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Viva Homophobia! VH1's telenovela reality show highlights, rewards anti-gay attitudes with its same-sex kiss challenge
Walter Mercado We've mentioned VH1's newest reality offering, Viva Hollywood!, a few times because of its colossal camp value: in this competition, a handful of aspiring telenovela stars suffer through the Seven Deadly Sins of hilariously over-the-top Spanish-language soaps for the chance at a television contract with Telemundo, with the help of a bizarre assortment of camp icons ranging from Charo to Walter Mercado. But last night's second installment was anything but hospitable to gay viewers. When the "Lust" challenge asked two of the men to act out a same-sex love scene, one of the stupidly macho contestants, Vicni, flew into a hissyfit of epically childish proportions. Guest judge Christian de la Fuente eventually talked him into not leaving the house (yes, he was actually going to quit the show rather than have to play a gay character in a two-minute scene and had locked himself in the bathroom to cry about it) and Vinci essentially rewrote the scene to make his character straight, leaving scene partner Berto (also straight, but not an idiotic bigot) to essentially carry the scene by himself. Berto won the challenge and ironically picked Vinci to share his prize, a $10,000 shopping spree at some clubwear store in Encino (hey, this ain't Extreme Makeover Home Edition). Vinci would probably have a vaca if he saw his picture on a gay site
Interestingly, the other guys in the house tried to talk Vinci back from the brink, telling him he was overreacting to the extreme and that any good actor would be able to separate fact from fiction. When Geovannie pointed out that when he played a gay character in a play his own father was surprisingly supportive, Vinci fired back that no Latino father would ever support seeing his son play a gay person, and then accused Geo of being gay himself before leaving the dinner table in a huff. Wow. 2008, folks. And he's from Miami! But here's the annoying bit: somehow, Vinci isn't picked as the loser of the challenge. Despite throwing the entire show into disarray, rewriting his scene, and being blatantly homophobic, he was for some reason given a pass by the producers and judges. Considering that the challenge was to portray lust and he removed the lust from his scene, I don't see how they can justify not choosing him as the loser, and it's clear they just kept him around because he's going to stir up more drama later (they wound up getting rid of one of the less volatile characters). I've got no beef with reality TV, especially when it reveals some interesting truths about human nature, as Vinci's histrionics over playing gay probably did. But the problem comes when that bad behavior is rewarded for the sake of "good television", which only sends a message that this kind of lack of respect is okay as long as you're dynamic enough to carry it. I for one won't be watching any more of this show, which is a shame. I mean, we really don't get enough Walter Mercado, right? I'm also going to miss seeing Carlos Ponce every week. Is it just me or could he and Raul Esparza have been separated at birth? Carlos Ponce and Raul Esparza You can check out some outtakes from the whole gay-panicky mess after the jump. Submitted by on Mon, 2008-04-21 08:58. |
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eh....
that doesn't really surprise me. This is VH1 that we are talking about and we actually seem to live in a society that rewards people for being asses or doing jackshit...or doing jail time...and drugs.
one interesting and sickening example would be those 5-6 girls that beat up another girl in Florida. (the cheerleaders) I mean, people from the Dr. Phil show decided they wanted those girls on the show and we all know damn well why. it wasn't so they could re-create the scene. ratings anyone? the bigger picture is...."hey, if you make a total jackass of yourself, we'll bail you out....pay you money to come and do this for us!"
i just love our society. sometimes i am not surprised other countries look down on us so much. we're so...awesome! *end sarcasm*
why is this person allowed
why is this person allowed to be broadcast into peoples homes?
what an idiotic, bigot. he has made himself look stupid and im sure his family are really proud of him!!!
Recycled Vinci should be quite hip to the gays by now....
....as for several years his sorry butt has been appearing in International Male and Undergear catalogs wearing more mesh man panties, pirate shirts, and short-shorts that even the most stereotypical Castro gay has even seen in a lifetime.
While I have not watched this telenovela competiton, being the pop trash encyclopedia that I am, I also recognized Vinci from Ocean & 8th, MTV's first stab at creating a better than reality product that it wound up perfecting via Laguna Beach and The Hills.
http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/8th_and_ocean/series.jhtml
The link will take you to the website for this show, which aired 2-4 years ago for one season. The basic premise was to put a bunch of hot young male and female models, and one of them was Vinci. MTV's website describes the idiot as follows:
"This Puerto Rican transplant is one of the most in-demand models in Miami--despite his arrogant and difficult behavior he books the gigs time after time although he is known to be a no-show to many. Vinci's good-looking and he knows it--so what if his agency constantly has to apologize for him? Time will tell if even Vinci can go too far..."
I am totally in agreement with Brian's take about bad behavior being tolerated, and actually rewarded, for the sake of alleged good TV. The folks at VH1 certainly knew who they took on with Vinci as he was a total douche (excuse my words) way back in the day.
I am currently writing a piece focusing on a pattern of homophobia shown/rewarded in reality shows that couple as talent shows. It's one thing for MTV to throw in a homophobe in a show like The Real World than it is on a show that is picking the best of the litter. More on this later.
Now I am going to have to watch the show just to see it for myself. A great punishment/challenge for a Vinci-like contestant would be to be forced to do a nude love scene with Walter Mercado (more fey than Sigfield and Roy combined) or do a nasty Fear Factor-like mess. Failure to perform either task would call the their immediate dismissal ;-)
Coming attractions: Guillermo's Cultural Guillotine
http://springintoaction.typepad.com/cultural_guillotine/
VH1
I really don't think failing to eliminate this Vinci guy has anything to do with homophobia. VH1 is notorious for keeping the most trainwrecky characters on their reality shows long after they should have been sent home. It's all about the drama, and contestants who create a huge ruckus make for excellent television. You can see this time and again on VH1's shows, most recently with the horrific Rocky on I Know My Kid's a Star.
Not Very Inspirational
hahaha
I think that Vinci the homophobe was quite good in his scene
As such, I am not so sure that I agree that whatever homophobic rantings and ravings may have taken place should speak louder than his performance when it comes to this type of show if we take it as a talent competition. Since I have not seen the episode, I'd be more concerned about how they address that many of the contestants don't speak English OR Spanish very well.
I agree with AnnieO that many times the most difficult/annoying (Omorosa anyone?) contestants wind up being kept on much longer than even more talented counterparts because they keep us rubber-neckers glued to the TV. This applies to almost every show and don't see it as a VH1-only phenomenon.
Reading the recap does remind me that if there are any true unnaceptable homophobes in this case, it may be VH1 and the show's executive producers as they concocted a challenge that exploited the gay element knowing which participants would be uncomfortable/hostile about it. They even have a dosssier on Vinci from his previous MTV series.
Why even explore/exploit something that we know does not happen in telenovelas or daytime soaps in the US? Give them garlic before kissing, make fart noises on the set, partner them up with people that they don't get along with, make them wear revealing clothes, or read lines as bad as those written by ATWT hacks, as any of these will create enough tension without going to the gay well to explore how the participants react to challenging situations.
Reality TV competitions need not try so hard as the participants are geared to go to get their close-ups. If they cast the right explosion, the tension will come on its own and it does not look so heavy handed....
Coming attractions: Guillermo's Cultural Guillotine
http://springintoaction.typepad.com/cultural_guillotine/