A lot of my hairstylists and my beauty team that I work with are gay so I hang out with gays a lot and I just think they’re adorable and hilarious.”
— Pop star Britney Spears, recently accused of exploiting her significant gay fan base, speaking with San Francisco radio station 99.7 NOW FM about whether LGBT people influence her work
H/t: Huffington Post
DarkZephyr
And I am sure her gay friends ARE adorable and hilarious. Why is this any sort of news?
rand503
And ya know Britney, we think you are just as amusing to us as well.
Sheesh.
tookietookie
What does Christina Aguilera think about gays? We need a whole series on this topic.
DarkZephyr
I don’t think she meant any disrespect or harm here. We has LGBT people have plenty of legitimate reasons to get p*ssed off. This is NOT one of them in my personal opinion.
Fang2012
@DarkZephyr, you’re right. But “adorable” is a little infantilizing don’t you think? And Brit’s sentiment reinforces the “gay best friend” stereotype. I’m not adorable or hilarious and I am not some straight girl’s shopping accessory! The “gay best friend” role is really tired. Not harmful per se, but one that I still have to shrug off from coworkers, etc. and comments like Britney’s don’t help.
Triple S
A lot of them are shitheads though… I wouldn’t be surprised if they would be super bitchy as well. It usually goes hand in hand with fashion style professions. Not always though
ho
Then Britney should get along just fab. I always found her adorable and hilarious.
jimbryant
Britney Spears is appealing to sleazy straight guys by using gay men as a cover. This is a tactic of many of the current pop females. Their marketing strategy is to pose as naked as possible in their videos and to dabble in pseudo-lesbianism for the purpose of titillating these straight guys.
Meanwhile, note how Britney fails to include the gay male aesthetic in her videos. Where is the male-male eroticism? She has failed to put it in. Personally, I think it’s because she is possible homophobic.
Don’t fall for her supposedly kind words. They are patronizing at the very least, and, as I said, reek of using gay men to cover her strategy of embracing the sleazy straight guy fantasy in her marketing.
Don’t be surprised if Larry Joseph and Adam Leber, her two managers, have told her to stick to this strategy. She insults us all.
John Doe
@Fang2012: Britney never said anything remotely close to the “gay best friend” stereotype that you are talking about. The “gay best friend” stereotype refers to a straight girl having ONE friend (her gay best friend that she hangs with). Britney is referring to gay guys (plural) that she WORKS with. Big difference.
Besides, the stereotype of a “gay best friend” refers to an authentic friendship 99% of the time…. a friendship that nobody should be ashamed about. The “accessory” friendship is hardly very common unless you’re watching a sitcom. Nobody can realistically be best of friends with a totally fake person who treats them the way you describe.
jimbryant
DarkZephyr,
If Britney is so gay male-friendly, why has she failed to include the gay male aesthetic in her music videos? I can reel off a ton of videos of hers where she has either refused or failed to include male-male eroticism. If she really likes us, why is she failing to embrace the gay male aesthetic?
Note how she frequently dabbles in pseudo-lesbianism in her videos. Why is she including this but not us gay guys? It’s because it’s a part of her calculated marketing strategy, one that is designed to shut us gay guys out of the picture.
DarkZephyr
@jimbryant: I don’t know how “gay male friendly” she is or isn’t, I am not a fan of hers but I don’t see the comments she made as being laced with malice, that’s all.
Dxley
This is so typical of a blonde, stupid b*tch. What the fuck does she think we are? Stupid wh0re!
alphang
Gays before today: Oh my god is Britney really a friend of the gays she never mentions gays ever is she really worthy of being considered a gay icon omg ugh
Gays today: Oh my god I can’t believe Britney described the gays using those words I do not approve of these words omg ugh
Basically, anything Britney does or does not say will make some unapproving gay out there bitch and moan. She should have just added “sensitive” and “dramatic” after adorable and hilarious. Sure, her response wasn’t the most eloquent of responses but frankly I don’t see what the fuss is about–I know I’m pretty damn adorable and hilarious and I know quite a few gays who are adorable and/or hilarious. There are way worse things to be called. There are way worse statements to be offended by.
TheMarc
I’m seeing a lot of “my diva; right or wrong” in these comments. Now, I don’t know what Britney meant for sure. She’s not the brightest person so SHE might not have know what she meant. But to pretend that her remarks amount to high praise is completely ludicrous. As I said, I don’t know for sure what she meant; but I know what it sounds like. I think the nerve she touched with her statement is one that some gays don’t like to explore. That is the phenomenon of the gay accessory. I see this more in less progressive areas of the US. It’s where an upstanding, Southern, Red State and proud belle proclaims her “love” of gays. Some gays out there want to believe that the same belle’s language translates to full acceptance and support of homosexuals. When what they’re really saying is that they love gays as much as they love their Louis Vuitton bag or strawberry ice cream. It’s a superficial admiration that turns gays from human beings into a must-have accessory. They’ll call their best gay to go shoe shopping with; but they’ll also vote down marriage equality every chance they get.
