Back in November, months before he went on a bizarre naked rampage on the streets of San Diego, happily married Invisible Children founder Jason Russell spoke to the flock at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. (Still think there’s no connection between Kony 2012 and right-wing fundamentalists?)
We’re not gonna say Russell comes off gay in this clip—mainly because we don’t have to: Russell pretty much outs himself with his slow-leak sibilant esses and talk of “making Hollywood musicals like Moulin Rouge and Chicago and Hairspray.”
Even weirder than the obvious gay undertones here is how casually Russell makes humorous asides about genocide in Africa. There’s something seriously off with this guy.
Of course, we’d say that about anyone who’d set foot on Liberty University.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Stephen
It’s a shame he’s repressed. What a great voice he would have been for the comm if he came out way sooner. …… and a total cutie. There, my gay comment of the day and it’s only 12pm. Yay gay.
Rooney
“We can’t do musicals, so let’s do genocide!”
The motto of repressed lunatics everywhere, isn’t it?
“We can have fun ending genocide!”
I don’t for a moment believe this crazy fucker has ever seen a mass grave. If you’re remotely human it will give you PTSD forever. You cannot have fun ending genocide, unless you’re completely off your nut and pumped full of drugs.
Brad
Why does it matter that he may be gay???
John
OMG…musicals? I’m gay and proud and I’d never utter those words. What a queen!
doomsday1038
@Brad: My thoughts exactly,it’s a same that the gay media has been trashing this poor guy and ll he wants to do is help african children.
Elisa
Jason’s parents own and run a very successful christian theatre company in San Diego. He grew up around nothing but musicals. Doesnt make him gay….just makes him awesome.
mike128
You know what? Let’s stop talking about gay men’s speech patterns as if they are somehow feminine or not “manly”. If this is the way that gay men speak, let’s be proud of it. I am tired of the continued shaming of gay speech (i.e. “he opens his mouth and a purse falls out”). This guy’s voice is actually really sexy (whether he’s gay or not, and even if his politics are unattractive). As gay men, many of us feared being identified through the way we spoke, so we valued a voice that was more “butch” or “straight”. I really think we need to get over that vestige of homophobia.
Marie Cohn
“We can have fun while we end genocide.” Oh, Mary!
Joetx
1. Disgusting is not a strong enough word to describe these guys’ reaction to genocide.
2. Mr. Russell may not have said anything anti-gay himself, but look at the company he keeps. Liberty University? Seriously?
It’s time we stopped giving him the benefit of the doubt.
3. Queerty, stop it with the insinuation that this sleazebag is gay!
Chuck
The man makes Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel look butch by comparison.
shle896
GAY GAY GAY & HOT HOT HOT! Damn, he is HOT as HELL! Yum!
shle896
@Brad: It matters because he puts himself out there as a married, christian, conservative heterosexual and he’s speaking at perhaps the most anti-gay “university” in the country full of people who hate and discriminate against gay people. It matters very much. It’s called hypocrisy.
Brad
@shle896: We ask people not to peek into our closets, and unless he has somehow shamed homosexuals (and I see nothing to suggest he has), we should stay out o his. If we were all judged by the company we keep I think we’d all rot in hell.
John
I can’t put my finger on it, but there is something REALLY inauthentic about this guy…the flippant way he discusses genocide, the apparent ease with which he gins up publicity for himself and his group using atrocities in Uganda, his glib pronouncements and slick, media-savvy tone covering up an agenda which is evidently very self-serving (not the actions of someone who works for a legitimate charity). And then we see him having a naked public meltdown on the streets in San Diego, right after his publicity campaign achieves success beyond anyone’s wildest dreams…it just doesn’t make any sense.
Charlie in Charge
@mike128: Totally agree. We don’t like it when commercials/movies/TV make a guy with a sibilant S out to be a joke.
Take him down for something he does that is harming people, not for sounding gay, or having “gay face,” or whatever other self-hating crap the “str8-acting” crowd cooks up.
MikeE
HE BROKE MY GAYDAR!!!!!!!
