Does Jimmy Kimmel Have a Problem with Gays?

The video isn’t offensive exactly, and it’s not homophobic, at least not to anyone with a sense of humor. But it’s decidedly old school. After all, how many gay men actually paint their toes or wear short-shorts? Once again, it’s a frat-boy take on gay humor, much the way Jimmy Kimmel Live dealt with the news that their network, ABC, had been named the most “gay-friendly” network by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (or GLAAD): first, there’s the obligatory Ryan Seacrest joke, then a series of obvious visuals gags about men dancing and skipping.

Traditionally, this has been par for the course in American comedy. If a joke involves gay content, it’s either an insult putting someone down, usually for being non-traditionally masculine in some way, or it’s a punch line involving show tunes or some other obvious gay stereotype.

“Hacky is a term professional comedians use with disdain, meaning jokes or a manner that has no originality or wit,” out comedian Bob Smith wrote in a recent article for AfterElton.com. “One of the most hacky bits about gay people on a recent television program was Jimmy Kimmel's correspondent Pablo Suzuki's live report from Los Angeles' gay pride parade. In it, Pablo interviewed the freakiest gay people he could find, two of them having — get this — foreign accents, a sure-fire laugh for hack comedians for the past hundred years.”

Compare Kimmel’s style of humor with almost any comedy bit by his girlfriend Sarah Silverman. “Everybody blames the Jews for killing Christ,” Silverman says. “And then the Jews try to pass it off on the Romans. I’m one of the few people that believe it was the blacks.”

Like Stephen Colbert, Silverman acts out a comic persona, that of a clueless bigot. Her humor can seem offensive, but only if you ignore the subversive element. The true object of a Sarah Silverman joke isn’t the minority person, but the bigot who holds prejudicial views. The resulting joke isn’t just funnier; it seems fresher, far more contemporary.

Meanwhile, it’s crystal clear what Silverman really thinks, where her true sensibilities lie. With Kimmel, it’s not so easy to tell. The incident with Romijn seemed to reveal some serious discomfort with transgender issues and people.

It’s true that Kimmel gave a very friendly interview with out N’Sync star Lance Bass when he was on tour with his coming out memoir. Kimmel even went so far as to hold up a mock issue of People Magazine with him on the cover, which read, “I’m gay too!”

But then he told Bass, “I like you better now that you’re gay.” Does Kimmel really not know that gay people are “gay” even before they come out? More likely, this was just meaningless banter, but it wasn’t for nothing that Maxim voted Kimmel #2 on their list of the “Dudeliest Dudes” of 2007.

Kimmel got his start in the world of radio, not generally known for its tolerance or pro-gay views.

Later, he moved onto Comedy Central‘s The Man Show, where he was one of the original co-hosts. Known for its sexist humor (some of which was probably ironic), it regularly produced groan-worthy gay jokes like, “I'd rather be a gerbil on Fire Island during the Vaseline Day Parade than see that movie.”

In this typical Man Show sketch, Kimmel wonders if his son might be gay:

Not exactly gay-friendly, is it?