Gay-owned video retailer TLA.com has removed a tasteless web page (link NSFW) grouping gay-themed indies and art films under the banner “What Would Jerry Sandusky Watch”?
TLA editor Robby O. wrote:
You’d think that with coaching, his non-profit and taking all those long showers, Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky would not have a lot of free time. Oh contraire! He is a ferocious movie-goer with specialized tastes. We sat down with him (actually, we sent our 11-year-old nephew so he’d open up more) and asked him to name a few of his favorites… after all, he’s gonna have a lot of free time soon to watch them all again.
Mr. O included films with titles like Cold Showers, Punish Me and Schoolboy Crush—along with movies about child molestation, including Capturing the Friedmans and Happiness.
Hey, why not include Nightmare on Elm Street?
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.
TLA later removed the page and offered an apology:
A few days ago we posted an article that caused distress among some customers. While clearly satirical in nature and not a “sales-driven” piece as some have suggested—over 1/3 of the films that were mentioned are out of print and not available to purchase, and all were legitimate art, foreign or independent works—it struck a nerve with some. As a gay-owned and operated business on the forefront of LGBT issues for over 30 years, we have always taken jabs at current events and pop culture.
But in this instance our sense of humor did not come through in the way that we intended, and for that we apologize.
Yes, it takes a sophisticated sense of satire to understand Mr. O’s humor.
It’s not enough that anti-gay nutjobs call gays pedophiles, now a company that caters to us has done so as well.
LandStander
Never using their services. Some pretty sick people!
ChrisC
Are they so far removed from the problems we face (hate groups and their lies) that they think lumping us into the category of pedophiles would be a fine move? What idiots.
jeffr
Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Daniel! TLA should fire the moron who thought that this was funny! Best, JeffR
~R~
It was an attempt at being witty and it failed but TLA is still one of my favorite online stores so I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Derek Puleo
Good lord that is disgusting, and to think I use to shop there! 🙁
dvlaries
You mean not one person at TLA offered out loud, “Hey, you know, Sandusky’s victims are still alive…? Jeez.
Alan brickman
Please find out who created this tasteless and hurtful campaign and report back to us…after firing them…kids who are questioning/dealing with their sexuality don’t need to have the idea they are perverts if they watch gay fims…
Alan brickman
Please find out who created this tasteless and hurtful campaign and report back to us…after firing them…kids who are questioning/dealing with their sexuality don’t need to have the idea they are perverts if they watch gay films…
Erik
For real, Queerty? Take a break from your ersatz shock and horreur. you post tasteless and obnoxious satire all the time. And i’m not bashing you for it: part of the fun of being gay, is (aside from flower arranging, track lighting, and our ability to accessorize) being able to poke fun at things like this. The apology appears genuine, they took the page down. Take a Valium and stop trying to bash gay businesses, there are plenty of other folks who do that professionally.
Andy
Commenters 1-8 have a stick up their ass and not in good way.
Ala Brickman
Someone sounds hypocritical….
jj
Pretty hilarious, thanks TLA.
Remember guys, at the end of the day, if this had been an adult female sexing up these boys, none of this drama would be happening. The events would be the stuff of late night comedian fodder. There would be no candle light vigils for the victims. That is the reality of hetero society.
Chris
@jj: Nonsense. These boys were ten. Nobody approves of adult women having anal sex with ten year old boys.
NN
At 10 years old, it’s never “sexing up” whether done by men or women – it’s just rape. If it were an adult male with 10 year old girls, no one would be making jokes about it. I cannot believe anyone would make jokes about a woman going after pre-teens either
Lance
I didn’t check the entire repertoire of films under that section, but I have to say that, from the picture above, Boys Love/Schoolboy Crush has nothing to do with pedophilia and is simply about two high school guys in love. What a surprise.
The difference is very clear in that, while some others are indeed about abuse or age difference in relationships, there were probably plenty of other films that just dealt with underage boys falling in love, which is something that is very objectionable when they are linked to rapists (also tragically ironic coming from an LGBT site).
Ultimately, I personally find it staggering for anyone to make jokes/try to cash in on such heinous crimes.
@Chris: I wish this were the case, but sadly it isn’t so. There is this ever-prevalent macho image where, as long as you are not being “penetrated” in any way, it should be enjoyable for you and doesn’t actually constitute as rape. You can easily check news websites that report these crimes and about half the comments will be along the lines of “what a stud” or “I wish I had been that kid growing up”. It really is quite disturbing.
JohnAGJ
Oh swell. Way to feed into the stereotypes foisted upon by every rightwing nutjob out there, TLA. Schmucks.
jason
This is an example of how gays can be their own worst enemies. There are tons of self-loathing gays out there who don’t give a rats about gay rights so long as they can get their rocks off in bath houses.