Codswallop
His wife and “people” have stated that his meltdown wasn’t drug or alcohol related. (Meth seemed like a possible explanation to me.) Assuming that’s true (and I’m not saying it is) then it was likely to have been one humdinger of a bipolar manic episode. People who are “exhausted” don’t take of their clothes and run out to jack off and hit the sidewalk. If you read the statements from his group’s co-religionists about his “unusual” thinking processes and approach to issues and problems they dovetail quite nicely with “manic-depression.”
In other words, this boy ain’t right! At least when not on medication.
And gay or not he was working that sidewalk like a b*tch-diva drag queen.
Chuck
“The man’s as gay as a picnic basket.” -Sophia Petrillo
LittIe,Kiwi
he’s not gay. he’s a closeted homosexual. there’s a difference. it takes balls to be gay.
Kevin in Cincy
I just saw the disturbing, “up close” version of Mr. Russell’s naked implosion on the net and found it to be extremely uncomfortable to watch (and more than a little telling). It was like watching someone who — after repressing their TRUE (EXTREMELY effeminate) homosexual nature all their life — suddenly explodes into a deranged, foul-mouthed, over-the-top queen (w/all the stereotypical physical and affectional mannerisms fighting to come out at once). BIZARRE by any standards. I honestly felt a little sorry for the guy and even worse for watching his “coming out”(?) meltdown. Anyone else get that vibe? Cute as he may be (and whatever you think of his philanthropic integrity), Dude’s got some SERIOUS issues, that’s for sure…
Kevin in Cincy
@Codswallop: That last sentence hit the NAIL ON THE HEAD…
JayKay
When the uncensored version of his weird little naked freak-out shows up, let me know. Until then, I don’t care.
Erik
He’s as believable as a straight man as Nicki Minaj is with blond hair. Like coloring your hair or wearing a wig, you can pretend to be something you’re not. There are gay people who do it their entire lives, presenting a false face to the world. But you can’t change what’s underneath.
lika
He’s “gayer than laughter” for sure, a quote from his favorite old-timey musical South Pacific.
Skyman123
I love how all you queens here get your panties in a bunch when a reference is made to “gay speech patterns” or “gay hand movements”. The first words in my International Business class for my MBA was “Stereotypes exist for a reason.” So don’t get all uppity when someone points out that this guy puts sssss in genocide. Whether you like it or not, there are signals and we give them off. For some, it’s called gaydar, for others it’s just being observant.
You can use stereotypes in positive, cultural ways. Get over it and yourselves. Next time ask yourself, you made YOU the PC police? I don’t need your help defending myself, I can do it just fine because I don’t like your sanctimoniousness about it all. Not unlike Evangelical Christians if you ask me. So stuff it already and enjoy the fun. Taylor is very “expressive” 🙂 I’m sure someday he’ll come out if he’s gay. And if not, it’s fun to speculate and tease because he made himself a very public figure.
Nick
Who’s Taylor?
The Realist
@Skyman123: Thank you skyman. Like it or not, there is such a thing as “gay speak”. We all know it and i dare say we, all, can and do speak it. My problem is defining it as masculine or feminine.
Shannon1981
He needs to look in a mirror and wake up. Nobody believes your marriage is real, Jason. And while you are at it…get psychiatric help
Franco
Queerty is seriously gunning for this guy. I don’t understand why they just don’t let him fade into obscurity.
Danny
Imagine how f*cked up you’d be if you were a closet case and if your parents turned out homophobic but ran a Christian theater that did musicals all the time.
Then imagine if the people around you pretended you weren’t gay out of denial even if you were gayer than springtime flowers cascading off a go-go boy float at pride. Then you fool yourself into thinking “yeah, everyone thinks I’m straight… I’m fooling everyone” only to discover that when your “campaign” goes viral and the rest of the world sees you the protective layer of b.s. about how “straight” you are comes crashing down when confronted with the real world saying “Queen, please… whatu takin’ that you think you foolin’ anybody?”
Under those circumstances a mental breakdown would happen. And so what happened?…
Kevin in Cincy
@Danny: TEE-HEE! Well Said, Madame… 😉
Mitch Trachtenberg
The irony here is incredible.
Here’s a heroic man, an incredible force for good. Because he likes musical theatre and doesn’t speak in “butch,” yet doesn’t choose to declare his sexuality one way or the other, a “gay” website trashes him at every opportunity.
