Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'tv'.
Found 2 results
-
Straight pornography actress August Ames was recently called out for being homophobic. Ames took to Twitter to complain about being partnered with a cross-over actor – a man who shoots for both gay and straight studios. She refused to work with him. “Whichever (lady) performer is replacing me tomorrow… you’re shooting with a guy who has shot gay BeHoly, just to let cha know,” she tweeted. “BS is all I can say do agents really not care about who they’re representing?” Many people called her out for her position, but she doubled down on her position that crossover models were “unsafe”. “Since you’re curious @AugustAmesxxx — Most nights (like tonight), I’m playing with p**sy,” gay pornography star Wesley Woods posted, with a picture of himself holding a cat. "Turns out being an uneducated homophobe DIDN’T get you a pat on the head? Maybe think next time before you word vomit for attention,” added Bruce Beckham. Some, arguably, went too far. “The world is awaiting your apology or for you to swallow a cyanide pill. Either or [,] we’ll take it,” Jaxton Wheeler wrote. Ames refused to back down. She tweeted: “NOT homophobic. Most girls don’t shoot with guys who have shot gay pornography, for safety.” A few days later, Ames committed suicide. Her last tweet was “f***k y’all.” It was revealed that she had been dealing with issues of depression, though some people – including her husband and her brother – blamed “online trolls” calling her “homophobic” for her death. “I want my sister’s death to be recognised as a serious issue – bullying is not OK,” her brother, James Grabowski, told The sun. “It cost me my baby sister’s life. I will do what I can be a voice for Mercedes but right now my family and I need to be left alone to grieve. We have lost a loved one.” Woods, who received death threats over his rather simple post, isn’t backing down. He called her death “tragic” but “stands behind” what he said. “This is not about ‘her choice’ in choosing who she worked with,” Woods told Hornet. “It was directly related to the idea we (gay BeHoly actors) were ‘dirty’ or ‘promiscuous.’” “On Monday I called out a homophobic performer for her ignorance and uneducated bias,” Beckham posted in response to the backlash he has received. “She allegedly chose to end her own life when she was exposed to the same vitriol that gay people have been exposed to globally for decades.” He added: “Today, friends, performers and fans are attributing blame to myself and others who weighed in. I’m sorry for her loss of life and whatever personal struggles caused her to choose to end her own life when faced with confrontation, accountability, and education.” Jaxton also posted an update. “My gay community friends please a life is lost and we gain nothing from anything but showing respect and sympathy. Her fans and loved ones are upset, I’m sickened in my out of context comment,” he stated. “As I stated before anyone even made my tweet a thing.” -
Originally published in independent.co.uk *This piece contains spoilers for Game of Thrones Season Seven, Episode Two* As it so often does, Sunday night’s Game of Thrones left me screaming at my television screen. Now in its seventh season, showrunners David Benioff and D B Weiss probably assume we’re used to the unpredictable horrors they routinely inflict on the denizens of Westeros. But Sunday night was different, and has me wondering whether I can stomach watching this show again. As they sailed for Dorne at Queen Daenerys’ behest, Yara Greyjoy and Ellaria Sand – two of the handful of LGBT characters the show has given us – begin flirting. It looks like the two are about to hook up when Euron Greyjoy (Yara’s brutal uncle and rival for the throne of the Iron Isles) attacks their fleet. Euron manages to kill most of their sailors and get a knife to Yara’s throat, but the episode leaves Yara’s and Ellaria’s fates unknown. They must survive. Game of Thrones is a brilliant show that has me and millions of other viewers on the edge of our seats week after week, but it has a horrible record of writing same-sex couples. The only other real same-sex couple was brought down way back in season two, when Renly Baratheon was killed by a shadow demon birthed from the womb of Melisandre. The symbolism of a vagina demon killing a gay man told gay audiences everything we needed to know – homosexuality leads heterosexual retribution. This became even more obvious when, at the end of last season, Renly’s partner Loras was arrested for “buggery” and put on trial by a far-right religious cult which demanded heterosexuality or death. In the end, that cult was blown to smithereens by Queen Cersei, but it was of little consolation as Loras was killed along with them. My problem isn’t so much that same-sex loving characters don’t get a happy ending on Game of Thrones. No one really does. But same-sex love is treated as a plot device on this show. None of the lesbian, gay, or bisexual characters we encounter are main characters. Instead, they are background players who, for the most part, serve to further the storylines of the main – and straight – characters. When same-sex love is shown, it is often portrayed as something decadent or weak – such as when Oberon’s bisexuality was considered as a Dornish eccentricity rather than a valid sexuality. He was shown to be a promiscuous dandy, but we didn’t see him form any meaningful relationships with men. His relationship with Ellaria was fleshed out, though. Of course, that was before he had his head smashed in. Yet another LGB character that meets a grizzly fate. This was a common trope in 20th century literature and television, where homosexuality was seen to lead to tragic ending. So taboo was showing same-sex love in a positive light that E.M. Forster held off on publishingMaurice until he was dead, afraid editors and the public wouldn’t accept it. But we don’t live in the 20th century, and gay and bisexual characters – and audiences – deserve better. Game of Thrones loves playing with gay and bisexual trauma as a plot device, but it doesn’t ever seem willing to actually let us be fully formed people with our own agencies and in charge of our own destinies. When two characters finally do find a little joy – such as Yara and Ellaria sharing a kiss – they are immediately attacked or killed. We never get to see what might have been. Which is why I’m rooting for Ellaria and Yara to survive. I don’t know what’s going to happen to them, but I hope it ends with them ruling Dorne and the Iron Isles as coregents. I’ll settle for them actually becoming fully formed, dynamic characters who serve as more than a plot device in Daenerys’ quest for the Iron Throne.
