Sacha Baron Cohen allegedly helped teach a crowd of unsuspecting straight men about the wonderful world of "rip n strip" wrestling last week, and they ... weren't very impressed.

In what was most likely a scene from his upcoming film Bruno, in which he plays a gay fashion designer, a near riot erupted when a cage fight called "Blue Collar Brawlin" turned decidedly homoerotic:

"Producers said "there would be a romantic embrace," (police Sgt. Adam) Holland said. "They said it was kind of to essentially make fun, poke fun at wrestling _ two guys rolling around on the floor, all sweaty."

An elaborate array of mounted and handheld video cameras caught the crowd of 1,600's reaction as the two men "went right up to the line" of the city's morality laws, Holland said. The two men stripped down to their underwear, kissed and rubbed on each other, the sergeant said.

The audience, as well as local fighters drawn to take part in the show, became enraged. "It set the crowd off lobbing beers," Holland said. "They had beers in plastic cups. Those things can get some distance on them actually." Holland said it took officers about 45 minutes to clear the convention center, as the two actors sprinted away through a specially set-aside tunnel."

Priceless. I love how the cops says it went "right up to the line" of the morality laws ... I wonder what would be "crossing the line", nipple tweaking?

Of course, this wouldn't be the first time that Sacha Baron Cohen has outraged people to get a reaction. That was the formula of his blockbuster breakthrough Borat, and if he is indeed behind the prank, it looks like he's continuing it with this new movie. While Borat had a few scenes of gay interest (most notably when he told some old coot "In my country, we kill homosexuals", and the man responds with "Well, we're trying to do that here"), it looks like Bruno may be wall-to-wall awkward gay reactions. (Cohen's full-on gay makeout session with Will Ferrell at the climax of Talladega Nights was also based in the same humor.)

After the break, you can see the hilarious poster that lured the straight guys to the arena that night. $1 beer? I'm there!

Jake

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• It's no surprise to learn that Heath Ledger's death is hitting Jake Gyllenhaal hard. Jake, the godfather of Heath's daughter Matilda, is taking time away from the set of his new movie Brothers. According to People Magazine just how close the two men were was evidenced when:

During one intense early prison scene, Gyllenhaal jokingly reached into his pocket and took out a picture of his Brokeback beau to stick on the prison wall. "Like those prisoners put [loved ones] on the wall, but Jake's was Heath Ledger," one set source recalls. "That was hilarious. It was a nice moment."

The source adds, "When you think back on it now, it's touching."

• We linked to Cheyenne Jackson's star cameo turn in the [title of show] show Christmas episode, but he's back and more foul-mouthed than ever in the hilarious new ep. I can't get enough of these guys, with or without profanity-spewing Broadway mancandy! (PS - I never want to hear "peanut butter haystack" and "rusty trombone" used in the same conversation again.)

• How do I make this one safe for work ... the gay porn actor who made a brief but memorable appearance as Borat's son in that movie with the really long title has reportedly undergone gender reassignment and now "Stonie" is Brittany Coxxx. The kicker? She's still a porn actor, making Coxxx one of the very few (if not only) porn actors who has worked as both a male and a female.

• Okay, how many times can this New York Magazine item refer to David Hyde Pierce as "chilly"? Hey, it's January in New York and the Rainbow Room is notoriously drafty. Okay, the insipid questions about Clay Aiken probably didn't help, either.

• Here's some photo coverage of the opening night of Celebrity Autobiography, which counts Cheyenne Jackson, Jack Plotnick, Richard Kind, Kristen Johnston and Kristen Wiig amongst its revolving, memoir-gnashing cast.

The L.A. Times ran a great article the other day discussing the recent spate of comedy centered around "straight male bonding" that mines heterosexual male discomfort with closeness to other men for laughs, with varied success.

On the less successful end of the spectrum we've got dumb-dumb, gay-panic-tinged stuff like the Snickers Super Bowl ad and biker shlub comedy Wild Hogs, which lack subtlety and leave a bad aftertaste. But then there are more nuanced uses of the formula, which are more about ignoring or overcoming homophobic tendencies than falling prey to them.

The author specifically singles out upcoming man-on-man figure skating comedy Blades of Glory for praise, noting that "the punch line isn't rooted in the gay man -- it's the straight American male struggling with intimacy and emotion while stuck in some retro notion of manliness". She also highlights Scrubs and Borat as having a more enlightened take on the subject, and ends with a succinct conclusion from sociologist Michael Kimmel:

"The fact that gay people are more visible in people's lives problematizes their relationships with other men," says Manhood in America author Kimmel. "The more the visibility of gay people in American life — which I consider a great benefit for straight men as well as gay men — the richer and fuller straight men's lives will become. You can see that you can express all kinds of feelings, all kinds of emotions. You become safer and more secure in your identity."

You can make your own mind up about Blades of Glory when it opens this weekend (I caught it last night -- be sure to check back on Thursday for our take on it). But in the meantime, what do you think about the Times' take on the recent trend of "gay panic light"? Progress, or more of the same?