It must be very difficult for a male actor to film kissing scenes with another dude only to have television producers leave all that footage on the cutting room when it decides to censor those scenes. But this is the world of Mexican telenovelas.
Jaime Camil stars in Los Existosos Pérez (The Successful Perez Family), where he plays a man hired to impersonate a television host who’s in a coma. Except that host’s marriage to a colleague is a sham; he’s actually gay. So Camil’s character has to deal with the host’s gay lover, played by Jose Ron. And there is kissing!
But producer Televisa refuses to air it, relays the blog Blabbeando. And Camil isn’t pleased!
Interviewed by a gossip show correspondent in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where the telenovela is being shot, Camil said he was perplexed about several kissing scenes that had been shot between him and Jose Ron which were either edited out or shortened when televised [see YouTube video below].
“They are editing them for a reason [and] I still fail to comprehend why it is,” he says on camera, and ads that “it’s a bit frustrating, as an actor, to undertake a creative process [to create] a character and, suddenly, to have it cut off based on false morals or double standards that sometimes exist in Mexico.”
All the more ridiculous because, while Los Existosos Pérez‘s gay kissing is too scandalous during the 7pm hour, women running around in bikinis is just fine to broadcast in the afternoon.
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Erick
The reason? Thats easy Jaime…homophobia.
I have to say that Mexico has the worst gay representation I have ever seen and this does not surprise me. You could give some points for doing this argentinian refried, but Rons character is played with such exaggeration that is obvious that the character is meant as a joke in the most stereotypical way.
Mike L.
OMG Jaime Camil papi chulo! Stupid homophobia in Mexico. He’s a good actor in mex soaps 🙂
Republican
Yeah, a lot of homophobia in mexico.
jason
This is yet another indication of how sleazy straight guys still control television content. Women in bikinis is fine, women kissing women is fine, portraying women in revealing clothing is kosher…the list goes on and on.
Simple fact is that sleazy straight guys are terrified of the male-male erotic interaction. Closet cases are too.
f123
That show is tanking here in Mexico in the TV ratings chart, so this is a desperate attempt to attract the public eye to them and its still not working, its not true Mexican TV wont air men kissing,the same TV station has done it in the past , just recently about a month ago on another soap opera called Sortilegio. Mexico has gay civil unions, and I cant remember when if ever I have heard of a hate crime or a gay bar raid down here. Dont belive everything you hear.
Ryan
Ok, there are a lot of misconceptions being aired here about Mexico. I’ve lived here over a year, in Mexico City, and am actually researching sexuality.
A. blanket comments like there is a lot of homophobia in Mexico do not accurately represent the complex relationship Mexicans have with sex, nor the immense opportunities for homoeroticism that exist. There is a lot of homophobia in the US, too. But Mexico City’s latest pride parade drew nearly 500k people on the most important avenue in the country.
B. Given the recent raids in the US and the beatings, it is hard to say that Mexico is more homophobic. That “out and proud” gay communities do not exist in every city, including many of the tourist locals that are frequented by Americans, doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been a movement, that it hasn’t been effective, etc. Mexico City and Coahuila have domestic partnership laws, and at least legally, their protections of sexual orientation are superior to many American states.
C. Many people who criticize Mexico have never lived in the “real” areas, but in enclaves of foreigners segregated from the society. While it is true that there is homophobic violence here–a string of young men have been murdered in Mexico City this year with the old “I’m luring you home like a lover and then I’m going to kill you routine,” it is also true that Mexico City and Mexico have been opening up to more gay rights, as evidenced in the world AIDS conference in 2008, the repeated calls from the government to end homophobic violence, and the presence of government human rights commissions at every level, which doesn’t exist in the US.
D. I wonder what the “worst gay representation” means. There are gay and lesbian members of Mexico’s congress, there are large neighborhoods in most Mexican cities and a lot of gay bars scattered through out other regions. There are several publications locally produced, radio shows, web communities, and more. It may not take the form of American gay life, but why should it? Mexico is culturally and historically different.
E. And before we get all imperialist and racist against Mexico, remember that US television isn’t very good at showing gay kissing either, that women are objectified there just as easily, and that homophobia is rampant in the states, with police brutality in bars, with the denial of rights in many states, with the old sodomy laws. Gay sex has been legal in Mexico since 1815.
;-)
There’s is homophobia everywhere except mexico city I must say!!!!!!!! wow!!!! I went there last year!!!! and is awsome!!!gaylife there is amazing!!!!!!!!! i just dont get it!!! why they’re doing that!!!!
Erick
Re: Ryan @ No. 6: I can only speak for myself, so when I said the reason for this decision was homophobia, I meant this particular decision, I was not talking about Mexico in general. That is what this post is about, isnt?
And, when I said “worst gay representation”, I meant in the media. Historically and with very few exceptions, gay folk are portrayed as the campiest, most jokingly effeminate individuals you can think of, just for comedic value, TV execs have and idea of how a gay man should look and act an they will not let it go, and of course, lesbian representation is non existent. We are talking about Mexicos biggest media machine here, which happens to be the worst offender.
eduardo
We Latins, even the gay ones, seem to have an internalized homophobia that probably has its origins in the Catholic church, the most homophobic and yet homoerotic organization that has ever existed.
Mexico does have pockets of tolerant liberalism but traditional, hidebound, provincial ways of thinking seems to dominate its culture, especially in places like the Yucatan.