So are the men at Madison Square Garden more real?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Is MSG Network's Ad Claiming Broadway Actors Are Not Real Men Homophobic?

[darion]

[tmbyru]

I think it's incredibly insulting. I'd like to see some of these NBA players try to do what Reeve Carney and the other MEN in the cast of Spider-Man or Gavin Lee or even Steffanie Leigh do in Mary Poppins as they harness themselves to wires and fly through the air 8 times a week.

I guess putting down Broadway shows to up your sales shows what makes more money in this town huh?

Bullies put others down to make themselves feel better to get an advantage.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I wouldn't call it bullying. Vaguely homophobic, yes. Bullying, no.

[tmbyru]

We can agree to disagree about what the different types of bullying.

[ghostlight2]

Obnoxious. Who thought this was a great idea? I don't even see this as necessarily homophobic. Contrary to popular belief, there are lots of straight men in the theater.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Of course there are. But that doesn't mean people don't like repeat the old "theatre is so gay" canard, which I think is what this ad is trading on.

Hell, people do it on this board!

[ghostlight2]

Fair enough.

[JoeKv99]

It's a stupid ad any way you see it- do they really think there is a huge audience debating whether to see a Broadway show or a basketball game?

[Kad]

I don't think it's bullying. But it's a terrible ad. It's belittling to a NYC institution, it's trading on old stereotypes, and it's a late-to-the-party Spiderman joke.

[Playbilly]

Not sure about the homophobia, and sure of stupidity. WHO ELSE but theater fans are going to get the joke?

[tmbyru]

terribly late. Pregnant late.

[After Eight]

Real men don't brag about what real men they are.

And by the way, hasn't Madison Square Garden been a venue for shows, and on Friday nights?

[Kad]

Madison Square Garden also operates Radio City, as well.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Am I the only one who first read the ad not as "real men" = straight =/= gay but as "real men" = athletes =/= actors? As in, the "fakery" of performance/theater vs. the "realness" of athletic competition?

I see the other one, too. But that wasn't where my mind immediately went, and I'm typically hypersensitive to these sorts of things.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I posted this on Facebook, too, and what's interesting is that there seems to be a split where mostly the gay people see something offensive in the "real men" comment and mostly the straight people don't.

[showchoirguy]

I posted this on my Facebook, along with a message:

This just upsets me. Really!? You are going to question the manhood of my fellow actors and I?! You have no idea what's heading your way! Whoever did this needs to understand that sports don't prove a man of his manhood, only class can establish that.

[Wildcard]

The women from Bring It On fly higher than these so called "men"

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Homophobic or not (in my opinion it definitely has undertones of referring to the stereotypical gay Broadway actor), it is extremely ignorant. How such things, that must go through multiple hands to be created, actually come to be published in this day and age is beyond me.

Also, Wildcard, I like your point about the women in Bring it On. And, they have no harness!

[tazber]

Besides the homophobic undertones, as a marketing campaign it's utterly baffling.

Who are they targeting? "Real men" (as in straight?) would rather spend Friday night watching sports anyway (in general terms of course).


I mean, who are they trying to convince? Preaching to the choir seems like a colossal waste of money.

[EricMontreal22]

And, umm, what about the people (yes, they do exist), who would want to see a sports game as much as they'd also want to see a show?

[EricMontreal22]

*edit* meaning--as others have said--I don't get its target. Either people would rather see theatre or a game, and this add will do zilch to change that or even plant the idea in their head of trying the other--or else they like to do both and again this add won't change that.

[Idiot]

My oh my I dislike athletes and athletics.

[GavestonPS]

No, Mysterious Growl, you're not alone. I too read it as "real men" (men being themselves) v. characters (embodied by actors). And, yes, I'm gay.

But that's not to say the other meaning wasn't discussed at the marketing meetings.

Either way, it's pretty silly, since everyone involved is "performing", in one sense or another. And some are no doubt gay as well as straight.

***

What is perhaps most ironic is that if the ad is read quickly from a passing car, it probably reads like this:

FRIDAY NIGHT
BROADWAY
REAL MEN FLY

[TotallyEffed]

I don't think it's homophobic. It's just stupid. It's a really bad and really late Spider-man "joke". Why watch men fly on wires (that could snap) when you can see "real" men jumping super high without costumes or bungee cords? And yeah, maybe there's a dig about sports being a more entertaining or even a "manlier" way to spend a Friday night.

But mostly it's just pretty dumb.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Gav -- LOL at your fly-by reading. That's just great.

And absolutely. No matter what, as a piece of marketing, it's unwise, ill-conceived, and borderline stupid.

Sometimes, though, the gay community flies too quickly to outrage (!!!1!!) in instances where our energy might be better conserved for things that are flatly offensive. We are sometimes community that cries wolf, to our disadvantage.

That's not to say anyone genuinely offended by something should keep quiet. (I personally don't see this specific ad as out-and-out homophobic.) But even when I find myself immediately outraged by something, I do take a moment to reason it through and do a bit of rational thinking before I open my mouth and fly off the handle.

The same can be said of the current state of political discourse in this country, which, obviously, we see on these boards every day.