Mark
JJ is right- if Sandusky had been a hot female, this would be a fraction of the story it is now. But maybe THAT is the problem. Maybe the problem is that we treat sexual abuse by women lightly, rather than the problem being that we take sexual abuse by men so seriously. JJ, you’re a fucking idiot.
jason
If Sandusky had been a female, they’d be hanging garlands on him, not hanging him.
jj
And Mark, you completely miss the point. Thank you and you’re welcome.
Mark
@jason: So are you suggesting that we stop feel bad for Sandusky, a child rapist, because he’s a guy?
geoff
@jj: “Sexing-up” ??? You need to do some waking-up.
jason
Mark,
I’m simply saying that there’s a double standard which treats female perpetrators less harshly than male ones. You see it in the justice system too.
Caliban
And what the fuck does any of that have to do with the MORONIC idea to advertise gay-themed films featuring young people to a GAY audience using a notorious PEDOPHILE?!
Jesus. I have a pitch-black sense of humor but considering that the Religious Right is very busily trying to tar the gay community by associating us with Sandusky and paeople like him it’s really fucking STUPID to use his name and photo in an advertisement aimed at gay people!
Is it really that goddamn hard to figure out?!
jeff4justice
People make mistakes. Nothing to lose sleep over since they corrected the issue.
Meanwhile many gays are dumb enough to pay money for condomless sex vids and contribute to the glorification and profiteering off this stuff while HIV rates for gay men remain high.
That’s more disturbing.
jason
jeff4justice,
HIV rates for gay men are not high. HIV rates for promiscuous men who have sex with total strangers are high. There’s a difference.
CBRad
Mega-blunder on TLA’s part ! Huge! But…they apologized and removed it, so….let it go.
Kurt
I’ve been a customer of TLA videos in Philadelphia for decades and I will continue to be one.
Awwwwwkward
“It’s not enough that anti-gay nutjobs call gays pedophiles, now a company that caters to us has done so as well.”
From the mouths of pornographers….
Embarrassing when the truth slips out.
Johnny
Alan Brickman, thanks for nailing this issue. The constant cross currents of opinion, like those rendered by that idiot cunt Michelle Bachmann, plant constant guilt and doubt in the minds of younger gay men. Many years ago there was a giant gay rally on the mall in Washington, D.C. There is a phrase from that speech that was so chilling and accurate, I will never forget it. “Look at our numbers!” I don’t remember if the park service issued an estimate of people there, like they do now. But it was well over 150,000. And that is exactly what the so called conservative right, who are watching gay porn in the dark late at night and fucking their wives in the ass, just don’t get. Our numbers are astounding and are growing at a phenomenal pace, thanks to the media and Hollywood validating the gay lifestyle.
Seaguy
It was a tacky ad that blew up in their face but I am also not some queen who screams boycott everytime something I do not agree with is said or done. So many gay people spend time fighting others in our own community instead of focusing the fight on the real enemy the right wing homophobes! Sad that some are so petty and bitter.
christopher di spirito
What’s more sexually exciting than watching a porno movie favored by child-rapist Jerry Sandusky? What’s next for TLA? Porno movies enjoyed by Pope RatNAZI?
iDavid
@Jason,
You’re wrong. There are women who have molested boys doing life in prison. The numbers are fewer than men for many reasons, but if they are brought to trial, they are served as harshly as men.
School teachers and students (teens) are a different class of conviction depending on state law. Molesting young boys Sandusky style is slammer time for all, no exceptions on any level.
Geno
This was/is/and is funny , made. ME lol I just wish I. Received the TLA catalog in the mail so I. Could put the darn thing on my refrigerator door 4 a few more laughs. I <3 this kind of sH*T!
Jensen
@jason:
Your sexism and misogyny is well known. Your ability to ignore the fact that many women have been sent to prison for statutory rape is amazing. How often have we witnessed female school teachers convicted and sent to prison?
Bobby Sands
Could Erik (No. 9) be Erik Schut, the actual person who wrote the original TLA article?
B
No. 36 · Bobby Sands wrote, “Could Erik (No. 9) be Erik Schut, the actual person who wrote the original TLA article?”
Maybe Eric (No. 9) is the reincarnation of Jonathan Swift, who once published a modest proposal for ending a potato famine in Ireland — by having poor people sell their children to rich folks who would eat the kids for dinner. He parodied arguments used to justify various ill-conceived social policies.
Erik Schut’s problem (assuming he is the person responsible) is that he can’t write at the same level as Jonathan Swift. It’s no suprise – very few can write that well.