Gay people on "Reality Shows"

[LostVegas]

I have been seeing a lot of threads lately talk about new/upcoming/continuing reality shows and how much they profess excitment that a gay guy or gal is on the show...and how much disappointment when there are none.

Don't get me wrong. I undertand the need for groups of people to be represented on shows. We went through it with women(Lucy), blacks(Dianne Carol), spanish(george lopez, etc) and gays too(ellen, roseanne,etc). And all of these cases are steps at positive improvments in recognition of all these groups.

In terms of reality shows, however, I am confused.


Besides Pedro of Real World San Francisco and Doug of Workout...I have seen not one gay person on these reality shows that are redeemable...in fact they are often quite embarassing to the gay community and not representative of us as a whole. In most cases, stereotypes of gay people are just reinforced to the world through these outrageous "real" people they get for these shows.

Numero UNO on my target list right now is Jackie Warner...what an embarassing mess she turned out to be.

But then again I have not seen ALL reality TV...Im sure there are some redeemable peeps out there...do you know any? Or do you know of any who belong on Mrs. Warner's list? Either way, I'd like to hear what ya got to say..


~~~Bri~~~

 

[Pushover]

Right. Reality shows often involve putting ALL people in situations where they need to lie, cheat, and otherwise do things they wouldn't ordinarily do. Nobody looks good on reality TV.

 

[DotComGuy]

Bunky (Big Brother) was normal, he cried a bit

Lucien (Playing it Straight)




There is always the black girl on the show who stirs things up as well.

 

[sb]

I am so sick of people saying that any gay person who has any kind of celebrity status is an embarrassment to the entire gay community.

'oh my god there was a gay person on tv and he acted gay and that just reinforces stereotypes wah wah wah'... get the fuck over it.

 

[USEDCAR]

It gets really annoying when every gay guy on tv is Flamboyant. Its just annoying that everyone thinks gay guys are flamboyant And into fashion and decorating.

 

[Rex]

I think that Karamo guy on Real World was a good choice for a gay character because he didn't fit the stereotype of over the top, flamboyant, campy gay guy.

A lot of the lesbians on Shot at Love come off as much more intelligent than the male cast members.

Everyone is going to have their faults. It's not just in the gay community.

Look how shows like Flavor of Love and I I Love New York represent black women, as ghetto, trashy animals basically.

All minorities are going to get shitted on. I don't see it just exclusively with the gays.

 

[sb]

It gets really annoying when every gay guy on tv is Flamboyant. Its just annoying that everyone thinks gay guys are flamboyant And into fashion and decorating.

even though that is far from true.... why don't you go on tv and show the world otherwise....

 

[willsboy84]

i thought Danny from Real World New Orleans was a good representation.

 

[xwings]

Do poeple still watch that (Sripted) reality shows?

 

[LostVegas]

Well my rant was about gays on reality shows.

I have no qualms saying that a lot of people represent themselves horribly on reality shows. Black peeps, white peeps, gay peeps, everyone.

But I singled out gay people because we already have such an uphill battle in the media and a lot of other places, and because Im gay, and maybe more fine tuned to that.

And nowhere did I single out feminine gay guys...my thread was about gay guys in general, not just feminine ones.

 

[bwaystar99]

I though Ronnie on "Make Me a Supermodel" was a good representation of a gay male: he was well-spoken and encouraged his competition throughout the competition

 

[LostVegas]

what i don't understand is why one person represents a group. this is stereotyping at its worse. why does the worst example of any group always become the "representative"? something's wrong with YOU if you look at an obnoxious black WOMAN and go "black PEOPLE" or a flamboyant gay PERSON and go "gay PEOPLE". an individual represents their own self, not a group.

One person doesnt represent a group...I just want to see some normal folks on reality TV...nothing is wrong with ME....more like the people who cast these shows....so...yeah. I dont stereotype any group of people by the actions of one or a few, so please do not label me as one who does. PAYCE!

 

[SFLMAN]

I think producers of these shows pick stereotypical people whether its black, latino, gay,etc.. because it makes for good drama and laughs on TV.

Reality TV is not real..it's taped and edited. If it was real it would be live and impromptu.

 

[Muskox]

There have been a number of gay men on "Survivor" over the years. A gay guy even won the first American series. As a rule they have been shown as pretty normal. For that matter, there probably have been gays on the show and we were not even aware of them being gay. The producers don't seem to select people who are over-the-top in any direction. The contestants are people we can relate to or are like people we know. They're real people.

 

[Jory]

any one ever watched FX 30 days?

 

[Linxus87]

I agree, many gay people that go on reality portray such a bad image of gay people.

The shows do tend to cast people that will get them ratings, but really? Casting a black man in hopes he'll be the "angry black man," or the college white boy in hopes he'll be a slutty drunken "fratboy." Then you have the gay men who are catty, bitchy, whiny, and just annoying. It's one thing to be feminine (that's fine), but it's not necessary to bitch over EVERYTHING that doesn't agree with you. We need more people like Danny, Pedro, Karamo (wasn't too bad...though he was angry a bit...), and I wish I could go off other reality shows, but I'm kinda turned off by the reality genre.

 

[Jersey Domino]

Richard Hatch went on to be an embarrasasment .
[/IMG]

Wait Richard was gay?