Glee, the hit FOX series which ran from 2009 to 2015, has been both praised and criticized for its big swings at representation and tackling of challenging subject matter. Now one conservative writer is taking the criticism several hundred thousand leaps forward, blaming it for starting a “wokeness epidemic.”
Even more unbelievable, some seem to agree.
Writer Bill Hurrell penned a staggeringly long, 6,500-word think piece for the conservative publication Human Events, in which he blames the show and its fans for essentially creating “cancel culture,” the word “problematic,” and basically the entire concept of TV representation of underserved identities… as if that last one is a bad thing.
“The ‘representation’ on Glee was apparently so significant and so accurately done that it reawakened ancient tribal hatreds among the teenagers watching the show because they could no longer tell the difference between the show and themselves,” Hurrell writes. “This is the reality of wokeness: It is not a utopian philosophy. It isn’t even really a Leftist one, though it uses Leftist language to mask its true intentions. No, what it is, is a sad, pathetic teenage wish fulfillment fantasy: a reactionary ideology determined not to move forward, but to restore the power dynamics of high school, the only place where the woke have ever had any power, or where petty, cruel, emotional infants like them can ever have any power.”
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.
We’ll spare you any more quotes, but feel free to dive into this word soup at your own peril.
A Senior Editor for Human Events, Jack Posobiec, shared the article on Twitter and cherry picked some responses he received which “prove his point.” They’re pretty hilarious:
They did you a favor https://t.co/TSHJdeTV4V
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) January 5, 2022
Correct https://t.co/pjD9GHTFvi
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) January 5, 2022
See what I’m saying https://t.co/6j5GFqGO90
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) January 5, 2022
Again – point proven https://t.co/TvjBrwGSip
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) January 5, 2022
But here’s what most responses look like:
In other more important news, I’m writing my doctoral thesis on how flea farts are raising methane levels and contribute to global warming.
— GoPoundSand (@Go_PoundSand) January 5, 2022
You know Glee was iconic when years later stupid people still talking about the show as a danger to society 🤣
— Elisa (@_soyelisa) January 5, 2022
For anyone to take Glee this seriously is humiliating. I say this as someone who loved the show while it aired. It’s a light, fun show that’s meant to make people laugh.
— Sarah (@sekay87) January 5, 2022
I don’t get it. I really liked glee when I watched it back in the day but I didn’t lose my mind. Is my brain broken or is it everyone else?
— joseph carlotti (@hirokicarlotti) January 6, 2022
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAHAHAHA! Dear God you’re sad.
— Adam L (@AdamEmpathy) January 5, 2022
Me and a big group of people all watched glee, unfortunately we all turned gay and people stopped talking to us 😔😔
— Eliana Criss 🏳️🌈 (@blaineseyebrows) January 6, 2022
What a load of dribble.
— The Bearded Hound (@BeardedHound) January 5, 2022
We do have to thank Hurrell for one thing, though — at least he provided inspiration for some good memes:
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Jim
My rural Missouri cousins watched and enjoyed Glee.
Alas, they’re still basically conservative, but seeds were planted and hopefully will sprout, if not in this generation, in the next.
Paris in Santiago
This worries me. Chris Culfer may need to be careful while in public. Same for Darren Criss & his wife.
Cam
It enrages conservatives that LGBTQ people and minorities were given any air time on a show. They’d rather have Queer people treated as if we don’t exist and if the shows HAVE to have racial minorities on, then they want them to only play criminals or prostitutes.
Jaquelope
Or servants.
Ken A.
I watched Glee for a couple of seasons then got bored with it. It portrayed gays in a positive light but also covered handicapped and girls, divas and the less fortunate. The picture is minus 2 people who were a big part of Glee. Cory Monteith and Mark Salling.
startenout
1. Because it’s a cast picture from the last season, so it’s “missing” a number of cast members from the beginning including Amber Riley, Heather Morris, Diana Agron, Jenna Ushkowitz, Harry Shrum and more.
2. Monteith died from a drug overdose and couldn’t be in the final season, so not pictured here.
3. Salling committed suicide after being arrested for child pornography, so maybe not the character you should be simping for.
barryaksarben
Im 65 and remember when they lost their shit over a tv movie “An Early Frost” ot the Frank Sinatra movie where he investigates a gay murder. There have been way too many of these events to count. “Making Love” “The Sargent” “reflections in a golden eye” and on and on. They just hate gays period an will blame everyone but the real culprit _GOD who made us all in his own image. RIGHT?
Hank31
There are individual gay scenes on Glee which are as great as anything gay-related ever seen on TV. And Glee was the first time we saw a gay boy sing a love song to another. Go on YT and watch Criss and Colfer sing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and Criss sing “When I Get You Alone.” It’s amazing stuff.
But as a whole, the show was a disaster. Very poorly written and paced. Plots set up and then almost immediately abandoned. Characters who behaved inconsistently week to week. A massively oversized cast, such that months would go by with virtually no lines spoken by main cast members. And the relentless need to stuff every episode with song covers to generate revenue, whether or not the music added to the drama or not.
Heywood Jablowme
“the power dynamics of high school, the only place where the woke have ever had any power, or where petty, cruel, emotional infants like them can ever have any power.”
That’s the weirdest description of high school I’ve ever heard. Did Bill Hurrell go to a high school where they didn’t let him be a bully and beat up all the gay kids?
A high school for the arts (like on Glee) might be different, but it seems unlikely Hurrell would have applied to one like that. At most high schools, the bullies are the “petty, cruel, emotional infants” who rule.