Sharon Stone, Isaiah Washington, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, and Gay Slurs
by Andre Soares
Sharon Stone does a brief zen meditation session on the set of Basic Instinct 2 while trying to uncover the elusive difference between fag and faggot.
See, it’s all about Got.
No, God has absolutely nothing to do with anything. I wrote Got. Just follow me.
Exhibit A:
When Alan Arkin’s heroin-addicted grandpa tells Steve Carell’s wimpy, sexless gay amoeba to go get himself a “fag rag,” the audience at the industry screening where I saw the weather-beaten Little Miss Sunshine pissed in their pants laughing. (You could actually smell the stench.)
Little Miss Sunshine has gone on to win the Producers Guild Award for best picture of 2006; it has won numerous critics’ awards for Michael Arndt’s screenplay, and it has received four Academy Award nominations, including best film and best original screenplay.
Exhibit B:
When Isaiah Washington of the ABC television show Grey’s Anatomy said the word “faggot” (often printed as “f&%$!@t” because it’s so darned offensive) at a press conference at this year’s Golden Globes, all hell broke loose.
Co-stars berated Washington; the media pounced on him; ABC executives considered canning him; gay and lesbian anti-defamers counseled him. At the time, Washington wasn’t calling anyone any names. He was simply denying (whether truthfully or not) that he had referred to gay co-star T.R. Knight as a “faggot” on the Grey’s Anatomy set. The Outraged Ones went after Washington with spiked hammers and electric chainsaws simply because he had uttered That W*rd in public.
Exhibit C:
“I’ve been called a bitch — and a lot worse — for years. And you know what, so what? [Italics hers] People who think that aren’t going to change their minds. And I wouldn’t dream of sending them to therapy to ‘rehabilitate’ their feelings. How absurd. … Please, I call all my gay friends ‘big fags.’”
That’s actress Sharon Stone referring to the Washington Incident, as quoted by gossip columnist Liz Smith.
Unfortunately, Stone doesn’t tell us if she calls all her straight male friends “big pricks,” her lesbian friends “big dykes,” and her straight female friends “big cunts” (or if that’s what Stone’s friends call her). It’s equally unfortunate that we never learn the colorful names Sharon Stone calls her black friends, her Jewish friends, her Episcopalian friends, or her Western Samoan friends (if any).
In any case, in Smith’s article — which a friend e-mailed me; I never read that sort of trash — the columnist goes on to discuss Stone’s “delightfully profane ‘great broad’ status,” including her involvement in charities for (poor) kids even while raising three (rich) kids of her own. (If one — or two — turn out to be gay, I wonder if Mama Stone will call them “big fags” or “big dykes”?)
In the article, Stone also offers generous praise for the performances of her co-stars in Bobby and Alpha Dog, though there’s no word on the professionalism of her Basic Instinct 2 co-stars. (For her “performance” in that film, Stone recently earned a Razzie Award nomination for worst actress of 2006. Come to think of it, there was no Razzie mention at all in the piece.)
And finally, Smith reports Stone’s dismay about the allegation that Rupert Everett’s out-of-the-closetedness has lost him the role of James Bond. (I’m assuming Stone and Everett aren’t close buds; else she’d have referred to him as “that big open fag who should’ve played Bond”).
Grand Thesis:
Some may see Stone’s statement “I call all my gay friends…” as proof positive that one can be ready, willing, and able to perform charitable deeds, and still be appallingly crass, vulgar, and disrespectful to others. But those much too sensitive souls are actually missing the point. What Stone’s comments and the “fag rag” line in Little Miss Sunshine prove is that “fag” isn’t an issue. Stone’s Big Fag friends, for instance, apparently enjoy being called that — perhaps they even refer to themselves as such (or as “Mary”) while watching reruns of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, or while throwing deadly hissy fits because Dreamgirls failed to get a best picture Oscar nod. Now, just don’t go around calling those gay guys Big Faggots.
And that’s the crux of the matter. “Fag” is cool. It rhymes with “bag,” “gag,” “wag,” and “Screen Actors Guild.” “Faggot” ain’t cool — it only rhymes with “maggot.”
So, the big difference between “fag” and “faggot” is all about worms? No, stupid. It’s all about got.
In order to make the world less conflicted and to create less embarrassment for bigoted celebrities, my suggestion would be to simply eliminate that offensive syllable — or word. Two great things would thus be accomplished:
- The verb “to get” would become a regular verb, as in get / getted / have getted. That would save both native and non-native English speakers a lot of grief. It would also put an end to all those “have got” grammatical errors.
- The folks at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation would spend their time doing something more productive than meeting with the likes of Isaiah Washington simply because he dared utter the unmentionable at a press conference. (I don’t agree with Stone that people can’t change their bigoted views. In fact, I know she’s completely wrong. That said, even though Washington has publicly apologized for his remarks, I wonder what he’s been saying and thinking in private, both before and after his anger management sessions.)
And while everyone debates the merits or inanity of the Washington brouhaha, gays continue to be denigrated, persecuted, and murdered away from the Hollywood limelight.
Whether Iraq’s Muslim militias call guys who have sex with guys the Arab equivalent to “faggots” or the affectionate Arab version for “big fags,” Iraqi gay/bi/tri/etc. men will go on being slaughtered because, big or small, fags and faggots are ultimately one and the same — perverts, depraved, lesser men, less than human. (The tragic irony is that like most everybody else in Iraq, gays had a considerably safer and more comfortable life before the American-led invasion.)
Curious, though hardly surprising detail: A Google news search for “isaiah - washington - faggot” brought in 1,685 hits. A Google news search for “gays - murdered - iraq - militias,” led to all of two results. (Read Doug Ireland’s ZNet report here.)
Back in Hollywood, Isaiah Washington should get a tip from Sharon Stone. Never use the word “faggot.” Instead, call all your gay friends and co-workers Big Fags. Your co-stars and studio executives will roll down the aisles laughing, some cheesy gossip columnist will remark on your “delightfully profane great guy status,” your rehab therapist will proclaim you cured, and our little rotting planet will keep on getting just a wee bit more rotten while spinning on its merry way to oblivion.
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George Cukor: Top Oscar Directors for Actors - III
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I think that it’s sad that Sharon Stone is often cited for her intelligence which is something that I have never seen much evidence of, ever. And as far as her “great broad” status only one B-Word comes to mind when I think of Sharon Stone. As far as “that word” goes it’s something that I think is in league with the “N-Word” somehow some people feel it’s a perfectly okay word to use as long as the right people are using it. Silly but a universal opinion has sadly yet to be reached. I remember all the hoopla over Jennifer Lopez using the “N-Word” in a song, only I wasn’t at all shocked because the year I spent at a predominantly Latino high school I heard that word used more than I ever had before. It’s just all so unfortunate, if T.R. Knight would had called Washington the “N-Word” he would have been fired.
I totally agree with you, of course. Name calling of that sort is never ok, no matter which group is being targeted.
But then again, no one has ever accused the human race of *not* being hypocritical.