The full-length trailer for Ron Howard’s The Dilemma will be shorn clean of its bizarre “electric cars are gay” scene, a rep from Universal has confirmed to EW. It’s not yet known whether the lines in question will remain in the movie, which is still in postproduction and due for release Jan. 14. Criticism of the trailer hit a high when CNN anchor Anderson Cooper set it in opposition to the anti-bullying initiatives CNN and other networks have adopted since the highly-publicized suicide of a gay Rutgers student last week. The teaser trailer “was not intended to cause anyone discomfort,” according to a statement the studio sent out today. (See the original trailer embedded after the jump.)
In the scene, Vince Vaughn’s character elucidates two forms of “gay”: homosexual gay and an entirely different, uncool form of gay typically associated with the electric cars he’s promoting. He goes on to clarify electric-car gay as “my-parents-are-chaperoning-the-dance gay.” Meanwhile, the actors playing executives nod at their roundtable as if Vaughn isn’t stringing nonsense words together.
A studio insider told Deadline.com they’d shared the original trailer with organizations like GLAAD, and no one initially expressed any objections with the scenes. However, GLAAD has released a statement, saying they “expressed these concerns directly to Universal Pictures prior to the trailer’s release.”
Read more:
‘The Dilemma’ trailer: Vince Vaughn knows a secret about Winona Ryder
The line in the trailer essentially pokes fun at society’s misuse of ‘gay.’ Not offensive.
Yeah? Well it sure offended Anderson Cooper. He’s Pi$$ed and on TV about it!
Ahh, screw Cooper, he’s gay.
I agree completely! People sometimes don’t get it when there’s more than one layer of humor.
Yep. The gays need to get over it. If they continue to expect normal people to censor themselves just because they made some bad lifestyle choices, they will find themselves even further marginalized, especially after these upcoming elections.
Oh, maybe “the gays” should start saying “that’s so black”, but you know not in the african-american sense, but in the other sense that is bad; or that’s so Jewish, but you know not in the Israelite sense, or “that’s so female” in the…you catch my drift? “That’s so gay” originated as a way to make something look bad by equating it with homosexuality, which was thought to be generally accepted to be bad. Don’t kid yourself. You can’t divorce the use of the word “gay” as a negative adjective from it’s original use as a slur. So unless you want to offend or hurt people’s feelings or contribute to the increased depression and suicides amongst gay youth, intentionally or not, stop using the term “gay” negatively.
I saw the trailer in the movies. Mostly that scene just felt tortured and unfunny to me. but if I had been a gay teenager, I would have felt stung.
Mike, when did you make the lifestyle choice to be inbred?
@deegeezee
Literally made me burst out laughing.
haha @deegeezee. AWESOME! Mike is a tool. Not really worth my time to comment further than that.
I’m gay, and honestly when I first read this it annoyed me that they would sincerely use the word ‘Gay’ like that, so I watched the trailer on this page to get a better understanding of where their heads were at.
Honestly I can’t say I was offended, not in the last bit. Nothing about it was all that horrible, I agree with ‘Do the Doggy Bounce’ (hahahahahaha, it’s simply poking fun at the mis-use of the way ‘Gay’ is used.
The movie still looks entertaining, it isn’t meant for kids or to show kids how to act, it’s meant for ADULTS to have a good laugh, mostly at themselves.
not in the least** bit.
That’s gay that they are removing it from the trailer.
The right decision – it was offensive to gay people – shame on Universal for not realizing
I agree. How the heck are schools supposed to teach kids that gay is okay, when their parents are constantly snickering at TV and movie jokes that include “gay” in a negative sense as a punchline?
Since when are the schools responsible for teaching kids that gay is ok? Tolerance is one thing, acceptance is another. I may not agree with the lifestyle, but I’m not going to discriminate or harrass a gay person. At the same time, I think it is morally wrong for schools to indoctrinate kids into thinking that the gay lifestyle is acceptable…that is a personal decision and if parents want to raise their kids that it is not an appropriate lifestyle (according to their religion or what have you) then it is their right. The government (including schools) need to stay out of the moral arena. Tolerance for others, yes…teaching my kids that being gay is ok, absolutely not.
Hey Jack, replace gay with the word black or woman or latino and tell me if you feel the same way.
OHH BURNNNN!
Burn? apples and oranges
As a homosexual, I don’t think it’s offensive at all. It was used in a completely non-offensive context… he even clarified this when he said “not homosexual gay.” Definitely not homophobic. I agree with the comment that said this is poking fun of our society’s use of the word. It has a variety of meanings. For pete’s sake, the original meaning of gay merely was having a good time! The sad truth is people will find any reason to get offended. Organizations like GLAAD are doing more damage to the public image of homosexuality than this one scene ever could. Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill!
They should replace it with Queer
The only thing I found offensive was how unfunny this movie looks. And also, Kevin James scores Jennifer Connolly? Riiiiiight
Kevin James is married to Winona Ryder, Vince Vaughn is dating Jennifer Conelly. IMO both actresses (and Ron Howard!) are too talented to be in this dreck.
Also, since when does Ron Howard direct movies that come out in January?!
(The disproportionate hotness between the wife/husband thing doesn’t even faze me because it’s SO overdone.)
