Last month Gary McCullough, editor of Christian Newswire, claimed the decline in American Idol‘s ratings was due to Ellen DeGeneres’s sexuality. The remarks followed his January thesis saying bringing Ellen to the judges’ panel would spell the downfall of the show because viewers don’t want to watch a program “promoting homosexuality as a virtue.” And now that Ellen and Fox announced she is leaving the show? McCullough is on high.
It’s the ultimate TOLDJA! from McCullough, who’s gleeful about Ellen’s exit. And he thinks even with Ellen gone, the show is doomed — because they bothered letting her in. He writes:
There is a moral to the story of this DeGeneres-Idol saga. There is a limit to what Christian viewers will tolerate, and I am using “Christian” in the broadest of definitions. The revenue generating ability of television programming that promotes homosexuality has its limits. If primetime network programming becomes indistinguishable from HBO and Showtime someone else will take ownership of the family-friendly entertainment market.
The encouragement I take from the firing of DeGeneres is that someone in Hollywood understands what I have been saying; that the promotion of homosexuality and the production of family entertainment do not mix. There is money to be made and there are cultural battles to be fought; if you try to do both you will lose twice. That has been my business advice.
Cultural battles have two sides, one of which is immoral. Choose to fight on the immoral side of a cultural battle and any victory you experience will only be temporary. That is my spiritual advice.
Ah yes, the “revenue generating ability of television programming that promotes homosexuality” must be limited only to daytime television, where primary audiences are single women and stay-at-home moms, and continue to make Ellen a fortune.
slobone
Not to mention that Will & Grace was in the top 20 four years in a row. The 700 Club, not so much…
James Davis
Or it could be she just wasn’t an actual music business professional and as a result a poor judge.
Joseph
If Ellen was there or not we all could see the show was on a delcline. I don’t even who won the last American Idol.
CJ
I take her word for it. She is busy with other things and it’s not into continuing something she doesn’t enjoy. At the same time, if she didn’t like the negativity, Simon won’t be there next year. So, the tone could change drastically. Of course, American Idol’s ratings have been going downhill for several years. Better to leave the sinking ship now vs. waiting until it’s at the bottom.
Crazy how this is surfacing mid to late summer. Aren’t they already touring around the US by now? It seems a little late to be making a decision about this upcoming season. I would have thought that contracts would have already been signed by now.
CJ
Yikes, what a terrible gramar/spelling day for me.
Todd
For fuck’s sake, queerty! Why do you take these people seriously? Its polluting your website, which I enjoy otherwise. Isnt it better to ignore these type of people and stick to serious news and hotties once in awhile?
tylertime
@slobone:
he has a point. if you go back and look at the ratings for WILL & GRACE you will see that it’s numbers in NYC & LA (the nation’s largest markets) pushed it to be a top 20 show. It didn’t peform well in middle america at all.
patrick
He sure looks like a perverted evil leprechaun.
L.
“Cultural battles have two sides, one of which is immoral. Choose to fight on the immoral side of a cultural battle and any victory you experience will only be temporary.”
So I guess what you’re saying, Gary, is that Focus On The Family laying off staff for six years straight means they’re immoral, then.
Ken S
Or here’s a thought: maybe Idol (and for that matter all of the multi-year reality shows) are a tired one-trick pony that’s exhausted all the pretentious gimmicks and UNrealistic ‘twists’ and people are bored to death of it? Maybe the fact that Idol has merely cranked out a bunch of here-then-gone entertainers rather than upstanding citizens worth emulating has caused people to tune out? Maybe “reality TV” is finally crumbling as the hollow sham of inflated drama and scripted suspense that it’s been all along 😛
Ken S
P.S. Just like religion 😀
christopher di spirito
Bullshit.
Middle American women from Lawrence, KS and teenage girls from Macon, GA, and queens from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, all travel to LA to see her daily chat show.
While Ellen isn’t my idea of a comic (she seems emotionally stuck at the age of 14), millions seem to think she’s Lucille Ball and Soupy Sales all rolled into one. The fact that she’s a lesbian is irrelevant.
