The gay press is abuzz today over comments Billy Crystal made on Sunday at the Television Critics Association winter tour, parts of which have been interpreted as homophobic. When Crystal answered a question about his groundbreaking 1977-81 role as Soap’s Jodie Dallas, one of the first openly gay characters on network television, his response was indeed unfortunate, but was it outrageous? From where I sat in the auditorium, the remarks provided a fascinating insight into TV history and a reminder that smart people sometimes say dumb things.
Crystal started off all right, recalling audience members’ reactions back in 1978, whenever Jodie expressed affection for his boyfriend, played by Olympic gold medalist Bob Seagren:
See, I did it in front of a live audience, and there were times where I would say to Bob, “I love you,” and the audience would laugh nervously, because, you know, it’s a long time ago. … I’d feel this anger. I wanted to stop the tape and go, “What is your problem?”
One of Crystal’s companions on the stage, Larry Charles, who is an executive producer and bit player in Crystal’s upcoming FX show, The Comedians, then proved that 38 years later, people still respond to things they’re not used to with nervous laughter. At Crystal’s mention of Seagren, Charles declared, “He was the Bruce Jenner of his time,” which, for some reason, caused some people on the stage and in the room to laugh. To his credit, Crystal did not join in the guffawing, and simply said, “I’m not going to say anything” on that topic.
I suspect it was Crystal’s touching memories of Soap and his refusal to titter at Charles’ mention of Jenner that tamped down my sense of outrage about the troublesome part of his response. He also said:
You know, these kinds of questions leads me into sounding like some former baseball player bemoaning the fact of “I only got paid $25,000 my entire career.” But there’s sometimes it’s just pushed a little too far for my tastes, and I’m not going to get into which ones they are. … And now it’s just I see it and I just hope people don’t abuse it and shove it in our face—well, that sounds terrible—to the point of it just feels like an everyday kind of thing.”
Crystal’s use of the term “shove it in our face” was unfortunate, because it’s been used almost universally by straight people to describe their discomfort with gay sexual expression. The old saw, “I don’t mind what they do in private; I just wish they wouldn’t shove it in our faces,” removes same-sex affection from the public sphere and relegates it to the fringes. What’s more, it is typically applied to behavior—kissing, hand-holding—that wouldn’t even be noticed if straight people were doing it. But were his comments offensive? In context, it didn’t seem so to me.
(If you’re wondering what he was trying to say, Crystal later spelled it out, telling the Hollywood Reporter, “What I meant was that whenever sex or graphic nudity of any kind [gay or straight] is gratuitous to the plot or story it becomes a little too much for my taste.”)
In the age of outrage, it’s important to pick our battles—and Crystal is not someone we need to protest, at least not based on a few imperfect words at a TCA panel. Yes, in a follow-up interview with gay reporter Jim Halterman, Crystal referred to the gay “lifestyle.” More hot-button language, which is not cute, but, coming as it did from a guy in his late 60s, nor is it grounds to march on Washington.
I feel a certain sympathy for Crystal, who, after Halterman told him that several fellow reporters had asked him if he’d been offended by Crystal’s remarks, declared: “We live in a very scary time in many ways. You can’t say this, you can’t say that, you can’t offend this group, that group. People come up to you and ask if you were offended. I don’t understand that. … That’s offensive to me.” As a journalist, I don’t want public figures to censor themselves so that their every utterance is PR-approved pabulum. And as a gay person, I know we don’t need to go looking for things to take offense at.
Want to hang out with Outward? If you’ll be in or near New York City on Feb. 3, join June Thomas, J. Bryan Lowder, and Mark Joseph Stern—and special guest Lea DeLaria of Orange Is the New Black fame!—for a queer kiki at the first ever Outward LIVE show, hosted by City Winery. Details and tickets can be found here.