The hotness thing might be overdone, but having actresses as great as Jennifer Conelly and Winona Ryder paired with Channing Tatum, Vaughn, and James? WRONG.
Ahh, thanks for clarifying. I think that makes it even worse! And agreed on Ron Howard… what the heck happened?!
Thank you, Universal. If only people wouldn’t use it as a derogatory word.
No, thank Anderson Cooper.
Agreed, Anderson Cooper opened my eyes to this, and I thank him
True, true. I’m glad he pointed it out to everyone.
so glad you got someone thinking for you huh, must be relieving
Definitely offensive. It wasn’t even a funny joke to begin with. What was the punchline? The line would’ve been just as unfunny of he would’ve said “electric cars are for lame” which is essentially what it translates to anyway
“electric cars are lame” whoops. but you get the point
I lost my leg in Vietnam and object to the derogatory use of LAME.
you go don. WORK IT!
Agreed, the most offensive part about the joke was how idiotic it was.
I really don’t find it offensive. It both delineates between the two uses of gay, and shows us how ridiculous it is that we use them both separately and then expect to not be misunderstood.
What does this comment even mean?
The offensive thing is that there are “two uses of gay”.
To me, in my world, something gay is cool, not “my parents are chaperoning the dance”.
exactly
Getting upset because they say electric cars are gay is gay. What simple word will offend people next. White, smart, bad. Common cut the crap with the pollitically correct nonsense.
I bet you also think it is okay to say something is retarded.
It is okay to say that something is retarded.
You may wanna look up the definition of retarded. While I can see how it could be offensive to call someone a retard, saying something is retarded is not necessarily offensive.
Terry, if you say “the development of the project was retarded by a rust problem,” that’s one thing. But if you ever use the word “retarded” to mean stupid, that’s offensive.
that was my point.
I’m offended at your grammar! “Common” … hahahaha!
Maybe P was telling the rapper/actor to cut the crap.
I thought that too!!
Oh my goodness people are so pathetic to be offended by this. Come on people no wonder people are growing up so weak these days. I don’t want to hurt anyone but this is just too much when people cry about something not intended to be mean.
You hit the nail on the head.
This
Remember when the word “gay” used to mean happy or carefree?
Of course. Remember the theme song for The Flintstones, “we’ll have a gay old time”. I don’t think they were refering to homosexuality(though, come to think of it, Fred and Barney never wore pants.)
The word “gay” was used as a means to purposely associate homosexual with something happy or carefree. Interesting that instead of homosexual becoming associated with something positive, the word “gay” started becoming associated with something negative.
Vaguely, but it’s all been clouded by all the hissy fits going on about the word’s usage.
From the looks of the content of this movie this web story will give to it the largest amount of viewers
People are too sensitive and too easily offended these days. Make a joke about my religion, nationality, sexual orientation, etc, I really don’t care. It doesn’t bother me. There was nothing offensive about that part of the trailer.
Part of the problem is that the trailer is out in theatres at a time when we are still talking about the amount of gay teenagers committing suicide. Timing is everything. BUT we need stop using the word “gay” when we mean something else. A lot of kids internalize these words when they start to think of themselves as gay and people are equating gay with stupid, dumb, or less than acceptable.
I totally agree. How can a person claim to think it’s sad when a gay teenager kills himself, and then turn around and say “oh, I hate that show/car/singer, it’s so gay.” Words do mean things.
People who commit suicide are selfish and have no excuse. Bullied or not, they should not be lauded as heroes when in fact they are cowards. When I came out in the late ’90s, homosexuality was not nearly as accepted as it is today. These cry baby kids have nothing to complain about as far as I’m concerned. They’re just looking for attention, pure and simple. Too bad they forgot that dying means you don’t get to experience the attention.
exactly!
I’m so tired of people making a big deal of all this nonsense. Why is everyone so sensitive about everything these days? Look to Europe, they have the right sense of humor about these things.
I know, right. People need to stop making such a big deal over a few kids committing suicide.
you are an idiot. Why don’t you go kill yourself and we will see if it is a big deal
Scorpo either replied to the wrong person or doesn’t get sarcasm.
Scorpo, if you think nodnarb is being insensitive, you are no better for making a comment like that. You were probably trying to make some kind of point, but it failed.
I’m sorry but when was it MY responsibility to make sure YOUR kid doesn’t commit suicide?
But, in Europe being gay is much more accepted and it’s legal for Gays to get married. Europe is lightyears ahead of us when it comes to accepting these things.
Have you read about the problems they’re having with “diversity” in Europe? The neo-Nazis, the Roma being expulsed, the riots etc… They look to us for guidance on how to deal with cultural diversity because we do not accept comments like the one made in the trailer as acceptable.
oh my gosh! How gay!!
I’m with nodnarb. When a trailer can’t even make a movie look appealing, the movie’s in trouble. Why is Ron Howard involved with this? It looks like something Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider would have done in the late 90′s.
It’s a tough economy and Clint Howard needed some work. Big bro Ron is just throwin him a bone.
Anderson Cooper is right. Anyone would be suicidal after watching that crappy trailer.
Pussy’s! Oh wait, what does that me?