as the producers of this show. Good job.
The Race Card on March 25, 2009 at 6:23 PM
Exactly. Journalists are supposed to report on a story. Here, they tried to manufacture one and then report on it. I think they call it “proactive” journalism.
keep the change on March 25, 2009 at 6:25 PM
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