Face it: Ellen on Idol sucked and not terribly well. She looked and acted uncomfortable. She was out of her comfort zone and she lacks the self-disciple to put aside being “Ellen” for an hour and judge young people singing.
christopher di spirito
Oops, my bad. S/B “self-discipline.”
James Davis
@tylertime: I find that very hard to believe. NYC & LA are certainly the nations largest television markets, but they alone are hardly enough to put any show in the top 10. As an FYI those 2 markets currently make up just under 12% of the television viewing households in the USA.
At the height of Will & Grace’s popularity (2002) it was averaging around 17% share of television households, something not possible without a decent viewership from outside those 2 markets.
Jeffree
How does McCullotte think she was “promoting” homosexuality? By awkwardly critiquing singers?
This wasn’t the right gig for her. She’s moving on.
Even in my backwater little town, almost everyone loves & watches her talk show.
She & Portia have done more to putting faces on LGB Americans than anyone on daytime TV. [Oprah gets some credit too]. Ellen isn’t all “up in your face” with her supposed “agenda” she’s just who she is.
Skip the champagne toastt McCullough–you got NADA to celebrate here.
David in Houston
First of all, Gary McCullough has the GAYEST gay-face I have ever seen. So, yeah, he’s clearly a self-loathing closeted gay man. Big shocker.
Secondly, Ellen quit the show. She wasn’t fired… which makes him a Christian liar. Apparently there’s nothing wrong with lying if you’ve got God on your side.
Finally, Ellen has one of the most popular daytime shows on TV (winning 11 emmys). So much for his theory about homosexuality and family values not being able to mix. She was also the voice of Dory in Finding Nemo, which was the highest grossing Pixar movie of all time. If the public has an issue with Ellen DeGeneres (and her evil orientation), why didn’t they boycott Finding Nemo?
Mike
Who the fuck care what this shithead has to say about anything?
The fact of Adam Lambert (by fact I mean simply that Lambert was an audience favorite throughout last season ending as runner-up with a significantly higher post Idol recognition than, who was it that won last year? won this year?) proves that McGullough is just another whining bigot trying to remain relevant. I wonder who is lifting his luggage?
Pip
Its almost as if Ellen DeGeneres doesn’t have a wildly popular day time talk show.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
This asshat is spewing such cookie cutter frightwing Gay hating talking points nonsense it is actually laughable………”There is a limit to what Christian viewers will tolerate, and I am using “Christian” in the broadest of definitions” First off as correctly pointed out numerous times above, Ellen generated zillions of dollars for the network. And she has been 100% accepted all across the US, with her time slot in the top in virtually every market in the country……….
Modern Family was the most successfull show of the recent season. Viewers for some reason didn’t seem to mind that there is a Gay couple on the TVs that OMG! is raising a baby!!!! Guess the “Christians” have gone over the “limit”…………
PS: You sir, have quite the very Gay face………….
Timothy
Does this idiot even know what he’s saying?
“Yoohoo, hip hurray, I done told ya us ‘Mericans hate the homos.”
Lookyloo
Paula’s departure is what left the show so empty. On purpose or accidentally, Paula Abdul was more important to the ‘personality’ of the show than anyone gave her credit. Was I the only one who knew her departure would cause a loss of ratings?
Ellen’s presence was totally bland and useless. I don’t think it helped or hurt.
Lookyloo
To be more specific:
The ratings didn’t drop because Ellen joined the show.
The ratings dropped BECAUSE PAULA LEFT THE SHOW.
Yes. I decided to yell.
Jones
Ellen left because she was going to be fired, and wanted to avoid the embarrassment.
Double Scott
You commenters need to cool down. The guy isn’t bashing gay people.. he is just saying that part of the population is not “gay-friendly”. And it doesn’t mean ALL of the midwest is anti-gay.. but a higher percent of the midwest and south is anti-gay, when compared to the east and west coasts.