After noting that he displays (with no apparent attempt to suppress them) characteristics associated with gay people, the gay web site encourages that he be ridiculed and trivialized for quoting bible verse about being joyful while doing God’s work, putting the very sensible thought into modern words — we can have fun while fighting genocide. Actually, if you’re planning on putting multiple years into a fight against something that’s very grim, you’d better figure out a way to get some joy out of the fight, or you’re probably going to give up, burnt out and bitter.
I confess it’s simply beyond me what’s wrong with that, as long as he’s actually working to end genocide, which he clearly is.
I confess I’m bewildered that a gay web site thinks it is a requirement that everyone declare their sexual preference.
I confess I’m bewildered that the comments on a gay web site don’t acknowledge that straight people can have gay-associated mannerisms or, more to the point, that a person’s sexuality is nobody’s business but their own until and unless they show active bigotry against gay people.
If I had to choose between Liberty University and the gay community right now, I suppose I’d choose the gay community, but I’d do it hoping it will someday learn to act with the decency of people like Jason Russell rather than the indecency shown these past few days by Queerty. After all, who wants to be associated with anti-gay bigotry, invasion of privacy, and a cynicism so deep that it blinds people to important matters of life and death, focusing their attention instead on the details of the sex life of some insta-celebrity ?
CBRad
@Franco: In this case I don’t blame them. The guy is so gay, so closeted, so unlikeable and that’s just to start, because the whole thing is so irresistably weird and grotesque.
CBRad
@Mitch Trachtenberg: I would generally agree with a lot of your points, but not in this case. I think you just don’t know enough about this Jason Russell character. He’s a deserving target. (And I’m someone who knows how wicked Queerty and its posters and the gay community can be regarding certain targets that don’t desrve it).
David
I totally thought he was gay until I heard he was married and I was “WHAT”? This guy is gayer than I am!
CBRad
@David: Yup, and Jason “Radical” Russell (as he calls himself) says he wants to have nine more kids with his “best friend” (wife).
Mark
I don’t understand why Queerty is attacking the guy? What exactly has he done that is his homophobic?
Also, how is Queerty not being a bully by assuming that the guy is gay based on his voice or mannerisms?
I have yet to see or hear anything from this man that is anti-gay gay.
Does his organization receive funding from Christian fundamentalist? Yes. But, where has his organization done anything homophobic??
I’m very disappointed in the coverage of someone who is obviously ill. He experienced a psychotic or manic episode. You then took the manifestation of ill health and lept to conclusions about him.
This is sad.
I’m all for outing homophobes but you have no basis in fact to attack him
Bill
@John: You hit the nail on the head. Excellent analysis.
Mark
@CBRad:
How is he deserving? I’ve yet to read a single homophobic thing that he’s done.
The man is being attacked because he says he’s straight yet has some so-called gay affectations. How is this not the kind of crap that gays are always saying is bigoted?
Mark
Queerty,
I’m reminded of the movie Billy Elliot in which a straight lad was derided for dancing because it was considered to be “gay.”
The guy might be associated with Right Wingers but what has he done that is homophobic?!! Point it out for us.
tj
And gay or not he was working that sidewalk like a b*tch-diva drag queen.
…
All I could think was WERQ Gurl!
Christopher
@Brad: He is speaking at Liberty University
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/liberty-university-hosting-two-day-anti-gay-conference
And that’s only one example.
cynch
Liberty University was founded by the racist huckster Jerry Falwell. People forget that Falwell made a name for himself by preaching that segregation was the Lord’s will. He did this in opposition to Martin Luther King at the height of the Civil Rights movement.
Falwell got into education during desegregation. He founded a whites only private academy that was created with the express purpose of circumventing desegregation efforts. They actually closed public schools in VA to avoid mixing races, and Falwell was part of the whites only movement. He set up Liberty University a few years later.
That Russell in so deeply involved with a Christian dominionist movement that has such a disgraceful history is one more reason to be skeptical of his motives.
Andrew
@Mark: Amen! Queerty, I didn’t think your much-hyped relaunch would mean MORE bitchy posts insulting people who have done nothing to offend the gay community. I’m not saying Invisible Children is doing God’s work, but they’re sure as hell better people than you are.
