What was the comment?
“In fact, the only thing your [Trump’s] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s cock holster.”
While I agree, I think it’s all interesting to think about ‘what if’ variations.
What if Hillary was president, and the joke was that Hillary was only good for being a cock-holster (for Putin or whomever)? That would definitely be seen as sexist and demeaning to women.
Or what if Trump was still the insulted party, but instead of Putin, it was say, Angela Merkel? And the joke was something like “Trump’s mouth is only good for being Merkel’s vagina licker”? I think that would be perceived as less offensive (since it lacks both the homosexual and man-objectifying-woman overtones).
Well, yeah, but that’s basically the oldest kind of homophobic in the book, isn’t it? A man sucking another man’s dick is subservient, and less of a man.
I mean, I’m not saying that I personally suck dicks with any regularity. But if I did (and who knows, maybe at some point I’ll develop a taste for it), I would take offense at the idea that doing so diminished my manhood.
**Folks, this is a generalized, pre-emptive warning about keeping this cvil in this forum. **
I don’t want to move this to the Pit if it gets too heated.
Thanks.
I don’t think it’s homophobic, per se, but it’s a little close to the line for my taste (and I agree with Bricker’s observation, assuming a hypothetical universe where there are conservative comedians).
Never understood the “subservient” position to be honest, if a person has their teeth in close proximity to a man’s member, they are anything but subservient.
I don’t think Colbert was homophobic. Calling it homophobic on the other hand IMO is homophobic. Presumably, cock-sucking Americans (:D) are also upset at his closeness with the leader of the US’s biggest enemy.
Think of it this way. When Ceaser allegedly became a Bithiyan Bum Boy to get a fleet, was the issue that being a Bum Boy insulting (it was). Or that a Roman senator had sold out to a minor power.
Not even remotely. He’s saying that Trump is sucking Putin’s cock, which is arguable as a political metaphor.
Band name!
Hey, I remember that thread. It was a good one!
Well, yeah. Fine, I guess homophobic isn’t quite right, considering that this particular type of insult goes back to before homosexuality/heterosexuality were even concepts as we know them, and the actual dichotomy in play is dominant/subservient, or, if you will, top/bottom. Putin, of course, comes across untouched by any accusation (if that’s the right word) of gayness (if that’s the right word), since he’s the one doing the fucking here.
Still, though: I don’t want to be crude or anything, but isn’t there sometimes a rather fine line between “gay” and “sucks dick”? It seems like a rather persnickety distinction to me. Maybe you can’t say that calling Caesar “the queen of Bithynia” is homophobic. And maybe “bum boy” isn’t homophobic. But it’s still a sexual joke that plays on a person’s relative position while engaging in man-on-man action. It’s not about gayness as in orientation, but it’s still a rather popular gay activity that is being made fun of here. There is *some *level of the joke that has to do with gay sex, if not homosexuality as such, right?
Not that there’s necessarily anything *wrong *with that kind of joke. Look, I guess this is what I mean: When you laugh at such a joke, are you laughing only at the political metaphor (which, as far as I’m concerned, is unproblematic), or are you also finding the idea of a literal man sucking a literal dick funny? And if it’s the latter, in what way is it funny?
Is “c-cks-cker” an acceptable insult in the Pit, or is it considered a slur?
Colbert is saying, “Trump is so weak, he does gay things.” There are other ways of portraying subservience, and I’m having a hard time seeing how the choice of this one is not homophobic.
It’s my experience that most cock sucking isn’t done as a form of appeasement as is the implication.
Not remotely.
If Trump were a woman the joke still works. Would it be heterophobic then???
Ditto changing Putin’s gender and making suitable physiological changes to the joke.
I think it is homophobic, yet widely accepted, in the same way that calling someone a “pussy” connotes weakness and so on. As a woman, I am irritated by that usage. I’d say Colbert crossed a line. It was a fine rant, but try again without the slam on homosexuality.
He’s calling Trump and/or Putin gay. It seems homophobic to say that’s homophobic.
I would say that, in general, it’s a homophobic remark but also that Colbert is using it in context of two very homophobic men. Putin and Trump are willing to do real damage to homosexuals. Claiming that they are homosexual partners is deliberately playing on their own homophobia.
I think that Colbert was deliberately reaching for a phrase that would hurt the men in their own inadequacies (not that I suppose Putin watches Colbert) - but I’m not sure that’s enough of an excuse for actually saying something homophobic.
I understand that it’s satire, but I would prefer that Colbert still reach a littler higher than calling the president gay.
Using “gay” as a slur clearly homophobic, as the long and obvious history of the word demonstrates.
Calling Trump gay as a slur is clearly homophobic, if Rush Limbaugh called Obama “Assad’s cock socket” for not bombing Syria no one would doubt it. It also plays on the ancient (going back to Roman times) idea that being the receptive partner in sex is weak or unmanly, which combines misogyny and homophobia. I’m not sure why this is even under debate.
I think whether or not the gay part was meant to be a slur is open to interpretation. I do think it was in poor taste because it sounds so much like a gay slur but his intent could be to highlight the relationship position he has with Putin.
He’s a comic, he will say anything to get a laugh. It has nothing to do with being homophobic or not.
On reflection I think you are right. I just didn’t take it that way at first. Too much history of homophobia attached to that theme.