# Some shocked & disappointed "Bruno" is a gay mocking vs gay positive portrayal **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400 "2009-07-09T02:49:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/1 "2009-07-09T02:49:38Z")
Interesting article here. I really have to ask myself what he expected after Cohen’s last movie “Borat” and it’s hyper-mockery of everything and everyone within reach. [Why “Bruno” is bad for the gays Sacha Baron Cohen’s character could have been a bold stab at homophobia. Instead it’s a mincing minstrel show](http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2009/07/09/bruno_rakoff/) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/2 "2009-07-09T03:00:37Z")
1. I love Sasha Baron Cohen 2. I loved Borat, laughed my ass off 3. I agreed 100% with this article 4. This is the only time I’ll post about Bruno until 5. It makes my #1 spot of Worst Movies of 2009 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/3 "2009-07-09T03:01:35Z")
I never had much use for Sacha Baron Cohen, but it will serve him right if the Left crucifies him this time! Couldn’t happen to a more deserving smug creep. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/4 "2009-07-09T03:09:16Z")
Ahhh…the old its funny when the guy is making fun of your enemies…when its you and yours…not so much… ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/5 "2009-07-09T03:14:55Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I never had much use for Sacha Baron Cohen, but it will serve him right if the Left crucifies him this time! > > Couldn’t happen to a more deserving smug creep. Anyone else waiting until SBC pulls his schtick on the wrong people and gets an old fashoned Hells’ Angel-style stomping for it? It seems like it’s just a matter of time… ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/6 "2009-07-09T03:15:41Z")
Sorry if gays are offended, but how many subjects of satire get a veto of it ahead of time? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/7 "2009-07-09T03:17:12Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Anyone else waiting until SBC pulls his schtick on the wrong people and gets an old fashoned Hells’ Angel-style stomping for it? > > It seems like it’s just a matter of time… Cohen fancies himself a fearless exposure of prejudice… but he didn’t have the balls to try to ask those black guys what they thought of Jews, did he? Come on, Sacha, didn’t you have the nerve to try to expose the rampant antisemitism of black Americans? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/8 "2009-07-09T03:18:06Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I never had much use for Sacha Baron Cohen, but it will serve him right if the Left crucifies him this time! > > Couldn’t happen to a more deserving smug creep. I’ve never gotten why Borat was supposed to be funny. It seems like one long SNL sketch. And I’d rather sit through Pat. ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/9 "2009-07-09T03:26:29Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > 1. I love Sasha Baron Cohen > > 2. I loved Borat, laughed my ass off > > 3. I agreed 100% with this article > > 4. This is the only time I’ll post about Bruno until > > 5. It makes my #1 spot of Worst Movies of 2009 I am just making sure - you have seen the film? I don’t really care about the complaints- I look forward to seeing the movie. Everything SBC has done that I have seen has seriously cracked me up. So, I have good reason to believe this will continue the trend and I will laugh heartily at it. If it offends some people - thats the way it goes. Borat offended tons and I still laughed all of the way through it. Of course, I might be wrong. Maybe he went the wrong way in the film. But, going by the way Bruno was used on Da Ali G show I doubt it. Can’t say until I have seen it. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/10 "2009-07-09T04:07:36Z")
I thought it was Austrian-negative. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/11 "2009-07-09T04:17:53Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Sacha Baron Cohen’s character could have been a bold stab at homophobia. Instead it’s a mincing minstrel show Could have been a bold stab at homophobia? It was, in its early incarnation. I’m not sure what he’s doing with it these days, but it used to show up homophobia for what it was. Remember when Bruno went to spring break and hung out on the beach with the frat boy wrestling team? Good times. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/12 "2009-07-09T04:28:39Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Come on, Sacha, didn’t you have the nerve to try to expose the rampant antisemitism of black Americans? Cite that black Americans are rampantly antisemitic? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/13 "2009-07-09T11:37:39Z")
“Bruno” is supposed to be gay? I thought he was satirizing overexposed, undertalented professional celebrities. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/14 "2009-07-09T15:05:33Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Cite that black Americans are rampantly antisemitic? Are you REALLY going to pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about, Dio? Don’t forget, I was born and raised in “Hymietown.” [http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/10/wright-them-jews-wont-let-obama-talk-to-me/](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/10/wright-them-jews-wont-let-obama-talk-to-me/) > **[Crown Heights riot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Heights_riot)** > > The Crown Heights riot was a race riot that took place from August 19 to August 21, 1991, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York City. Black residents attacked Orthodox Jewish residents, damaged their homes, and looted businesses. The riots began on August 19, 1991, after two 7 year-old children of Guyanese immigrants were unintentionally struck by a driver running a red light while following the motorcade of Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of Chabad, a Jewish relig In ... [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/frenzy/jackson.htm](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/frenzy/jackson.htm) [http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20116974,00.html](http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20116974,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/15 "2009-07-09T15:11:52Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Cite that black Americans are rampantly antisemitic? A 1998 Anti-Defamation League survey found that blacks are four times as likely to be antisemitic than whites. > [@](#): > > Confirming the three previous studies, black Americans remain considerably more likely than white Americans to hold anti-Semitic views. In the 1998 survey, blacks (34%) are nearly four times as likely as whites (9%) to fall into the most anti-Semitic category. > > The overall level of anti-Semitism among African-Americans (34%) compares to 37% in 1992. This very slight decline in acceptance of anti-Jewish stereotypes has been significantly slower among blacks than among whites, expanding the racial gap in attitudes toward Jews in 1998. Education no doubt plays an important role as the more college one has, the less likely they are to hold antisemitic views. And of course, “rampant” is in the eye of the beholder. Also, the [survey](http://www.adl.org/antisemitism_survey/survey_print.asp) is 11 years old, I’d say that it’s time for another one. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/16 "2009-07-09T15:24:44Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Are you REALLY going to pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about, Dio? > Don’t forget, I was born and raised in “Hymietown.” > [http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/10/wright-them-jews-wont-let-obama-talk-to-me/](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/10/wright-them-jews-wont-let-obama-talk-to-me/) > > [Crown Heights riot - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Heights_riot) > > [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/frenzy/jackson.htm](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/frenzy/jackson.htm) > > [http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20116974,00.html](http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20116974,00.html) These are not cites that black people are “rampantly antisemitic,” nor did you have the slightest reason to believe that the black people in the _Borat_ movie were antisemitic just because they were black. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/17 "2009-07-09T15:27:15Z")
> [@KRM](#): > > A 1998 Anti-Defamation League survey found that blacks are four times as likely to be antisemitic than whites. Education no doubt plays an important role as the more college one has, the less likely they are to hold antisemitic views. And of course, “rampant” is in the eye of the beholder. Also, the [survey](http://www.adl.org/antisemitism_survey/survey_print.asp) is 11 years old, I’d say that it’s time for another one. Thank you. Even these outdated numbers show the vast majority of black people as NOT being antisemitic. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/18 "2009-07-09T15:44:33Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Thank you. Even these outdated numbers show the vast majority of black people as NOT being antisemitic. Actually, these outdated numbers show that 79% of blacks are in the 2 groups of middle and most-antisemitic. 21% of blacks were in the non-antisemitic group as opposed to 58% of whites. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/19 "2009-07-09T16:21:43Z")
How do you get from 34% to 79%? And that’s an ADL survey? They’re not exactly the most objective gatherers of data. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400/20 "2009-07-09T16:37:54Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > How do you get from 34% to 79%? > And that’s an ADL survey? They’re not exactly the most objective gatherers of data. They divided respondents into 3 groups: Not Anti-Semitic, Middle, and Most Anti-Semitic and defined them as: > [@](#): > > Not Anti-Semitic: People who answer none or one of the questions with a critical response are considered essentially free of prejudicial attitudes toward the Jewish community. (53% in 1998 vs. 39% in 1992). > > Middle: People who answer between two and five questions critically are considered to be neither prejudiced nor unprejudiced – that is, not completely prejudice-free in their attitudes toward Jews, but not an audience to be deeply worried about. (35% in 1998 vs. 41% in 1992) > > Most Anti-Semitic: The people who answer six or more questions critically are considered the most anti-Semitic group of Americans, and have been isolated for special analysis and demographic identification. (12% in 1998 vs. 20% in 1992) 21% of blacks fell into the Not Anti-Semitic group. 45% were in the middle and 34% were in the Most Anti-Semitic. _If_ these numbers are factual, then it would be inaccurate to say that "Even these outdated numbers show the vast majority of black people as NOT being antisemitic. " The ADL may not be “deeply worried” about the middle group but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t anti-Semitic. I share your assessment of the ADL but they are also the most likely group to sponsor a study. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-shocked-disappointed-bruno-is-a-gay-mocking-vs-gay-positive-portrayal/502400.md?page=2)