Richard Simmons' Tired Gay Minstrel Act Must End

Now they are called rap videos.

I honestly DON'T see richard simmons as stereotypically "gay"

I don't think I have ever thought that. maybe I need to get out more, but in my 22 years so far, i CAN'T EVER recall meeting a gay man that acts like richard.

Richard is, to me, just a very happy man with a loooooot of energy. a little too much effin energy.

as for the violent attitude, these people should go to a store, get a big blow up doll...go home and beat it. seriously. "get it out of your system!" is all i want to say.

 it's like a teenager, by themselves yelling in an empty room about how much they hate their mom and dad during the "You are ruining my life" phase. After they get done yelling and swearing...they usually feel much better.

how exactly is simmons "allow[ing] himself to be the object of violence or open ridicule and humiliation"?

from what i can tell, he's just being himself. if other people mock him, that's their problem not his. simmons has never conformed his behavior to blend in with the rest of society, and we should all respect him for that courage. it takes a lot to resist the misogynistic, homophobic standards of what a "good" man (or good gay man) ought to look like.

and, btw, what makes a minstrel show so offensive is its mockery of other people. when white men put on black face and acted in stereotypically "black" ways, they were trying to humiliate blacks. simmons is not pretending to "act gay" -- he's being genuinely himself, and he's mocking no one. it's *you* who are mocking *him*. and somehow that fact puts him in the wrong? you are way, way off on this one.

I have to agree with the premise that Simmons is a minstrel and that what he does is, and has been for decades, bad for the gay community.

Simmons actively plays up the gay stereotype.  It's not merely that he's not a particularly butch guy.  He very specifically plays a role that 90% of the American public generally associates with gays, regardless of how inaccurate that perception is.  I would bet money that a typical straight guy assumes that Simmons is gay, even though he himself denies it.

But going a step further, it is also true that Simmons' plays up to stereotype that swishy, effeminate men are, and should be, be objects of ridicule from "real" men.  It's not that he's an effeminate man but asks for respect.  Oh no, his whole routine knowingly plays up the idea that masculine men should be revolted by, and possibly react violently to, effeminate men.  At the very best his routine argues that "sissy" guys are something to laugh at and make fun of.

If Simmons is indeed straight then this is especially offensive, just as Eddie Murphy's SNL skits back in the 80's were.  But Murphy at least has mostly moved on to other material so far as I know.  Simmons continues to play the same tired schtick, and indeed seems to be playing it even more prominently now.

Richard Simmons is indeed a pain. Contrast him with Carson Kressley whose speech and mannerisms are part and parcel of a full-integrated personality. His act is not about him, but the people he's helping out in his sundry shows and appearances. Simmons is all "Look at me!!!!!" But to what end? Paul Lynde was genuinely funny. Liberace had tons of charm -- that even those who didn't enjoy his pop/ "classical" schtick could recognize it. And then there's Quentin Crisp who turned his effeminacy into a very particular form of militancy -- in spite of his later decrying the gay movement. I think it all depends on how the joke falls. Is Dame Edna a minstrel? Possibly -- but a really good one. One thinks of her as a unique creation -- not just another drag queen. That "Shirley Q. Liquor" character on the other hand is a total disgrace. Meanwhile back in the real world there's poor Lawrence King. Tons of copy about his effeminate behavior but barely word one about his murderer, who we are therefore led to presume "normal." There's something deeply sick about this state of affair.

i guess my basic point is this:

how, exactly, does simmons "suggest, in a long outdated manner, that this behavior is something that merits disrespect"?

how, exactly, does simmons invite ridicule? just because big burly butch men like you find him (and feminine behavior in general) irritating does not mean that that his behavior "invites" or "suggests" or "merits" ridicule.

the real problem is that too often big burly butch gay men are ashamed of their more flamy brethren. and what i'm saying is that that attitude isn't cool. it's one thing for each guy to be who he really is, "straight acting" or super flamy or whatever. it's another thing for us to pretend that there's only one way to be as a man, and that traditionally feminine behavior is inherently an invitation to ridicule (instead of just being something you don't care for personally). that's my problem.

anything in particular you think i'm wrong on? what, specifically, in the article do you think i missed?

my main point is about effeminate behavior, regardless of sexual orientation. i'm not sure what rereading the article was supposed to do, but i just did it.