*Queerty bookmark deleted
The Realist
@Mark: The KONY 2012 campaign is working in concert with the same people and organizations that brought the “Kill the Gays” bill To Uganda. Plus, they are working with a government that came into power doing the very same things KONY did. The same money funding KONY 2012 is funding the “Kill the Gays” hate.
TransAustralian
WTF is a gay man doing speaking at a homophobic institution like Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University? And he IS clearly a gay man, it’s just that he’s so deeply closeted he’s in narnia. And I don’t get the sense that he cares about genocide at all – the way he jokes about it is disgusting – it’s all about his ego and having a platform. Congratulations to Queerty for exposing this man’s hypocrisy.
dave
Yep, completely and utterly gay, and also, a drug user judging by the “breakdown” video. The type of guy who sneaks out to gay cruising areas late at night, and you might wonder why such a hot guy had to creep around for sex surreptitiously. Thank religious cults and what they do to people’s thought processes. A younger much better looking Ted Haggard.
Evan
I love the gay ‘woo woo’ at the end. That’s going to be my new rally call.
CBRad
@Andrew: LOL. “Queerty bookmark deleted”. I love how guys decide to take the high-road with these gay blogs over something like this, when they just smiled along when David Hauslaib practically said Imus deserved his getting cancer because he said “nappy-headed hoes.” Don’t come stepping into the gutter here, and then try to act lofty.
Pete
To those criticising Queerty: get off your high horses. Jason Russell is a ridiculous, hypocritical, drug-affected queen. He disgusts me. A gay man speaking at such a homophobic institution as Liberty University deserves all the ridicule in the world. And I don’t think for one second that he really cares about genocide. Look that the light-hearted way he jokes about it. He basically admits in the video that he made a doco about genocide because faggy musicals didn’t work out for him. Pathetic.
CBRad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWACLKaOC08&feature=player_embedded And, again, you’ve all seen THIS, right?? Talk about three messiah-complex ego gays !
Pete
P.S. If you want to feel sorry for anyone, feel sorry for his wife and child!
CBRad
@Pete: And even if we negate any issue whatsoever, that whole cause/organization/movement of his is highly questionable. That’s a whole topic of its own.
CBRad
@CBRad: Any “gay issue”, I meant to say.
Pete
CBRad – LOL @ that video! What a bunch of ridiculous egotistical queens! I’m just floored at the hubris of it.
CBRad
@Pete: Isn’t it….almost astounding ??! And that line about “..sparkle and shine…” !
dave
Most woman who marry gay men like Jason Russell know exactly what they are getting into when they take advantage of these cult-brainwashed gay men. These women don’t get married to get drilled nightly by an insensitive smelly straight men (like most women). They do it because they want to share a home and life with one of their professionally-successful & sensitive best friends that she shares many interests in like fashion and travel. Basically she is taking advantage of the social corner he is trapped in. The woman is just as much a villain as the homophobic married gay man. I have seen it many times, and can recognize it in an instant. It usually ends badly, as the male sex drive will not be repressed long term.
Timmmeeeyyy
Chris Sarette, the VP of Business Operations at Invisible Children, is openly gay. He says “Invisible Children’s work concerns a human rights issue, and has attracted supporters, employees, and board members who otherwise sit on different sides of the aisle on many other issues. Invisible Children is not an anti-gay organization, and has in fact publicly spoken out against acts of violence on members of the GLBT community in Uganda. Hate in any form is counterproductive to our mission.”
Timmmeeeyyy
Any NGO trying to make a difference in Uganda must interact with the key players (homophobic or not) if they want to affect change. Simply throwing up your arms and refusing to work with antigay forces in Uganda will accomplish nothing. Building relationships allows the opportunity for negotiation and change.
duane
@Timmmeeeyyy: But the current gov’t in Uganda isn’t just homophobic. The current regime has its own record of human rights abuses, including the use of child soldiers. Why does Invisible Children give Museveni a pass for attacking civilians and using child soldiers?
CBRad
@Timmmeeeyyy: In fairness, that’s some good defense you raise. And possible. But I’d still have to see more evidence of all that to believe it’s more than just wishful thinking. From everything I really do know about the guy (and his self-presentation) I just cant’ stand him nor trust him.
