Merchandising hate: Gay Vito shills for pool cues

Hey, remember when Jodie Foster did those ads for pinball machines after winning the Oscar for The Accused? No? Oh, right. That's because that's an unimaginably sick concept.

Almost.

Now that his Sopranos character has been whacked and the series ended (ruling out flashback or haunting opps), Joseph R. Gannascoli has got to find something to do. The actor, who played "Gay Vito" in the show's most prominent and mostly sympathetic gay storyline, ended his long run on the show on a high note, in terms of his character's visibility (having gone from background goon to juicy featured character).

So Gannascoli's recent acts and the low note they represent in terms of gay visibility are all the more disgusting. It seems that the actor, eager to capitalize on his 15 minutes of gay-induced fame, has lent his name (and Vito's signature) to a line of pool cues. Which would be a non-event, were it not for the fact that his character was beaten and raped with a pool cue after it was discovered that he was gay.

Just to be clear: this guy is cashing a check by shilling for a product that was used to murder and sodomize his character for being gay. It's gay-bashing merchandise, plain and simple: what, is Fred Phelps in marketing now? What's more, the pool cue comes with the tagline, "A Cue to Die For," suggesting that it would somehow be worth being murdered and raped with.

Shameless opportunism is tacky enough as it is, but this is just sick. And even if you remove the gay element from the equation, the subject matter is still highly inappropriate. It's not like this was a horror movie where the deaths are meant to be entertaining and laughed about around a billiards table.

GLAAD is calling for the company behind the cue to pull the marketing, but I think any goodwill Gannascoli may have earned from gay fans for his sensitive portrayal of his tragic character has been pulled already.