Tyrese Gibson plays gay bad-ass in "Death Race"... or does he?

Like a lot of people, I was shocked when I heard they were remaking the 1975 trash classic Death Race 2000. After all, the premise of the original was just so far-fetched:

"The film is set in the year 2000, when the United States has been destroyed by a financial crisis and a military coup, and the United Provinces (a fascist police state) rules America, keeping the people satisfied by feeding a stream of gory gladiatorial entertainment. The political parties have collapsed into a single Bipartisan Party, which also fulfills the religious functions of a unified church and state.

See, there's no way anything like that could ever happen ... right?

Anyway, when I heard more about this production, I was intrigued and appalled. Appalled because it's directed by hack Paul W.S. Anderson, who I'll never forgive for destroying the Resident Evil film franchise, and because of the unfathomable words "And Joan Allen as the warden". Seeing one of our great actresses slumming it like this, the only words that come to mind are "I'm gonna haul ass to Lollapalooza!" (and my undying love to whoever gets that reference).

But I was also intrigued, because the star is the ultra hot Jason Statham, and because there was going to be a gay character in the film, played by Tyrese Gibson.

The model/musician/actor has shown very ugly flashes of homophobia in the past, so to see him playing a gay role is jarring, to say the least. In fact, even though almost review and article about this remake mentions that his character is gay, he insists that it's not the case, which means he's either hilariously oblivious, or didn't realize what he was getting himself into. Sorry, Tyrese, but I'm going to believe your character is gay, as much as that might irk you (and because it might irk you).

He plays "Machine Gun" Joe, one of the toughest prisoners/racers in the movie, and the fact that he's (allegedly?) gay is brought up briefly, but has nothing to do with the actual story, and isn't brought up again (which I have to admit, is kinda refreshing). We have an actual gay character who's sexuality isn't the focal point of who he is, and is treated matter-of-factly.

What's even more shocking about this character is what happens later in the film, and you can read those SPOILERS after the break (and when I say SPOILERS, I'm going to reveal what happens at the end of the movie, so don't make the jump if you don't want to know!).

Okay, but don't say i didn't warn you...

The gay guy survives!

That's right, a gay character in a an action film survives, along with the hero. Of course, he has to take out a few dozen people along the way, but the movie is called Death Race, not Happy Puppies Frolicking.

Did anyone happen to actually see this movie over the weekend? Any thoughts? (and t/y to Brock for the tip!)