Joe
I THINK THEY’RE MORE AFRAID OF BEING AUDITED THAN THE PURSE FALLING OUT OF HIS MOUTH. THEIR HAND CAUGHT IN THE PURSE WILL BE WORSE. THAT EQUALS JAIL TIME. THEN HE REALLY WILL HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT HIS ANAL VIRGINITY. 🙂
Paul
Yeah…would so fuck the shit out of him. Crazy or not.
FunMe
In the link below there are one person’s comments that make me lean toward Jason being a repressed gay and doing crystal meth to deal with it.
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2012/03/source-jason-russell-broke-down-cause-hes-closet-gay/
“I went to high school with Jason in a redneck suburb of San Diego and was a brief member of his parent’s Christian Youth Theater, a breeding ground for closet gays. Everyone remembers the most flaming guy from high school. That was Jason. When he ran for student body president his slogan was “hustle, hustle, vote for Russell.” Enough said?
And to add, understand that his parents’ creepy fun-house theater comprises his whole social/support network. That bff he calls his wife, all his friends, etc are all cultish and anti-gay. Friends of friends all tell me people in his family have had problems with meth, as a shining example of why our hometown was once voted meth capital of the world by whom I’m not sure. Our consensus on why this happened is obvious: he’s a gay tweaker. Meth exaggerates behavior so any gay tendencies tend to come out, so to speak. BTW I don’t hate gays or Christians just liars and phonies.”
AND of course the article quote somone from Russell’s inner circule saying:
“one of the board members is so in denial they all are standing by the dehydration & stress story…. she actually suggested it was “sick” for saying it could be anything more… i told her out of compassion that if they continue to treat him with gatoraid lol & prayer hes likely to end up in a bad situation… as in he needs mental health care & or drug intervention because lets fact it that was no act of dehydration malnutrition and stress… i was diagnosed when i came back from xxxxxx dehydrated & mal nurished i had enlarged liver because of this & my mind was in no way altered like his was in the video… i honestly believe hes closet gay & its that secret thats eating him up & i truly fear for his life… mental or drugs whatever mixed with that kind of inner turmoil is a recipe for suicide or other harmful behavior.’ “
FunMe
@dave: Imagine all the good he would promote if he would finally come out of the closet and declare the HARM these religious cults cause by pressuring their GLBT sons and daughters to be someone they are not. He would be so much happier … and shine millions of spotlights on all those anti-gay hates groups that have no place in a civilized society.
FunMe
@Evan: along with “hustle, hustle … vote for Russell”
FunMe
@CBRad: Oh my gosh, that is SO BAD … and SO 1980s! What the heck was that?
Funniest line: “It needs attention and a dance to make it sparkle and shine” . . . just as bad as “hustle, hustle, vote for Russell”
Chuck
@FunMe: Yes, and it would also be a lot more meaningful because that is something he actually knows about from first hand experience. Aside from a big ego, what exactly does he know about the plight of African people? I imagine their reaction to Jason and these videos is something akin to the warlord in Broadway’s ‘Book of Mormon’ play, “What thee fuck is this?”
Scott Marabillas
@Brad: I am gay and a Christian (and Buddhist and Pentecostal). Yes, exactly. What is the problem here, folks? If this gay-appearing man was even allowed to step foot on this campus, that means that Jerry fucking Falwell is rolling in his grave right now. (He IS dead, right?) And, furthermore, if the guy is even ATTEMPTING to end genocide, OMG, then let it happen!!! It’s absolutely OK if someone is using an odd medium to do it.
Brad
@Christopher: Speaking at Liberty University does not make one anti-gay, nor does it make one a homophobe. The acts of the founders of that school have no bearing on the people who study there or speak there. How could one possibly use that argument to paint someone in that light. Using that very logic, anyone who eats at Chick-Fil-A is now a homophobe or anti-gay. I think not. It’s a very slippery slope to imply these associations – we fight them every day.
wayne
@Scott Marabillas: Re: “And, furthermore, if the guy is even ATTEMPTING to end genocide, OMG, then let it happen!!!”
The problem with Invisible Children’s attempt to end genocide is it supports groups that have committed the EXACT SAME atrocities as the man they say they’re trying to stop. This includes genocide and the use of child soldiers. You can’t stop genocide if you support a government that is committing a slow motion genocide on its own people.