Isn't just that Simmons is a flamer.  That in and of itself is not really an issue.  It's that he consciously seeks out scenarios where is the butt of physical humor carrying the implication that the correct response to an effeminate man is verbal and/or physical hostility.

i get what you and brent are saying about simmons. i just disagree that by making people laugh with all his crazy antics (and, frankly, most of his stuff isn't even about making people laugh) it legitimates verbal and/or physical hostility against effeminate men. he makes people laugh because he's so outrageous. and it's not the same kind of laughter minstrels illicit, it seems to me. for one, simmons is not traditionally butch and simply putting on a flamy face for laughs. i mean, does lady bunny or dame edna invite ridicule at effeminate men? not really.... being funny and being effeminate doesn't mean that being effeminate itself is worthy of mockery. can't we all laugh at ourselves without inviting violence thereby?

afhickman

"It takes a village (to make Village People)"

Richard Simmons' brand of minstrelsy makes me uncomfortable. He's a throwback to another time and place--Franklin Pangborn without the talent. I would say the same thing if he were straight. As wtih mimes, tolerance has its limits. However, I believe he has already reached his sell-by date and will become increasingly less visible as his celebrity fades. There's no need to launch a campaign that would only put him back in the spotlight.

I come from the old school that does not like to see gays represented by sissys, weak men, flamers, limp wrists, fuss budgets, nasty hairdressers, prissy wedding planners, and other stereotypical obnoxious men in the media. I see it almost daily on TV and in movies (both old and new) and I don't like it because it is a lopsided view. These are negative images folks, they harm and perpetuate hate and disgust toward gay men, gay women and trans gendered people everywhere. Even for the stereotypical lesbians who are shown as super butch, burly and sexually aggressive too. Hollywood USES and feeds off these negative images to provoke emotions of disgust and repulsion... or get a cheap laugh.

Hollywood has always had a myopic view of what kind of people make up the homosexual community. The real problem is that there is NO balance of good solid citizens with strong moral values, dignity, class and upstanding lifestyle. How often do you see a character who just happens to be a gay man and not an AIDS patient, serial killer, mixed up gender freak or caricature of some weird sort. Again, Hollywood's idea of using gay men and women in their productions comes from a 14 year old male bully point of view. What alarms me is that so many men and woman in Hollywood's creative force are homosexual AND these negative attitudes continue to prevail in 2008! There is no balance here. Seeing all these unattractive stereotypes, flamers, prissy hairdressers, men with sequins, etc. in movies and TV is just a reinforcement that gay men and women are weird, confused, strange and obnoxiously different. Dare I say we all need to butch it up a bit?

And I suggest that the new crop of up and coming gay celebrities tone it down a notch or two. There is nothing wrong with being gay but that is not an excuse to act and dress like flamboyant emotional wrecks. This is just my opinion folks.

http://thegaygrouch.blogspot.com/

 

 

I have nothing against effeminate gay men. Richard Simmons is certainly effeminate. In his video's for weight loss you can clearly se it, but he doesn't use it for laughs. I've seen specials on TV where he could make you cry with his big heart trying to help people who were so overweight that they had given up on themselves and wanted to die. I have no problem with him being overly flamboyant on talk shows to get laughs, how else will he get the attention he wants? I think that he feels he needs to do this. Maybe he is straight, I know 2 straight men that are femme acting. I DO have a problem when he starts with those comercials that promote violiance against gay's. That is very uncool. whethear he is gay or straight is beside the point. Those comertials are disgusting and should never have been made. Dennis

decades to come. Like straight society LGT society comes in all shapes and sizes. And as society in general we should embrace them all.We are not discusing specifically about personal internal phobia of effeminate men by some gay men. Even if we are, obviously we can see where the internalize hatred comes from. I think we have to take the point of view from the entertainment industries. What's the purpose of having Simmons appear on their shows. Who their intented target of audiences are? Regardless of whether Simmons is gay or not and how he behave is not relevant. Rather who are these viewers that the corporations are buying airtime to sell their products? If the history of the shows like Lettermen, Kimmel or Leno was any indication, it not difficult to draw a conclusion what type of audiences these shows attract. Obviously the Simmons skits work otherwise there will not be repeated. Pandering to the emotion maturity equivalent to grade school boys are the specialties of these late night talk shows. Should I be caustiously optimistic that we are moving from bigotry to ignorance by larger society that we live in? Go tell it to Lawrence King's family.

. . .you know, when I was in the Marine Corps, when a fellow soldier who constantly screwed-up and made the rest of the platoon look bad, they used to throw what was called a 'blanket party'. . .

 . . .meaning, they would wait late at night while the marine was fast asleep, grab and wrap him up into his own bed linens, and proceed to open a can of 'whoop-ass' on him. . .

. . .thus, straighten the fellow up so he could fly right.

. . .'course this post is wryly tongue-in-cheek, but Richard Simmons has been long-overdue for a blanket party.

;-)

Tom

Been there, done that, bought the soundtrack!

"He can also be talented, quick-witted comedian and I, unlike many, often found him to be an appealing, seemingly big-hearted person. He showed some of that side last night in his interview with Kimmel." I couldn't agree more with everything you said. wonderfully worded. Thank you.