Before presenting the awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin slow danced in matching tuxedos and shared an affectionate kiss. Not that anyone saw it. Turns out ABC’s cameraman chickened out and pulled the camera away to an extended shot of Penelope Cruz for almost the entire while.
While ABC does feature Brother and Sisters, a show with openly-gay characters that kiss, they’re also the broadcasters who cancelled Adam Lambert’s appearance on Good Morning America after his unrehearsed gay kiss at the American Music Awards. Gay entertainment blog After Elton reached out to ABC to comment on the Brolin-Bardem kiss; they responded with no comment. Best to keep their feet out of their own mouths.
But while ABC may have been trying to protect the delicate eyes of fogeys who didn’t plan on seeing teh gay during their otherwise wholesome awards show, the broadcaster obviously cares not for the Oscars’ queers audience and took the “safe” and incredibly boring road of showing a woman sitting rather than two men being affectionate.
A photo string on After Elton‘s comment boards reveal that Bardem and Brolin have long been physically affectionate friends and that Bardem’s kiss probably has more to do with his relaxed attitudes about male affection and masculinity and less to do with going gay.
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But as satirist Bill Maher once said, “Let’s face it. When people talk about homosexuality being unnatural and an abomination, they’re not talking about the women. No, no, they’re talking about the men. Nobody seems to find anything so abominable about Britney Spears tonguing Madonna. Or Gina Gershon in bed with Jennifer Tilly… No, in America, when a man puts something in another man, it had better be a bullet.” Ouch!
Spike
Given the mediocrity of the over show, probably best that they left that nonsense out. They should have done the same when host came out in drag as well. Neither funny nor mocking, just lame.
Hyhybt
“Their foots”? FOOTS?!
Sug Night
In fact, they should have omitted about 90% of the lame James Franco/Anne Hathaway nonsense. WORST OSCAR SHOW EVER. ZZZZzzzzz
Jared
There is no longer any doubt. Queerty is run by a bunch of 12 year olds. The errors in the posts on this site are beyond reasonable. I will only continue to use this site for links to articles by writers that have completed more than the 8th grade.
Francis
Bill Maher’s quote is almost right on the money. You can blame puritanical Christian beliefs for that. The whole “men must be men” BS. Although, if he thinks that female homosexuality is genuinely accepted, he’s wrong there. It’s seen as nothing more than shock value by many, not respected as a loving, wholesome embrace.
Anyway, this is an outrage, time to put the pressure on ABC and let them know how we feel about this offensive action. Says a whole lot that ABC, after the Lambert situation blew up in their face, and even with Brothers and Sisters, Modern Family, would have such reservation to show a simple dance and peck between 2 guys. What are some people so afraid of.
ALEX
Wow – a kiss between those two would have been the hottest thing to hit the Oscars in years. Too bad they didn’t have the kiss and block out the rest of that snoozefest!
jason
Francis,
Re Bill Maher’s comments, I don’t think it’s Christian puritanical beliefs that are to blame. I think it’s liberals who are to blame. Liberals have been promoting the same-sex double standard since the sexual revolution began.
I blame liberals, not conservatives.
Daniel
@Hyhybt: We write on the fly. I’m flying solo today. Mistake happen. Thanks for the correction, etc. etc…
Irina
Disgusting double standards!
Marcus
I saw a bit of an interview with Don Mischer (spelling??) and he seemed kind of conservative, so I’m not shocked he didn’t cut to them dancing.
He seemed freaked out that Melissa Leo dropped the f-bomb yet it was bleeped on the telecast. He needs to relax.
Joe
There is only one way to remedy this injustice: have Javier Bardem kiss a man for the amount of time we had to look at Penelope Cruz. Being the selfless man that I am, I volunteer.
Clinton
Disney was the first major company to give same sex benefits. A quick man kiss between straight actors , VERY straight actors is such a retarded thing for abc to do.
shaquita
in my opinion gays need to stop blaming religious folks for homophobia when many non religious atheistic people believe that gay men are gross and should not be see/heard too
Jeffree
@Max Campbell: Is not article about porn. Article is about Oscar teevee show where two hetero man kiss off the camera. That not is conformism.
Why is Maxim Abramovich Campbellov so obsessing always over the bisex porn? What means “hetero-male gaze”?
Never read this expression except from you. Explain please for that I understand.
Pickles
Max Campbell = worse imitation of someone for whom English is not their first language I’ve ever seen)
Shaquita = if there is a woman named Shaquita reading this blog and posting comments, I’ll eat my hat.
Jason, if you’re going to argue with yourself AND everyone else, you need better alters.
gomez
@Daniel: “Mistake happen”, indeed.
Jeffree
James Franco was boring, sad to say, at the Oscars. Still cute though! Too bad that the kiss wasn’t shown.
@Max: Thanks for the gaze explanation. I disagree, but now understand just how obsessive you and Jason are. I don’t have other “nicks” like you do. One of me is enough.
scott ny'er
I thought there was something weird about they showing Penelope. And now I know. Those bastards!!! So messed up. Well at least one of the dudes for best film got to thank his boyfriend on air.
Daniel
@gomez: ZING!
Olga
? ????? ??? ?????!! ?????? ????? ???? ?? ??????????)))))
Olga
Stop double standards! Stop hetero-male gaze conformism!
Olga
I quess Jeffree is a homophobic provoker.
The Kissing Bandit
This is so incredibly stupid! The ONLY interesting thing that happened the entire night and they cut away? It’s especially dumb because, from what I know, both Brolin and Bardem are straight so it wasn’t even erotic, just different.
I can still remember the first time I went to a gay bar and saw men dancing with each other, and especially kissing each other. *I* had kissed men before (and pretty much everything else) but it struck me that until that night I’d never seen two men kissing. I had made it all the way to 16 years old (I had a fake ID to get into the club) without EVER having seen two men kiss each other than in a familial way on the cheek. It was shocking! Not in a bad way, but in a way that took a moment to incorporate it into my thinking. I’d compare it to a special effect in a movie, a twist of reality that “blows your mind” for a milisecond, an image that hits the “reset” button that defines what is and isn’t possible. And people who have never seen it probably needed to and this was a safe way to do it.
That’s why this is so dumb. It was a passionless kiss, without eroticism, just a taste to prove that nobody was going to drop dead, Hell wasn’t going to open up, and the sun would rise in the morning. And ABC didn’t show it? James Franko in a dress is OK but God forbid two men’s lips meet? Ugh. That says a lot about what is and isn’t OK in our culture. Drag for laughs? OK. Even the possibility of homosexuality? Still not OK. Is network TV leading or is it once again lagging behind?
(FWIW, to clarify what Max Campbell posted, there is a theory of the “male gaze” in visual art (fine art, film, advertising, etc.) where it’s assumed that since men were for so many centuries both the exclusive creators and buyers of visual art that all of it was created with the intent to please the male eye. Male painters, advertising execs, movie directors creating products for men who would buy them. That’s why a work of art depicting a man alone but portrayed in a way that emphasizes his body can be considered “homoerotic” even though there’s nothing directly homosexual in it. (For example, Michaelangelo’s “David”) A male artist captured the image, either at the direction of a male patron or to be bought by a male patron. Ergo, that loving depiction of the male form was designed for the “male gaze” and therefore homoerotic. Despite much greater participation of women in the creation and consumption of visual art, there is still an assumption that much of what we see is design to please, not offend, male eyes.)
Shannon
How do YOU know they are straight?? I lived in LA and got hit on and met some of the “straightest” actors around! get real dude….in fact they REALLY mess around with men in private…
gregger
I’m sorry I grew up around a lot of Northern Europeans. Until I was with a BF that was Italo-affected I kissed close male friends on the lips. It’s not a big deal.
Any way, ABC stands for Always Beneath Contempt or A Boring Channel.
Craig
All you bitches you need to stop your damn whining. Nobody wants to see two guys make out because people are homophobes! That’s the truth of the matter and all this back and forth debating shit won’t solve anything. So I’m going to need you all to STFU OKthnxbye.
Craig
All you bitches need to stop your damn whining. Nobody wants to see two guys make out because people are homophobes! That’s the truth of the matter and all this back and forth debating shit won’t solve anything. So I’m going to need you all to STFU OKthnxbye.
Irina
Jeffree, shut up!
Jeffree
LOL, Jason has posted on this thread under 4 sockpuppets. These “Russians” {Olga, Irina, Maxim Abramovich Campbellov) can’t even replicate a decent or consistent facsimile of Russian syntax.
Funny stuff, all the same!
Lisa
Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin are not gay.And if anyone watched the red carpet arrivals on E!, while Ryan Seacrest was interviewing Javier Bardem live,Josh Brolin walked up and planted a kiss on Javier’s cheek and then they kissed again like they did in the above photo.
Most Europeans kiss when they greet their friends or family members,even strangers during an introduction,there’s nothing gay about that!
ABC airs so much trash morning,noon and night you mean they couldn’t stand a fun friendly kiss between two heterosexual married men who happen to be best friends in real life?
But it’s OK for Elton John to hang all over his “husband” at 7 AM on Good Morning America,right? Give me a damn break! The whole show sucked!
Lisa
FYI–Javier Bardem has played gay on screen a couple of times and has done explict gay sex scenes.He has always said if he were gay,HE WOULD BE OPENLY GAY and not hide it.He would even get married! The fact is,he’s not and I believe it! Brolin I don’t know about (and don’t care if he is),but Bardem would come out and say it if he was.He’s been interviewed about it many times.Look it up.All this is such nonsense!
hephaestion
What’s the name of the ABC cameraman who refused to film Brolin & Bardem’s entrance. He needs to be FIRED.
This homophobic crap must never ever happen again. Why are all idiot camermen straight? Are gays kept out of those positions?
Gerda
Jeffree is a homophobic provoker.
Sage Cat
@shaquita:
“Religious folk” are the most conservative and the most intolerant. Are you new to the internet?
I’m tired of being subjected to the intolerance of white straight old men and religious bigots.
Oprah
I am not sure, i was ready to handle to to see two unattractive hetero men kiss.However, James Franco is another deal. Can someone serve him to me? Preferably, in a hot silver plate. Yum. lol
mickey
@ er’body just blabbing back and forth at each other and off topic
… So let me get this straight (no pun here)… fuzzy wuzzy was a woman?? or wasn’t she?