Leo
He lives in Narnia with hubby Prince Caspian lol ^^
tjr101
I must admit my gaydar does go off watching this guy, but then again I have been wrong on many occasions. Some of my straight friends sound like they have pearls in their mouth but are quite honest and comfident in their sexuality.
Chipsy
Repression doesn’t make anyone go on a bizarre naked rampage. Meth does.
CBRad
@Leo: Like that femmy thing could ever get anyone as hot as Prince Caspian..
JoeyB
His wife now says he suffers from “psychosis”. Huh. I guess it did not get better for him! Huh. Burp.
J Stratford
Gays,
There is nothing wrong with having a gay face or a gay lisp!!!
You folks use qualities that are mostly associated with gays as pejorative. Don’t be self-hating! Many people already hate us as it is. We don’t need to hate each other as well.
ankieGirlie
@Kevin in Cincy:
Oh yeah..
sock puppet
The Kony2012 video is a fake. Kony has been dead for at least 5 years. It’s designed to gain support to send UN forces into Africa to continue the genocide that has already begun and to steal all of Africa’s resources. Also Bill gates has been killing millions of Africans with those “aids” vaccines and he is also helping to promote the fake video.
KennethConway
You would think a site like Queerty would know how to spell the plural of “penis”!
Rooney
@sock puppet:
Dude, whatever you’re smoking, it’s some of that noxious home-made stuff the war on drugs caused, isn’t it? Krokodil?
sock puppet
@Rooney whatever its happening all around you and you can’t even see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yDsKYy-Hls&feature=youtube_gdata_player
sock puppet
@Rooney: whatever its happening all around you and you can’t even see it. http://www.youtube.com/watch? v…..ata_player
truth
@Elisa: is family forced him into straight -therapy and that “successful” theatre company in San Diego is a terrible company that does not help kids grow into good human beings.
I know a bunch of people who currently work with that company and who used to… It’s a terribly run company.
when Jason was forced into straight-therapy it caused a huge rift in the company and many people stopped working for them.
He is a gay man forced into the closet. such a shame.
Seaguy
Come out of the closet dude! Maybe then those spells of nudity and freaking out will stop??
wayne
New video shows the Invisible Children people pissing away their last shred of credibility as they joke about keeping the money.
http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/27/invisible-children-jedidiah-jenkins-donation-haiti-1-million/#.T3Iq3tWiaSq
kevin
@mike128: thank you
Alexi3
I’ve been thinking about all this for some time and this is all I have to say. Right or wrong the first time I heard Russell speak I assumed he was Gay, had thoughts about how attracted I was to him, and felt sorry for him. I attended a university that, at the time, was every bit as intolerant as Liberty University and I know the kind of pressures that are brought to bear to make you and everyone around you pretend that black is white. After the second semester of my Sophmore year I couldn’t take the hypocracy any longer and I transfered to a secular university. The person I really was could not be acknowledged and the person I pretended to be was praised. However, many students and some professors could not break free and continued to live a lie for the rest of their lives. Don’t underestimate the strength of the fear that a fundamentalist background can instill. What made it easier for me unlike most of my classmates and Jason Russell was the fact that my parents weren’t religous at all and so all I had to do was leave a repressive school to free myself. Jason’s case is far more complicated and I feel genuine compassion for the man. He is clearly a tortured soul and in need of help and for someone to understand him and his situation and to show him the way out before something truly tragic happens. I would hope that we, who should understand, would be at least willing to try and empathize with a man in obvious pain.
mike
OK. So, if he isn’t queer the I’m not either. Whew! Girlfriend needs a reality check.
Ryan D
The guy is GAY GAY GAY GAY. Musicals. Gay voice. This clothes. His hand gestures. His hair. The way he speaks (word choices, syntax). He’s gayyyyyyy. I’d bet all my Munayy on it.
Ryan D
He’s not hot imo. Has that Stepford Wives look about him. Creepy.
He does not need to be outed, that closet door is off the hinges just w/ this video clip alone. He makes the teacher on South Park look like Chuck Norris.
neostud
@Brad: Because living a lie can break the human spirit. It will swallow you whole.