Gay Jodie Foster comes out as Mel Gibson’s friend
JODIE Foster came out of her crystal closet when she accepted her Golden Globe with a speech that took swipes at people like Elen Degeneres who are open about their homosexuality.
Having rocked up to the AGM with the charmless Mel Gibson, Foster went on about herself. Forget the thanks to her co-stars and those who worked on the show that won her a gong and focus on Jodie:
I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago, back in the Stone Age, in those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family, co-workers, and then gradually, proudly, to everyone who knew her, to everyone she actually met. But now, apparently, I’m told that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance, and a prime-time reality show.
Self-praise and a snark at others. But her point is sound. Why should she be any kind of role model, that dread billing bestowed on anyone who has gotten famous in the arts or sport. Last year, Entertainment Weekly wrote:
Ellen DeGeneres protested that she’d ”never wanted to be the spokesperson for the gay community.” That role was automatically assigned — by both the news media and a gay population desperate for high-visibility representatives — to any famous person who took such a rare public step. It was not to be relinquished for months, or perhaps years. She’d be expected to weigh in on everything from civil unions to ”Don’t ask, don’t tell” until the next willing celebrity came along.
The gay community… What’s that, then? It’s up there with “role model” in the lexicon of meaningless media phrases. Does the gay community have meetings? Is Jodie Foster a a motion passed?
Nearly five years after Jodie Foster, at an awards breakfast, thanked ”my beautiful Cydney, who sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss” — with no subsequent allusion to a same-sex relationship — writers, editors, and gay-rights advocates are still arguing among themselves about whether that counted as coming out.
You can’t come out as gay unless the media sees you coming out?Andrew Sullivan is upset:
What unadulterated bullshit. She never came out until, very obliquely, in 2007. And virtually every coming out these days is low-key, simple and no-drama. I do not remember Anderson Cooper’s press conference, fragrance or reality show… she honestly believes it’s courageous to come out in a retirement speech? Well I guess we should be relieved she didn’t leave it for her obit.
Who cares if she’s grandstands her gayness? The horror show is that she has come out of the vault and admitted in public to being Mel Gibson’s friend. The Mel Gibson community (members: Mel Gibson) welcomes its newest member…
Posted: 18th, January 2013 | In: Celebrities Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
