Varner should be grateful he’s not heterosexual.
He’s certainly getting a hard time over this (and well deserved), but, if he were some young muscle-head white heterosexual male who said the same thing there’d be people sending him death threats.
Honestly, I consider it WORSE that a gay man did this. Varner should have KNOWN just how despicable this was. I can understand a straight guy, especially a young straight guy, not understanding just how profound it is to out someone. But Varner…not only a gay man, but a gay man of an older generation who grew up in the time when being outed as gay was just as profound as being outed as trans is today. If anything, his own age and orientation exacerbates his error. He should have KNOWN!
Why do you keep assuming Zeke told Varner? There is no evidence of that. Read Zeke’s interviewin The Hollywood Reporter, it’s very informative.
I also completely disagree that Probst did anything wrong here. He didn’t “egg on” Varner because he knew he would out Zeke, that’s preposterous.
I agree, I find that it’s unclear if Zeke told Varner. Given his statement that on his two seasons of Survivor he’s told no one, I think Varner just somehow puzzled it out on his own.
EDIT: According to comments I’ve seen elsewhere, in his day-after video Varner said that he knew Zeke was trans as soon as he met him, and (incorrectly) assumed that Zeke was the first trans Survivor and was on the show sorta for that reason.
Zeke’s article on Hollywood Reporter is really good, but your link didn’t work for me, so I’ll relink it here: 'Survivor': Zeke Smith Outed as Transgender | Guest Column
I think they should have had a vote. Probst held an open vote to prevent any shenanigans and make sure Varner was voted out. I think he wanted to show that the production team did not support outing someone and if you do something like that, you’re gone. But it’s pretty hyprocritical when the show itself is what is outing Zeke to the world at large.
The show seems to be setting up Zeke and Brad as the power players at the moment. I feel like there’s a whole lot of people who haven’t met, or haven’t had much screen time and we don’t know where they are at. I hope they start to get some airtime because I’m not at all interested in either of those two as Survivor players.
If anyone thinks Probst had zero idea what Varner’s revelation was, you’re kidding yourself. He knew what was coming, and he was inwardly beside himself with glee at the reveal and subsequent controversy.
That said, Zeke was absolutely courageous in his reaction during the outing and his response afterwards.
mmm
The more I think about it, the more I agree that they should have had a vote. Of course that would have eaten into air time concerning “the controversy”, so that probably wasn’t in the cards. Oh well, it’s just a game. I still think it’s the best reality show out there, but that’s not saying all that much.
Dalton Ross’ column/recap was devoted entirely to Tribal Council this week… worth a read.
If this clip has been referenced from last season, I haven’t seen it anywhere.
Its where Bret Labelle (The big burly cop from Boston) reveals to Zeke that he is gay. And Zeke says something to the fact that it never occurred to him to “not coming out” at age 15.
Well, here you go. Zeke did **not **tell Varner.
From an interview with Varner when asked if Zeke told him:
[QUOTE=Varner]
Not directly. He talked about all kinds of things that led me indirectly, not only that he was OK and out, I believed he was out. I had no idea that Zeke had not come out. Everything led to that. I don’t want to talk about how I knew, because in respect to Zeke, I don’t think that’s the right direction to go. When I said that out loud at Tribal, I was not 100% certain.
[/QUOTE]
Which just makes what he did look even shittier IMO.
Yes, I saw doubt in their eyes. we gave him still 50/50 for being voted off but until that point, he was making them reconsider.
Then- blammo.
Horrible.
I have no doubt at all that they conferred with Zeke and Zeke Oked it.
It’s a disgusting scene, and Varner falls back on the old “because I am a privileged white gay male I understand all others and speak for all others intimately.” Which I’ve seen SO MANY times before, including right up and personal in real life, as privileged white gay males have taken the stage to speak on the “transgender experience” - while I’m sitting right there on the stage next to them. :rolleyes:
It was very clear to me that he was equating being stealth with being “deceptive.” I’d love to give Varner an earful right to his smug face.
Even if Zeke had said, “please don’t out me on national television,” and the producers complied, it probably would have gotten out anyway. Sooner or later one of the contestants would have spilled the beans, perhaps inadvertently in a media interview. There would be huge repercussions if it got out that something that significant had been excised from the show.
However, if Zeke had pleaded with the producers to edit it out, I don’t think they’d be obligated to do so. IANAL, but my reading of the Survivor contract is that CBS can air anything that is filmed during the game.
Is that ACTUALLY a term people use? Jesus, maybe I’m just old, but no one of my generation would have ever considered that term to be something anyone would ever say.
Welcome to the circular firing squad that is the modern day left. :smack:
Una’s point is exactly what I was referring to, though. People like to try and equate different forms of prejudice, when they’re not necessarily comparable. So people like Varner who are part of a discriminated minority in being gay, but otherwise are white and/or male, etc, think that their experience lets them completely understand (and in some circumstances, use) what other, different discriminated groups go through, which isn’t true. It can feel like someone who’s white claiming they understand what it’s like to be black and racially discriminated against because “the Irish were discriminated against back in the day and I’m Irish.”
According to Probst, CBS worked with Zeke about how to present the episode, but the idea of not airing it was never considered (or at least, not broached by Zeke).
Also, Varner apparently got fired from his job as a real estate agent after the episode aired. Which does make me feel a bit bad for him… he fucked up bad, and what he did was certainly wrong, but he’s apparently been nothing but remorseful since then (including feeling suicidal), and having his job taken from him seems like a step too far. Though of course I’m sure his job doesn’t want to be involved with the media storm either… risk of going on Survivor, I suppose.
The comments at the “getting fired from his job” link are a great illustration of the circular firing squad I referenced.
Zeke says in this article that he was given “unprecedented autonomy in how I wanted to tell my story.”
Whether that means they wouldn’t have shown any of that discussion from TC had he not OK’d it, I can’t say. I can’t figure how they would have explained Varner leaving without a vote otherwise.
Wow, there’s a quote from Varner in that article where he’s defending himself that IMHO makes him look even worse: