This week, Vanderpump Rules cast member and toxic male Jax Taylor came under fire after unleashing a string of homophobic tweets directed at a random stranger on Twitter in a fight over. Adidas’ new line of NHL-inspired apparel.
Related: After homophobic outburst, reality star claims “50 percent” of his friends are gay
After fans called him out for his antigay rhetoric, the 40-year-old bartender claimed he can’t be homophobic because 50 percent of his friends are gay. Not to mention, Lance Bass officiated his wedding!
I lived in West Hollywood for 15 years, worked at the abbey ( highest grossing bar in the country) (gay bar). I walked in 4 gay pride parades, I had my good friend Lance bass marry us, 50 percent of my friends are gay. But yes, You got me, I am homophobic… people are idiots. ? https://t.co/dIrAoGftMo
— Jax (@mrjaxtaylor) November 3, 2019
Neither Bravo nor Lisa Vanderpump, who claims to be an LGBTQ ally, have issued any statement on the controversy. But Taylor is hardly the first reality star to show his true homophobic colors off camera.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Scroll down for four more reality stars who were caught being homophobic in real life…
Sam Thompson
The 26-year-old Made in Chelsea cast member issued an apology in June of this year for insensitive tweets he wrote early in his career, which mainly involved him using the word “gay” as a pejorative.
“I’ve grown up a lot since 2013 and would now never be so careless with my choice of words,” Thompson said. “As a society, we’ve also come a long way, and I think we’re now more aware of the power of the words we use.”
Related: Reality star admits he was “wrong” for antigay language, says he’s “grown up a lot”
Vivica A. Fox
The actress/media personality caused a stir in 2017 while promoting her Lifetime reality series Vivica’s Black Magic about an all-male stripper revue in Las Vegas. In a radio interview, Fox said gay men were not allowed at the show, saying, “Aw, hell no. Back all that up. No! NO!”
In response, her long-time producing partner, Jean-Claude LaMarre, cut ties with Fox, calling her remarks “out of order” and saying they did “not represent our attitudes toward the LGBT community.” The show ultimately ran for eight episodes before being canceled due to low ratings. Probably because gay men weren’t allowed to watch it.
Related: Vivica A. Fox doubles down, accuses people of trying to “steal her joy”
Kim Kardashian
In August 2018, Kimberly went on a Los Angeles radio show to defend a homophobic dig she had made at Tyson Beckford after he said he didn’t find her body attractive. Then she went on to explain how she’s allowed to say homophobic things because she has gay friends.
“All my best friends are gay,” she said. “I support the community. I love the community, they love me, that has nothing to do with this.”
Clint Arlis and JJ Lane
In 2015, these two Bachelorette contestants claimed they had hooked up in the shower while taping the ABC reality show and were now “100 percent” in love with each other. They kept the story going for a while before it was revealed they were only “doing it for the cameras” as a “joke” and that “nothing gay ever happened.” Because two guys falling in love is hilarious.
Related: Straight “Bachelorette” Contestants Aren’t Gay. In Fact, They’re Kinda Homophobic
controversial2019
I really hate the way ‘homophobia’ is thrown around incorrectly.
The actual definition is:
‘Dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people.’
It is now used though to mean everything under the sun. And it needs to stop.
2 men pretending to have had sex and be into each other, for the cameras and attention, is NOT displaying dislike or prejudice towards gays. Whilst one might say the bachelor is ‘reality tv’; it’s ultimately television where the viewer is expected to be smart enough to know that people won’t always portray themselves honestly. Reality TV is not the same as a documentary.
And so what is the difference when two straight actors pretend to be gay and have sex in a film or tv series…and two straight men pretending to be in a gay relationship and having had sex on a tv series? There is no difference. And even if you want to argue there is; there is still nothing malicious towards the community in pretending to be gay. Does that mean that before we come out of the closet and we PRETEND to be straight; we are being heterophobic? Don’t be silly.
startenout
Okay so I guess we can take some time to unpack all your false analogies so that you can defend idiots who pretended to be gay for attention and then called it a joke. You know since being gay is a joke.
First off, actors portraying a gay relationship whether they themselves are straight or not are usually trying to portray a serious and sensitive portrayal of gay men as in Broken Hearts Club or Brokeback. When it’s just there for a joke like that terrible Adam Sandler/Kevin James movie, we call it out. Are you insinuating that these guys were trying to show the world a gay story or a gay couple for viability? Even after they called it just a joke where nothing happened? Weird.
Anyway…for point two, most of us growing up pretending to be gay WERE living with a phobia of heterosexual people; what would they say? How would we be judged? Would our parents still love us? Were we going to get attacked every day in school? These men weren’t living as gay men in fear of being outed as heterosexual; they were playing a “joke” for attention with being gay as the punchline.
Glad to help you realize that your points are just BS hiding more hetero hatred.
Apolodorus
You just love a false equivalence…
jpm1984
I agree that it’s thrown around incorrectly but the definition of a “phobia” is “an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something”.
There may have been an inappropriate comment made, but I hardly believe any of these examples indicate someone as having an “irrational fear” of gay people or that the comment rises to the level of being prejudice or anti-gay.
Like many, many other words being thrown around these days in an effort to make an erroneous or ignorant accusation of someone of being discriminatory, it loses its power and ends up meaning absolutely nothing.
At the end of the day and in the grand scheme of things, these trivial examples that may, or may not have been malicious really aren’t important. Our community has far more important things to worry about then whether or not a B-list celebrity says something that may be subjectively offensive to someone. Life’s too short to get wound up and dwell on this B.S.
Bob LaBlah
Ok, I get it. On Rupaul’s Drag Race the girls are under strict orders not to violently call each other “queen” or use the B word (as PLEASE don’t try to tell me you haven’t done that at some point in your social life) or god forbid remind one of what they do not naturally have but as soon as strait people lose it and let out the F.. word we’re suppose to grab our heels and tiki torches and get to strutting in the streets in protest. Ok, I get it now. Next.
Apolodorus
Again, with the false equivalences. Posts like this seem to draw them like moths to a flame.
Bob LaBlah
And stereotypical posts like yours sound as though your victimization is under fire. Its scary when others in the community see things differently, isn’t it?
jonasalden
That’s not Sam Thompson. It’s Alex Mytton. Just saying…