So as you can imagine, I’m pretty pissed off when I see an army of gays rush to defend such a person. About as pissed off as I get when I see the same said army rush to defend the homophobic remarks of some straight celebrity male because he’s hot. Such people are not our friends or our allies. We’re court jesters and oddities to them; not human beings. You may be perfectly happy being a marionette or a show dog, but I am not.
Lazycrockett
The Handler’s haven’t got the meds right just yet…..give them a couple of weeks. She will be speaking her vast logic of knowledge of Lord Byron soon enough.
jimbryant
The Marc,
Women in New York also have that same patronizing attitude to gay men.
Jake357
Sho nuff glads wees can bring dem smiles to ya face, miss Britney. Patronizing twat. As an informational missive to all dumb ladies out there: we are not accessories. To quote Pink: “I’m not here for your entertainment”.
Jake357
@Fang2012: I agree. I remember a dinner part once where I found myself cornered in a kitchen by 3 ladies encouraging me to “do Jack [Macfarland]”, as if I were some stand up comedian with a set of go-to sassy gay stereotypes in my pocket. It was basically a situation of tap dance for your watermelon, boy. I remember that incident so well because it was the light bulb over the head moment when I was like: whoa. What’s going on here? I then began noticing what I had previously seen as inclusiveness and friendship, etc. was actually something altogether different and not at all healthy.
jwrappaport
@DarkZephyr: It’s not that she spoke with malice, but rather that she spoke in a patronizing, belittling way that demeans our collective dignity and hearkens back to a time invoked by Jake357.
Tackle
Queerty please don’t flag my comment. It’s inline with the topic.
BitterOldQueen
@Jake357: Exactly. This attitude is typical of how gay men are viewed generally in American media: We’re all well and good as long as we’re amusing singing/dancing/hysterically catty little asexual jokesters (a long and annoying history from Paul Lynde through Will & Grace to Modern Family). But we shall not speak seriously of the scary icky sex stuff that also defines us, and we shall not be portrayed as complete human beings. “Adorable and hilarious” is, in fact, offensive: It’s demeaning, belittling, infantilizing, and dismissive. And coming from a vacuous and marginally-talented music industry action figure, it’s particularly annoying. (And before anyone says I’m taking this too seriously, replace Britney with Paula Deen and the object of her comment with African-Americans, and see how it sounds.)
GeriHew
@Lazycrockett: What does Lord Byron have to do with it?
GeriHew
@TheMarc:
3:40 PM – 27 Jun 13 Britney Spears tweeted:
“Happy & proud to hear about the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday! #Equality #LoveIsLove”
https://twitter.com/britneyspears/status/350383109289689088
alphang
“Besides, just because she’s calling the gay people she’s met and loves “hilarious” and “adorable” (adorable seeming to be Spears’ go-to outlook on everything for, oh, forever), doesn’t mean she’s saying all gay people are hilarious and adorable and exclusively so — just the ones she likes. Is that pandering to an audience, or patronizing them? No, because she did not say “Attention, Universe/Kokopelli/Jesus/The Guy Who Invented Mattresses/Satan: I, Britney Jean Spears, would like to proclaim that each and every single gay person that was or ever will be on this planet we call Earth, to be seen as both ‘hilarious’ and ‘adorable’ near-exclusively, from this day until the end of days.”
No. In fact, she said — in response to a question from the radio DJs at 99.7 NOW FM in San Francisco regarding whether or not she has a group of gay people that influences her work — simply: “A lot of my hair stylists and my beauty team that I work with are gay, so I hang out with gays a lot and I just think they’re adorable and hilarious.” Which is probably the most blasé thing way you could describe a group of people you consider your friends, ever. Really, if anything, they should be upset that she didn’t do more than just randomly pick a couple generic adjectives to describe them.”
http://www.bustle.com/articles/6433-latest-britney-spears-non-controversy-is-because-she-called-her-gay-friends-adorable-and-hilarious
TheMarc
@GeriHew: Hmm…thanks. Please read my entire comment next time. As I said, I don’t know what she meant. I touched on the fact as to why this struck a nerve and why if she is one of the ladies I referenced in my comment, the blind and unconditional defense of it is maddening.
MK Ultra
Britney is a simple-kind-of-life sort of gal. I don’t think she’s a big political thinker.
This comment is basically her way of saying she’s down with the gays.
I couldn’t imagine her meaning it condescendingly or as a way of saying gay guys are an accessory.
GeriHew
@TheMarc: I did read your entire post.
nature boy
I love Britney… in large part BECAUSE of her flaws. Her last MTV VMA performance where she was trying to evoke Elvis remains one of my favorite TV moments of all times.
I’m glad to hear she has some adorable and hilarious gays around her. It would definitely suck to have a bunch of bitter hateful self-righteous hyper-sensitive and angry gays with no sense of humor doing your hair and makeup.
nf0603
@jimbryant: no offense but you really want your cake and eat it too.
Gripe gripe gripe that Britney doesn’t pander enough to the gays…. but on the other hand I bet you also gripe that people like Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper exploit the gays by overdoing their love for us. It’s a catch 22.
darkorient
Offensive.