It’s actually a pretty American phenomenon that musical theater and belting out ballads is considered “gay.” Go anywhere else in the world, even parts of Europe and Southeast Asia, and singing show tunes and pop numbers carries no homo attachment. (Also, see: Bollywood.) So it makes sense that you can take a show like Glee, considered in the U.S. to be among television’s gayest, and bring it to Chile without much thought about whether viewers will point at all those fey kids singing to Britney Spears and find a problem with a lack of machismo. That doesn’t mean, however, that all parts of Glee are acceptable. (Update: A Chilean viewer and Glee webmaster writes in to counter this report.)
After all, the show features plenty of openly gay characters. What to do about them? Jose, a Queerty reader in Chile, writes us:
Here the Catholic Church has a open TV network. Lots of money. Higher ratings. Since last year, to revamp de schedule, they’ve [started airing] Glee. They did a campaign with our local stars doing the “L” thing on their foreheads. They got the Glee fever.
But Rachel doesn’t speak about her “dads.” She speaks ins Spanish about her “dad.” […] This channel in the news is totally anti-gay rights. So Glee is in part giving this channel lots of ratings and credibility [Ed: and profits].
(Indeed, Chile’s Channel 13/Canal 13, where Glee airs, is known also by its full corporate name, Corporación de Televisión de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and is heavily influenced by the Church. Except then pops up this news report about the Church selling the network.)
And Jose beat us to our next obvious question: “What will happen with Kurt’s boyfriend or lesbian cheerleading scenes? What would [show creator] Ryan Murphy say?”
How about we take this to the next level?
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Moreover, what happens when Chile’s airings of the show catch up to the U.S., where Murphy is set to unveil Rachel’s gay dads? (Perhaps with one played by John Barrowman?) Or, better question: How will they handle the show’s recent episode that was all about god?
Creative editing, that’s how.
Meanwhile, here’s how Kurt’s character is profiled in Chile:
UPDATE: Because we can’t view the Chilean version of Glee here in the U.S., I’ve been relying on reader reports. Here’s another claiming Glee is not de-gayed at all.
Hi there dear Queerty Staff,
I’m Camila, I’m chilean and I run www.gleechile.com / www.twitter.com/gleechile / gleechile.tumblr.com / community.livejournal.com/gleechile
As a Chilean, and a fan of Glee, I was really surprised to see “How Chile Managed to De-Gay Glee: Rachel Doesn’t Have 2 Daddies” published, not because I don’t think news like this are irrelevant, but because it is completely false.
As the owner of all GleeChile accounts I download Glee (aired episodes in USA) and watch the series in the three channels that air the show in my country: Fox Latin America, Canal 13 and UCV TV. Why? because we comment the episodes via twitter. As a person who have watch the show MANY times, I was really surprised to find someone saying that Canal 13 edits the episodes, because -surprisingly- they didn’t. Yes, one of the biggest fears of Chilean fans was the possible cuts that the series would have not precisely in the storyline related to Rachel and her two dads, but to Kurt. Canal 13 sent a letter to newspapers and even to the official Fans Club in Chile stating that they wouldn’t edit Glee because that would be failing to emit the real message of the series: acceptance.
I hope you erase the news from your web:
1.- Because it is COMPLETELY false, and even the photo posted from the web doesn’t belong to Canal 13, it was the description of Kurt that the web of FOX Latin America had during the time that the first 13 episodes were aired.
2.- I feel it contributes to expand misconceptions, prejudices and generalization about Chileans. No, not all of us are extreme catholics who hate gays; actually especially online new generations of Chileans (me included) try to expand concepts such as inclusion, acceptance and equality.
Devon
I wonder if we could drop the heads of the catholic church down that mineshaft…
chris
Chile has a fun gay scene in Santiago – so eventually Im thinking they get it F*((K the Catholic Church.
ron
@Devon: They wouldn’t fit. They’re too fat and full of shit!
Ian
So when Kurt, his dad & Rachel’s jock boyfriend had that one emotional scene in that basement bedroom about the word “fag” will it be changed to “nerd”?
B
No. 1 · Devon wrote, “I wonder if we could drop the heads of the catholic church down that mineshaft…”
… given the thickness of some of those heads’ skulls, triple check that everyone got out first!
AdonisOfFire
Having been raised in Chile till I was 13, and having been living in the USA for the last 10 years…I gotta say though Chile is a beautiful country, the wealthiest and most politically stable in Latin America, with perhaps the highest standard of living for most of the population…I was completely miserable. It is too conservative, people think too small for the most part and people are scared of change. It’s a country were still abortion and divorce are outlawed and the Catholic Church keeps brain washing people.
Michael C.
Why blame the network and the Catholic Church. They couldn’t have done this unless someone sold it to them. Blame Fox (shocker) and Ryan Murphy for not making a fuss about it.
hephaestion
Chileans will know Kurt is gay and that Rachel has two dads. Whenever a country censors something, everyone in the country finds out what was censored. In Iran, banning a movie is the best way to ensure that everyone in the country will see the movie (via the black market). Watch for black market “Glee” disks in Chile… or else they’ll all just watch the episodes on hulu.com.
Pablo
While I consider this as kind of a bummer, I don’t think it really matters that much. Every single person I know (and watches glee) downloads the US tvrips, as we hate to see it dubbed. And really, everyone knows Kurt is gay. I mean, come on.
There are actually a lot of gay characters on our tv shows. Unfortunately, they are normally used as a cheep way to do comedy..
Michael
Adapting American TV to suit tastes in world markets is not exactly a new phenomena, The Catholic Church may have some influence, but I’ve never known them to turn away from money making opportunities. Many of us have seen TV shows in Europe, for example, that are wildly popular there, yet would never make it in the US. Time will tell if Glee turns out to be a hit in Chile. Would popularity increase if it were more Gay? I suppose that same question could be asked of American audiences. Keeping the characters believable is what is going to be critically important to the future of Glee.
Tom in Lazybrook
It would be nice if Glee would refuse to sell their programming to that network if they changed story. Perhaps GLAAD could make themselves useful.
Also, while not really an issue here, remember that American Airlines is in partnership with the President of Chile (LAN). Something to keep in the back of your mind if Chile’s government instead of the Church does anything anti-Gay.
TONYC
when Marni Nixon was the voice of musicals in the 50s &60s..she was most of Audrey Hepburn’s singing voice in “My Fair Lady”..we never heard about that, unless you knew someone inside Hollywood.Today is so much different. A kid/anyone that’s looking at Glee, has access to the internet and even newspapers down there..it’s not like it was in the 50s..this is an issue that the church may control but in the end..they will fail(BTW: when did the church ever have control over TV networks..they used to tell you what shows to watch in the 60s..I remember growing up, in the newspaper every week..do not like at this show etc…but they OWN it???…MURDOCH CHURCH)
Cheers..
Tony(NYC)
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
The catlik church, that bastion of kiddie diddlers still can’t figger out that its best not to bring up that whole Gay thing……..
Arkano18
I’m Chilean and I’m absolutely appalled by this situation. I don’t follow Glee on C13, because I watch it online, and because the delay is awful in comparison to US broadcasting (here in C13 they’ve just aired S01E16). The second reason I don’t watch Glee on C13 it’s because Catholic Church in Chile has a lot of power, since most of the richest politicians (the only kind of politicians we have) are Catholic -or even worst, OpusDei-, and therefore their allegiance with what the Church has to say about salvation, domination, purity and other shit is amazing.
C13 is the Catholic Church TV channel, and one of the most prominent here, and since they are on a crusade to save Chile from sin/sinners, they use their resources to buy the rights to broadcast all the queer/inappropriate TV shows, so no other TV channel can air them. Sad, isn’t it?
Glee is one of those, and it started very good in prime time. the first season is not finished here yet and it’s been moved already after midnight. And it’s no surprise for us, since they’ve been doing it since ever: Ugly Betty, The Simpsons and even Twin Peaks got the same treatment.
So, yeah: Chile is one of those places where it doesn’t matter who/what you are, unless you don’t say it, and you don’t provoke the Catholic Church.
Constanza
I’m chilean, catholic and a “gleek”, but this article is full of lies.
It’s true that this channel is catholic and is not a lot gay-friendly but they years ago made a serie about men called “Machos” and one of the leads was the gay son of a machist family composed by 8 men, they didn’t show gay-action but that’s a big step for this channel.
Also Glee is aired in latin spanish with subs on the songs (with the same Fox la’s voices), and the only censored thing that I saw the few times that I watch the show on that channel (cuz I’m watching the season on internet, and before that on Fox Latino) in “Showmance” was the subtitles of “Push It” instead that the translation of that says “work it” in spanish is “trabájalo” instead “empújalo” a lit bit softer for the familiar audience.
The plot is the same: in “Pilot” Rachel says that she has 2 gay dads, and every couple of chapters she says that again when she can use that issue for her or teammates benefit.
Kurt is gay out of the closet, everuone knows that, he says it a lot and they show it, even when Kurt is flirting and making-out with Brittany at his house…
The last episode that I watched was Laryngitis and after all the “minners special” I don’t know if it will be again at his current schedule friday night, but before you wrote something about religious people being so stupid to censor one the big bets for rating just because is full of gay topic do a little more of research.
Chile (and specially Canal 13)and a big part of population can be catholic, religious, conservative, still a little homophobic and not a lot open-minded, but they aren’t so stupid to do something like you said cutting parts because it’s too gay, and the people is not dumb.
Constanza
@hephaestion:
We can’t, Hulu is an only US service.
Arkano18
@Constanza: The Soap opera you’re referring to (“Machos”) shows indeed a gay character, which is supposed to have a boyfriend we never see -because the boyfriend was conveniently in Spain-, and the only romantic moment we see this gay man involved with, is with a girl; his best friend who wants to convert him. I think you might give it a moment before you use that example about the idea of C13 on gays and society.
d&a
OK, so… does Rachel say dad or dads? If in the english version she is supposed to say “dads” instead of mentioning just one of them and they translate it as “dad”, then well, it sucks because that means they censored it.
However… there is a tricky thing about the spanish word for parents: when you talk about your parents as in mom and dad or dad and dad, you use the same word: “mis padres” (literal translation: my fathers) or “mis papás” (same translation, less formal way of saying it). If your parents happen to be mom and mom then you should say my moms i guess, there isn’t really a world for that. Bottom line, “padres” is a word for both parental units, regardless of the gender or sexual preference of the parents. Let’s also remember that most of the spanish dubbing is done in Mexico and afterwards distributed to other countries in Latin America.
Just sayin’
PS: We can all reckon Kurt’s bio is lame though.
PSII: I should know, I am chilean.
PSIII: I don’t watch Glee, but I am a big fan of Leah Michelle in Les Miserables.
PSIV: By the way, I am against censorship and I am a big supporter of gay rights, my comment has the only purpose of giving a different view of the situation in order to have a more complete base for any further argument. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did do some censoring considering that particular tv station is known for such gimmicks.
d&a
meant to say “there isn’t really a word for that”, not world. Silly typo
GleeChile
Hi there!
I’m Camila, I run Glee Chile and I follow Glee downloading episodes and checking episodes in Fox Latin America, Canal 13 and UCV TV (the last two are connected and both air Glee).
Starting Saying that Canal 13 is a catholic channel is pretty much a lie, months ago the channel was bought by the Luksic Group so now the only influence of the church in the channel is like 30%, not enough to change the editorial line nor censor series/tv programs/characters, etc.
As a person who have seen ALL episodes aired in Canal 13 I have to say… Whoever wrote this, watch the series in Canal 13? Or just assumed that due to the religious connections this would happen? Well it didn’t, the last episode of the first season was aired last Friday and through the 22 episodes I didn’t see scenes cut or edited.
Constanza noted the change in the translation of “push it”, well that translation/subtitles were originally made for FOX Latin America, NOT canal 13. Canal 13 buys episodes directly from FOX Latin America, and to this day hasn’t changed a thing of the TV Series.
And Arkano18, how can you be “apalled” by a situation that you haven’t witnessed because yourself have said you don’t watch Glee in Canal 13? You shouldn’t give an opinion on something you just simple do not have information.
I hope this news is removed, it not only is totally fake, but it also make seem Chileans extremely conservative, which is a generalization and prejudice that as a Chilean I wouldn’t like to be expanded.
Arkano18
I’ll take some time to respond to this, because I think facts should be more important than
When I first read this article I had not seen the episodes on C13. Since I’m an grown up and can made up my mind about things without paying allegiance to a network station, I’ve requested the episodes to a friend of mine who record them from C13 and saw them myself.
Now, you assuming me not having information on the matter, or that the person who wrote this article didn’t have watched the episodes on C13, reveals how simple your conclusions come to live.
There’s absolutely no way someone will publish an article in the free world just by “assuming” facts randomly. That’s why they’re involved in journalism, because they want to show to people how things are.
I think it’s really cute of you being such a fan of Glee and C13, but let’s analyze facts:
1.- First, C13 it’s the broadcasting TV network of the Catholic University of Chile, and their agenda has nothing to do with tolerance. Remember that for over 20 years they have refused to pass ads on alcohol, ciggs (when in Chile it was possible to advertise cigarettes on TV), Condoms, or AIDS programs. Instead, their advertisement palette includes “Save Marriage”, “Pro Life (Against Abortion)” and that the only way to not transmitting/contracting AIDS is through celibacy and exclusive sexual partners (where they never use the word “sexual”). As well, you can see a CATHOLIC PRIEST initiating and ending transmissions with reflections on the BIBLE. Are you sure is not a catholic channel, and that stating it is a LIE?
2.- The Luksic group indeed bought 70% of the C13 TV station, but the changes on their editorials will not be effective ’till March 2011, when they are able to use their rights on the network.
3.- C13 has censored before episodes from The Simpsons, especiall the ones that talk about homosexuality.
4.- Really? That’s all you got in order to ask for this article to be removed.
Gurl, plz.
GleeChile
Arkano:
1.- All you say is true, since at least two years the censorship hasn’t been as strong as it was during the dictatorship, so try to move on. Canal 13 may be a conservative Channel but it also has been adjusting to the times.
2.- The Luksic group decisions are ALREADY showing: new personal has been already hired and they are already changing some issues. In March 2011 they will have COMPLETE saying in the matter, it doesn’t mean that they can start make changes NOW.
3.- Have I say anything about the Simpsons? NO, I’m talking about Glee. What I’ve seen of Glee in Canal 13.
4.- You can stick to your opinion, which I think is right. We have to agree to disagree. Because I asked for the news to be removed not because I’m extremely Catholic or a Fan of Canal 13 (which I’m not, believe me); but because it is FAKE!
Constanza
@GleeChile:
That translation was made by c13, Fox LA didn’t show that!
Just watch, is another typo.